Developing School Grounds & Outdoor Spaces

Developing your school ground or nursery outdoor space is one of the most empowering approaches to learning and play outside. Unlike many aspects of practice, the results are visible. This section contains advice as well as case studies.

To avoid duplication, I’m trying to limit where blog posts are listed. You are strongly advised to have a look at the follow pages that complement this page.

• GARDENING page which lists a diverse range of 50+ posts
• WHOLE SCHOOL page which covers the soft processes of developing outdoor learning and play rather than physical changes to the landscape.
• Developing your outdoor space. Basic info for schools and early years settings to consider in a pdf.

Many of these 100+ blog posts are now quite dated yet the commentary remains relevant and is largely standing the test of time. I hope you continue to find them useful for wider reading or understanding of all that’s involved in making physical changes to an outdoor space. Some of the examples of school grounds and nursery outdoor spaces are valuable snapshots in time. Naturally all settings evolve so many posts feature layouts and areas which no longer exist or have changed.

Getting started

• Developing your school grounds and outdoor spaces – useful books. This is my list of books that cover this topic. Some are free to download 🙂 I try to keep this post fresh as I find and read more books.
• 10 tips for visiting school grounds and outdoor spaces. The essential read if you are planning to visit another establishment to see their developments.
• In the beginning – starting from scratch to develop your outdoor space. One nursery’s approach to consulting stakeholders and generating interest in the project.
• Valentine’s Day – love your grounds and green your heart. A simple approach to involving all children, staff and other stakeholders in thinking about what’s working well outside and what changes need to happen.

Practical advice

• Sandpits outside – challenging myths and misconceptions. The one stop shop for finding out about the ins and outs of having sand in a early years or school grounds. Also lots of examples of practice to give you ideas.
• The Highway Farm sandpit. An illustration of a creative self-build approach: different levels, mirrors, use of platforms and pulleys. Good for settings wanting to stretch the play possibilities.
• Tyres in school grounds. Another comprehensive guide to the ins and outs of having tyres: safety checks, paint, ideas for use, wider thinking around the use of tyres and concerns about their use by children.
• Developing a water play area. An example of one that takes account of Tom Bedard’s dimensions and elements so that it active engages children through open-ended explorations!
• Using local materials and features in your play space. Make the most of your local area’s unique culture and identity by incorporating their use into your outdoor space.
• Crime prevention in school grounds. Advice from an architectural liaison officer – making the most of this professional and your local crime prevention officer and do this before you begin any big changes.
• Every child is a mover at a Stramash Outdoor Nursery. Developing your outdoor provision to support children’s physical skills.

Little tweaks to transform your outdoor space

• 10+ inspirational mirror placements in outdoor spaces. Mirrors can be useful and add interest to an outdoor space. Check out some ideas here.
• Rain chains. They can be functional or aesthetically arty. They can be bought or home-made. Useful addition to collecting water for re-purposing in your outdoor space.
• Real boats in school grounds. Real boats can provide creative opportunities for play or a place to garden. Some examples to whet your appetite.
• 10+ Reasons to have stumps in your outdoor space. Lots of illustrations about how stumps can be used and why they matter. Every school and nursery needs stumps.

Developing specific areas outside

• An interactive pallet play station. Creating an open-ended play feature, mainly from palettes at Stramash Fort William.
• Pallets and pre-school outdoor play. Examples from Glendale Early Education Centre.
• Pallets for repurposing and play. Simple, rustic ideas that can be adapted for use in school grounds and ELC outdoor spaces with a bit of thought and care. This post looks at mainly gardening uses of pallets.
• Traversing walls in schools – 7 tips for their design, development and use. Inspired the open-access example designed by Gordon Young at Barry Island.
• What makes a brilliant mud kitchen? Have a look at this example which is the focus of a PhD study!
• The joy of a slide. Slides are much loved by children, Don’t discount an investment in one and enjoy the range of possibilities exemplified in this post.
• Swings and things in the Glamis Adventure Playground. Lots of examples of swings created by and with children and adventure playground designers.
• Dry creeks and streams. These can be high or low affordance, properly installed or a DIY construction. Lots of to think about but well worth it!
• Where water meets sand and rock. It is a liminal place where the most interesting play can happen but does require some planning and organising to ensure this works for your cohort of children.
• The Glamis Monster. Creating a boundary for an outdoor space can be a play feature and a work of art in its own right. Have a look at this massive mosaic and earth bagging approach!
• Design ideas for bike, trike and scooter play. Wheeled toys are much loved by children. This example of a designated area provides ideas that could be simply adapted on a temporary basis to an outdoor space or helpful for looking at a specific area.
• Inspirational walls in school grounds and beyond. Walls define areas and are a learning and play feature in their own right. They can also be up for a very long time. So care is needed to make them fabulous 🙂
• Geology at the Coombes School. For over a decade, a range of stones and geology features were thoughtfully collated and incorporated into this school grounds.
• The bike track in a school ground. 6 years on this undulating track is still in reasonable nick and can be used by the local community outwith hours at Muirfield Primary in Aberdeen.
• Enter in style at Highway Farm. Your entrances and exits matter in terms of the hidden message it gives children, parents and visitors. Check out these child-friendly measures!
• The Curiosity Shop. A play area created from simple murals that provide a motivation for primary school to play creatively at break times.
• Original playground markings.* Useful temporary designs created by a school janitor. I’ve included in this section as playground markings are a significant investment. Getting the right markings, in the right place and at the right size takes time, thought and a lot of observations of how children and classes use outdoor spaces.
• Art, design, maths and playground markings. Let’s make playground markings interactive and creative. A must-look at post featuring the work of Simon and Tom Bloor.

Structures and shelters

• Permanent shelters in school grounds. This post looks at some matters to consider if you are considering a fixed shelter and gives a range of examples which go beyond the standard shelters typically found in playground equipment catalogues.
• Structures and shelters at Highway Farm. This outdoor nursery has oodles of shelters that ensure children are protected from the elements all year round. The site is on a hill in Cornwall and gets blasted from all directions weather-wise.
• The hobbit house at Highway Farm. Following the children’s lead to make a house from repurposed and recycled materials. Project took 18 months and involved the support of a builder.
• Temporary shelters in school grounds. Sometimes schools prefers options that can be put up and taken down daily.
• Creating shelter by trial and error. This is a beach post but felt it was best to keep the ‘shelter’ posts all in one category.
• The bunk shack – palettes in their place. This is an example of a teenage outdoor space made from palettes that I spotted in a hostel several years ago.

Giving a whole outdoor space a complete revamp

• Kate Greenaway Nursery – a special place for special people. An early years setting for 0-5yr olds that has been designed by Wendy Titman with incredible thought and detail to what little children need and why.
• A naturalised outdoor space for babies. Lovely example from Australia which demonstrates the creative possibilities that exist.
• Maisie’s Garden. An Aberdeen example of a nursery that naturalised it’s outdoor space which included provision for babies and toddlers. Sadly it closed in 2020 but this blog post is well worth a look!
• Mulleborg – Sweden’s first outdoor nursery, established in the mid-eighties. A wee look around the outdoor space.
• Toulcuv Dvur, Prague. *This well-established nursery for 2.5 to 7yrs has traditionally had a strong outdoor ethos, not least because of it’s location within a larger complex that supports environmental education.
• Bringing nature into a Czech nursery. When a long positive relationship is fostered with a local FE college too enable construction skills to be practiced, everyone benefits. Great original ideas!
• A visit to The Coombes CofE Primary School. Founded by Sue Humphries, this school developed its grounds as a learning resource for over four decades.
• Cramond Primary School – a play landscape. This is how to create play embankments. So many options and choices.
• Adventure Aberdeen’s playground. A rather grim patch of grass is transformed into a mixed-age play space using salvaged materials.
• Achnasheen Primary – making the changes. A trip down memory lane for me (back to 2000) and the first time I used a participatory approach to involving children in developing the grounds. It was transformational for all involved.
• Getting to grips with the grounds at Grantown Primary. *My first experience of developing a school ground… a steep learning curve. Another memory lane for me (1994).
• Outdoor art at KapKa Cooperative School. Using art to celebrate rites of passage and to enhance the outdoor space.

Inspirational or interesting installed playgrounds

• Morialta ‘Mukanthi’ Natural Playground. An outstanding example of a naturalised playground within a conservation park at Adelaide. It helps merge play spaces with natural features such as a creek and suitable for the whole family.
• Frew Park Arena Playground, Brisbane – urban awesomeness. A surprisingly interesting concrete and soft playground that made me question my assumptions about what makes a good playground.
• Katanning all ages playground. An example of a 1980’s playground that has somehow managed to stay put – very interesting history.
• The Macquarie Lake Variety Playground. The Aussie blogfest begins. Back in 2015 I had the opportunity to visit Australia. This is the first installed playground I visited and it was quite amazing in terms of size and variety.
• Rio Tinto Naturescape, Perth. This is a natural playscape specifically designed for children. Even the creek is manufactured so it’s a halfway play space between an artificial construct and a natural environment.
• The Children’s Garden, Morton Arboretum. An ambitious play space just outside Chicago but good example of wetlands being integrated into a play space alongside some more traditional features.
• An unofficial nature play space. That’s Rothay Park in Ambleside. Always has been, possibly always will be!
• Rothay Park play log – Ambleside. This park now has its third significant makeover in the past 50 years. It makes use of natural features including a resident oak tree.
• Rio Madrid Park. 6 miles of play park for all ages in the heart of a capital city.
• Bosque de Trepa, Madrid – not a high ropes course! But a high challenge public playspace with something to challenge people of all ages.
• Slide mountain – where geology meets play. When you want slides, then do them well as exemplified at the Rio Madrid Park.
• The Lighthouse Slide. One of the most fabulously quirky slides I’ve come across, based in the Frank Kitts Park, Wellington.
• A bespoke Lithuanian cafe play park. I love quirky examples of installed play parks. This one was near Vilnius. Check out the roundabout tree house at height and multilevels of play areas!
• A Japanese nursery outdoor space. A snapshot in time of a rural nursery from 2012.
• The art of woodland play. How about a walk and play along the way? Check out this innovative area of a forest that provides play features around a short family friendly woodland walk.
• Eoropie – The Playground at the Edge of World. A community run playground in the most northern part of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides. Really special.
• Tom Patey Natural Playground. Dedicated to one of Scotland’s most enigmatic climbers. Good use of local materials.
• A tiny open access sandpit: Chapelton. One small playspace, that is hugely valued by children and their parents.
• Mr Therm the Play Train. When a historic local train becomes a playground feature of a different sort.

Pop up play spaces and temporary approaches

• Pop up nature play – whilst this is an indoor example, the approach can be successfully applied to an outdoor context where you need the freedom to change a space easily. Great for concrete jungles – see the case studies and videos of Middleton Park Primary Nursery in Aberdeen.
• Play – A hidden phoenix of Christchurch. Parents work with school to create a temporary play space following the earthquake ensuring daily opportunities to play outside.
• A tyre sandpit. *This was my first attempt at a pop-up sandpit. Whilst it looks good, there are lessons to be learned and one key one is active and ongoing management of the pit. Also I wouldn’t put soil and plants around the edges anymore.
• A recycled sandpit kitchen. *An example of a play space created through careful use and placement of unwanted home economics furniture – with due regard to checking and ensuring the safety of these to use in this context.
• Inspiration and action to change an outdoor space. This infant school guest post shows a range of simple, temporary measures a teacher took to start the process of change with tiny budget.
• A-maze-ing approaches to labyrinths at The Coombes School.
• The “Sensori” water station. How to pimp play equipment and quickly create an engaging water play area.

Other commentary

• Scarecrows. A nursery celebrated it’s revamped gardening project through a scarecrow celebration day.
• Natural elements in playgrounds. A guest post from Frode Svane providing a perspective on installed public playgrounds.
• What Rusty said in Wales. Commentary from Rusty Keeler, a US playground designer.
• Asphalt to Ecosystems. *An interview with Sharon Danks, author of this amazing book and founding member of the International School Grounds Alliance.
• Northumberlandia – from landform to landscapes. How the design of a massive public art can provide us with guidance for developing a school grounds or outdoor nursery space.