Rethinking playgrounds

Guests: Amy Fusselman, Susan Solomon

Are American playgrounds too safe with their wood chip-padded grounds, the plastic equipment, and fenced-in yards? In “adventure” playgrounds, a new kind of playground in Japan and Europe, kids are given matches, hammers, nails, saws, wood boards, and old mattresses to make fires, build things and destroy them. Sound crazy? Our two guests this hour want to bring these types of spaces to America, where they believe playgrounds  are too confining and so safety oriented that they don’t allow kids to take risks, something that’s critical for children to thrive. Marty talks about ways to rethink play spaces to make them a little more wild with SUSAN SOLOMON, author of The Science of Play: How to Build Playgrounds that Enhance Children’s Development and American Playgrounds and AMY FUSSELMAN, author of Savage Park: A Meditation on Play, Space, and Risk for Americans who Are Nervous, Distracted and Afraid to Die.

(AP Photo/Mike Derer)