Infinite autonomous thanks

67,000 page views and 37,000 unique visitors last month...hey, thanks!  Especially since I remember how excited I was when the blog first hit 60,000 page views TOTAL.  I'll do my best to keep you supplied with inspiring playscapes.

Above, the maze at the Dell Children's Hospital in Austin Texas (photo by peter tsai via flickr)  and a temporary playground maze for a Renaissance Fair in Ohio [via bloggingohio].

One of the things we discussed at the playground chat in London was the idea of infinite vs. finite play.  I've continued to think about that alot, along with the idea of autonomous vs. directed play, and how those are shaped by the built environment of the playground.

The Dell maze is impressive as an architectural construct but can't be reconfigured in any way.   The temporary maze, on the other hand, can be reconfigured just by moving the fabric panels, so that the experience is always new; it moves more towards the infinite.

But probably only the grown-up mazekeeper (is there such a thing as the mazekeeper?  Veery cool job title) is allowed to make changes in the walls of the maze, so it scores low on autonomy.  Allowing the walls to become gates, so that the children could continually adjust their environment, would push the play experience even further toward the infinite and the autonomous.   It would change the definition of a maze--traditionally a finite path with a definite goal--but allow for the continual creation of new games. (I bet they'd run more and faster, too...everybody moans about childhood obesity without thinking about how boring we've made physical activity.)

How can playground installations change to move toward autonomy and infinity?

I'm thinking of how we (brothers, sisters, and an assortment of neighbors!) used to play on the backyard swingset.  We'd adjust the chain length on the swings (high, low, asymmetric)  and prop up the slide for different angles.  We'd raise the slide up completely, and slide the picnic table under it, then add another slide off the picnic table for a two-stager.  It didn't really work that well but the fun was that we made it ourselves.

I know that this is what adventure playgrounds are all about.  But the fact is that great as adventure playgrounds are, I don't think they're ever going to be widely available.  A more egalitarian solution is to find ways to move existing structures, already acceptable in the public mind, towards autonomy and infinity.