CURIOUS little heads are poking over the fence down at Braithwaite Park with the massive half-million-dollar nature playground well under construction.
There’s a fair chunk of play equipment aimed at the little-uns around Vincent, but this one’s being built for older kids, aged 10 to 14. The nature play ethos gets kids away from the sterile and super-safe surrounds of regular playgrounds and gets them to muck around in the dirt a bit, with research showing it improves cognitive function, creativity, and being exposed to a bit of nature even stimulates the immune system.
Mayor John Carey says “I think it’s one of the most exciting projects that the city has done, and in fact what the contract companies tell me is that every day kids are lining up and parents are looking through the fence watching the playground move forward.
“For us it’s about getting kids away from their TV sets and out enjoying the outdoors, but to do that you’ve got to provide nature playgrounds that are really interesting and exciting and have that risk factor, and I think this will be the best in the city.”
Years 6s and 7s were asked to contribute to the design, tossing in ideas for what they’d want to see, and the final thing will have a flying fox, birds-nest swing, climbing cargo net, and teepees.
It’s due to be finished around the middle to end of May.
by DAVID BELL
Perth Voice Interactive 
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