Daniel makes stuff, and, in his spare time, writes about things like movies, kid culture, and geek stuff.
New Electronic Park Hopes to Lure Kids Outside to Play

There’s just so much going wrong here I don’t know where to start.

A city near Salt Lake City, Utah, thinks they just might have an answer to the “epidemic” of children not playing outside anymore, due to those darn good-for-nothing video games that they play.

“We’re losing a lot of kids to the basement,” said Diana Ross, co-owner of Playspace Designs. “How do we get them back to the park?”

Oh, please say you have The Answer, Ms. Ross, please? Oh, you do? Why, it’s… it’s… a new-fangled electronic version of the all-time great American hallmark, the park! (Wha?)

“We can almost sucker them into thinking this is like a video game,” Ross said, “but this is very, very active play.” Three new pieces of electronic equipment, each supporting multiple games, are designed to keep children moving more than video games, slides or jungle gyms usually allow, Egget said.

Among the games going digital: capture the flag and tug of war. To play capture the flag, as many as seven teams gather around a network of pipes and lights that looks like a 21st century swing set.

The outdoor “electronic” park, which Ms. Ross helped design, is supposed to open within a couple of months – surely to the delight and joy of children everywhere.

Meanwhile, I spent the day playing with kids in a decidely lower-tech way: by building with cardboard boxes and other found objects outside at the local farmer’s market.

And frankly, even though this new-fangled, high-falutin’ “electronic” playground does actually sound kinda cool, I still think kids will take play environments that they have control and power over any day of the week. Just spending more and more money to find new ways to entertain and dazzle children won’t make them want to play outside any more — because we’re still only offering them what is ultimately an adult’s conception of play, limited to within an adult-designed structure and environment.

If we want kids to go outside and play, then maybe we should just a) let them (it’s actually, after all, mainly sociological conditions, like our fear-driven culture, that are keeping kids indoors — so let’s all stop picking on video games now); and b) allow them to play however they wish, with them being the ones having control over their play. It is theirs, after all — or did we forget that?

Jul 17, 2009 :: Tagged under: , , :: #