Involving Nursery School Children in the Design Process of Play Structures

Abstract

Children, Youth and Environments 17(1), 2007 Involving Nursery School Children in the Design Process of Play Structures Ko Senda Environment Design Institute Tokyo, Japan Junji Kuwabara Nihon University Tokyo, Japan Citation: Senda, Ko and Junji Kuwabara (2007). “Involving Nursery School Children in the Design Process of Play Structures.” Children, Youth and Environments 17(1): 326-327. Keywords: playground design, children’s participation, Japan, universitycommunity collaboration In the winter of 2004, Seinan Nursery School approached the Environmental Design Institute for help in the design of their outdoor play environment. In a cooperative project with the College of Art at Nihon University, the design was carried out by 26 second year students of the Architectural Design Course under the supervision of Prof. Kuwabara and Dr. Senda. The Seinan Nursery School is a state school with approximately 60 pupils located in central Tokyo. Many of the pupils come to school from neighboring flats, where outdoor play is difficult at home. The school policy is for nursery education to be practiced “through the environment.” While the play structure creation design program has been going on for more than 25 years, this time a more cooperative process of creating play structures was attempted with the nursery school. The university students visited the school and listened to the children’s requests, made presentations of their plan using models, and presented a video letter of their creation process. Nursery school children also visited the college. Specifically, the design program was carried out for three hours in the afternoon, once a week for four months from April to July 2004 (14 class periods), with one final full day in September. The students formed six groups by mutual agreement and each of them made a presentation at the nursery school in front of pupils, teachers and parents. So that nursery school pupils could understand the design, the university students developed presentation methods that included songs, Involving Nursery School Children in the Design Process of Play Structures 327 picture-story shows, dramas, and models. Each group generally received a good response and started making detailed plans and began selecting materials. The groups made a video letter of their building process that was shown at the nursery school. In the thirteenth lecture, the head teacher and a few pupils and parents visited the college to see the building process, and university students tested the play structures and checked their size and resistance to children’s weight. At the end of September, the play structures were carried from the college to the nursery school and were installed on the ground (Figure 1). Pupils at the school helped the college students with the installation work. Then, while teachers were watching, the children were allowed to play freely on the structures. Some problems were subsequently identified and the structures were partially removed in October so that they could be fixed. Figure 1. University and nursery school students setting up the play structures at the nursery school Because university students typically have few opportunities to come in contact with small children, they could not have achieved the successful design of these play structures without the interaction afforded by this project. The interchange between personnel, children and students was a memorable process for all. For more information, please contact: Ko Senda Environment Design Institute 5-12-22, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032, Japan phone: +81-3-5575-7171 fax: +81-3-5562-9928 email: ksenda@ms-edi.co.jp ...