Lessons from a Non-Domesticated Playground

Dietmar Straub (University of Manitoba)

A prairie school in Winnipeg, Manitoba, following Maria Montessori’s inclusive teachings is a home for families of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds including recent immigrants. Children of this school, ages 2-12, learn to expect that equal opportunities and treatment, irrespective of ethnic origin, skin color, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or nationality, are based on democratic principles and tolerance.

Seven years ago, the school moved to an industrial area where the existing outdoor space was a monoculture of grass and asphalt. It was the dream of the Montessori community to design a naturalized playground for the children's physical, mental, emotional and spiritual growth. Collaborating on this project to transform the outdoor environment, the author applied his notion of ‘Radical Play’ through spatial design practice.

The physical transformation of the outdoor play space was built on the belief in childish experimentation and creativity. Materials and spaces are activated and deactivated by the children, fluctuating freely between permanence, messiness, and a sense of the temporary. Texturing the land with uneven terrain, tall grasses, and diverse loose materials provided beauty and learning through the life and health of a ‘non-domesticated’ environment.

Before the transformation teachers observed a lot of aggressive play in the forms of monster chasing games, and fighting over possessions. Children now work together to build spaceships out of logs, create cities in the sand, and have adventures of their own making in different areas of the playscape.

Four qualitative post-occupancy evaluation methods were applied: written statements from teachers, discrete surveillances, qualitative behavioral descriptions, and targeted aerial observations with a drone. These surveys confirmed the design hypothesis: a natural playground without conventional play structures decreases bullying and aggressive play.

This Montessori prairie playground proves that a ‘non-domesticated’ environment increases creativity, co-operative play, and provides a stage for Radical Play and sustainable learning.