Word: playground
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...York City-based architect David Rockwell has come up with some ingenious ways to amplify that familiar scene and, in the process, is bringing to the U.S. the most innovative playground design since child psychologists started fiddling with jungle gyms in the 1960s. Dubbed the Imagination Playground in a Box, his creation takes sand and water - two things all kids love - and adds in dozens of loose parts: foam building blocks of various shapes and sizes, buckets, wheelbarrows, brooms and shovels. All these elements come neatly stored in a mobile shipping container. "You just open this thing up, and kids...
...Rockwell is renowned for his adult playgrounds - chic hotels, restaurants and casinos he has designed around the world. But shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, the father of two had a vision for a new playground for lower Manhattan. Construction on that site, the first permanent Imagination Playground, is set to begin this week. Instead of swings or other standard play equipment, there will be movable objects that children can use to build and tear down, thus ensuring a different experience with each trip to the figure-eight-shaped playground. (See pictures of architects building for the 21st century...
...Rockwell didn't want to limit the fun to just one place. So he came up with a portable version that is meant to complement existing play structures, not replace them. Through a partnership with kid-focused nonprofit Kaboom!, Imagination Playground in a Box is expected to arrive at more than 1,000 parks and schools nationwide within the next five years. "Demand is also tremendous from day-care centers, pediatricians' offices and children's museums," says Kaboom! founder Darrell Hammond. "This could fundamentally change adults' ideas of how children play...
...push to rethink playgrounds comes amid the childhood-obesity epidemic - one-third of American children are now overweight, compared with 4% in 1970 - as well as the movement to make playgrounds more accessible to disabled and autistic kids. About 150 playgrounds in 29 states and Canada have been constructed to the standards of Connecticut-based nonprofit Boundless Playgrounds, which secures grants for some simple improvements - like raising up sandboxes to accommodate children in wheelchairs and installing recliner-shaped swings for kids who need help sitting up - to more complicated ones, such as adding padded nooks for kids who need enclosed...
Florida's Palm Beach County turns 100 this year, and one can forgive residents for feeling particularly nostalgic. Their once exclusive slice of South Florida used to be known primarily as the Kennedys' winter playground and a retiree haven for wealthy Northeasterners. But ever since the chad-infused chaos of the 2000 presidential recount, the largest county (by land mass) east of the Mississippi River has begun to rival Miami as the Sunshine State's capital of corruption and political mischief. It had to endure the sexual scandals of two consecutive congressman, first disgraced Representative Mark Foley and then...