Playground Design 100 Hours Certificate Course

There are 8 Comprehensive Lessons:

1 Overview of Parks and Playgrounds

• Introduction
• Playground Classification
• Big Toy Playgrounds
• Environmental Playgrounds
• Community Playgrounds
• Adventure (Free Play) Playgrounds
• Themed Playgrounds
• What a Playground is
• Insurance
• Manipulating and CHanging the Environment
• Play Forests
• How Valuable is a Playground?
• Checklist for Functional Value of a Playground Design
• Introduction tp Planning and Design
• The Purpose of a Park or Playground
• The Site Planning Process: Site Analysis, Design Concept, Master Plan

2 Playground Philosophy

• Introduction
• Defining Play
• Theories of Play
• A Modern Perspective
• The Significance of Play
• Other Approaches to Understanding Play
• Playing and the Environment
• Trailing
• Adventure Playgrounds
• Establishing an Adventure Playground
• The Adventure Play Leader
• Site Design

3 Preparing a Concept Plan

• Planning for Play
• Planning Processes
• McLoughlin’s Concept of Systems Planning
• Wilson’s Model of Systems Planning
• General Planning Theories
• Stages in Planning Processes
• Creating Effects
• A Step-by-Step Design Procedure
• Ways of Reducing Costs When Developing a Playground
• Playground Case Study: Occasional Care Centre - Moonee Ponds

4 Materials

• Choosing Materials
• Comparing Construction Materials
• Barriers and Walls
• Surfaces
• Wood in Construction
• Checklist for Play Structures
• Sand Pits
• Use of Water

5 Park and Playground Structures & Facilities

• Introduction
• Social Considerations
• Function
• Safety
• Cost
• Plants
• Garden Buildings and Structures in Parks and Playgrounds
• Siting Garden Buildings
• Planting Around a Garden Building
• Deciding What Building to Use
• What to do With the Floor
• Earth Forming
• Hiring Machinery

6 Local and Neighbourhood Parks

• Introduction
• Fun and Fitness Trails
• Skateboarding
• Outdoor Multi-Purpose Courts
• Court Elements
• Specifications
• Usage
• Park Interpretation
• Planning
• Methods of Intepretation
• What Can be Interpreted?
• BMX Facilities
• Case Study: Community Play Park - Mansfield

7 Community Participation in Park Development

• Introduction
• Ways to Involve the Community
• Planning for Community Projects
• Needs Assessment
• Components of a Needs Assessment
• Needs Assessment Process
• Feasibility Study
• Nature of Community Gardens
• Problems
• Organisation
• Other Considerations

8 Special Assignment

• Lesson 8 consists of learning through completing a special assignment. By now you should have learnt sufficient knowledge about designing parks and playgrounds to have a broad perspective of the field and what it covers.