What goes into deciding what a playground looks like? Aesthetic decisions and safety considerations guide the shape, colour and size of the materials features and styles within a playground. While these fundamentals are important, there is another important element to consider when sketching play spaces – narrative design. Every school has a story and history, and narrative play space design brings these to life.
As a place to enable children to interact with history and culture beyond the classroom, narrative design can be invaluable in creating the most versatile and adaptable schooling experience. Here is Playscape’s approach to weaving culture into outdoor play spaces.
What is narrative playground design?
A cultural narrative playground approach adds another dimension to the outdoor learning spaces. In addition to building for inclusivity, safety, and fun, play spaces can reflect the local geography, history, and cultural values of the area. Every great playground should be aesthetically pleasing, and narrative playground design takes this a step further by inviting connection and conversation in a unique, evocative setting in which it is built.
Playgrounds can provide another canvas for this story to be told. This approach may take the form of colours, patterns or shapes that represent elements of significance.
Narrative design across Playscape’s play spaces
Every school and community have a story, and that’s what is brought to life in outdoor learning spaces across New Zealand.
Pukekohe Hill School
Adding a touch of culture and storytelling to this play area helped transform it into a space used year-round, for fun and learning. The school’s symbol is the iconic koru, which was integrated into the play space’s version of ‘Pukekohe Hill’, a feature that adds elevation. As a space intended to be the new heart of the school, designing it so that it reflected the school was essential. As an outdoor area with plenty of nature-inspired features and planting, coherence with the landscape was achieved, as was cohesion with the school’s cultural identity.
Mangere Bridge School
Often described as the God of the sea in Māori culture, Tangaroa was central to creating a play space that reflected Mangere Bridge School. With the principal on board to guide the vision for this project, Playscape took an active interest in gathering stories and learning about the local history, people, and environment.
The layout of the play space reflects a journey through ocean and land. The shape of a stingray, symbolising protection, is seen in the wet pour rubber under the monkey bars. Following through the space, rocks on the other side suggest the experience of arriving on land, where Maori-inspired huts and a large mound can be explored.
Te Ao Marama School
The cultural narratives that guided the outdoor learning areas in this Rototuna, Hamilton-based school began with the environment. As a once-thriving wetland, the whenua used to provide abundance to Ngāti Wairere, the local hapu. Playscape’s design decisions were informed by how the land was used in the past, depicting the history and culture of the environment.
The space also reflects local landscapes of significance, such as mounds and waterplay areas representing the natural mounds and waterway within Waikato. With these elements in place, the space becomes more welcoming and conducive to open and imaginative play.
What are the benefits of narrative play space design?
Stronger cultural connections
In addition to absorbing a well-balanced curriculum, schools provide a place for children to learn and process culture and history. Narrative and culturally rich play spaces enhance this by embedding these into a playground design. Schools encourage kids to develop a sense of belonging – whether it’s with their own unique background, a sports team, or something else. With play spaces built on cultural markers and symbols of significance, children are presented with the opportunity to connect deeper to their space, through story-telling.
Richer outdoor learning
Embedding stories and culture into play spaces adds an extra layer for tamariki to engage with. These elements help children develop critical thinking skills and assists in processing content, identifying patters, and forming comprehensive recognition in a narrative-rich play space.
Embracing interconnectivity
Last but not least, narrative play space design encourages schools to feel open, connected and proud. By working with the surrounding landscapes and embracing historical features, play spaces support a broader understanding of the world beyond the classroom. This approach helps schools feel welcoming and layered, not purely functional. It doesn’t replace traditional teaching environments, but extends them, recognising schools as places for learning, play and social interaction.
Design cultural and narrative-inspired play areas with Playscape
Got a unique story for your school? Playscape works collaboratively to create an outdoor learning space that reflects the history of the area and the cultural context it sits in. For bespoke, narrative-themed play areas that kids will use year-round, reach out to Playscape.