LuckyDog Recreation September Newsletter 2022

Embracing Risk by Playing with Slope!

Slope - It’s a builder’s frustration, it’s a landscaper’s challenge, it’s this playground suppliers delight! Have you ever noticed that most places we take children to play, a park or their school grounds, is generally flat? Equipment is level: stairs up to a level deck and sliding down to a level exit. We play at different levels but everything is on a standard plane of…flat. The site is 180 degrees, the posts are on 90-degree angles, decks, slides, monkey bars….it all repeats. It is a dream for construction – but we don’t live in a flat world.

We venture into the wilderness to enjoy nature at its finest, to hike and play outdoors. We embrace and encourage play on slopes: sliding down to a creek bed to search for rocks and bugs, climbing a stump to see farther, swinging on rope swings tied to tree branches, and scrambling up to an overlook. In the winter we find hills to slide in the snow (or summer ice blocking!?!) and the bumps are everyone’s favorite part!

What changed?

Are we afraid of risk?

It has only been in the past few years that larger parks have started to add some dimensionality to their playground surfaces – creating mounds built into the site, or crafting embankment slides to use as a slope. Read more...

Catch LuckyDog at NRPA in Phoenix, Az this year. We'll be in the coolest places to hang out on the trade-show floor!

Reach out to Leslie Smith Idaho's Play Designer and Nicole Stoddard Wyoming's Play Designer at 208-521-8997 (Leslie's Cell).

Looking Forward to the honor and privilege of meeting up with you at the following vendor booths: Anova, Berliner, Coverworx, Freenotes Harmony Park, FlexGround, Playcraft Systems, Premier Polysteel.

See you in sunny Arizona!!