Award winning German playground

One of our school's parents submitted these images of a playground in
Bad Wildungen, her home town in Germany. It's built around the theme of a Mikado game.
All of the play structure posts are made to look like enormous Mikado sticks.

The giant blue bucket in the sand play area is great fun!
     
Rules for safety surfaces in Germany are different from Canada
judging by the grass surface underneath the seesaw swing and the
braided rope swing. The grass and the surrounding shrubs and trees
make the entire space feel very green, lush and welcoming.

Sewer pipe hill

A change in level, no matter how small, will add interest to any landscape.
A small hill to run up and down, and a sewer pipe to crawl through,
will provide endless hours of entertainment. As with any other playground
element, the addition of carefully chosen trees, shrubs and plants,
will make it look great.

Logs for climbing

A criss-cross pattern of large logs can form a low tech climbing
and balancing structure, which at the same time, offers kids an
interesting place to sit. Children's imagination will also turn this
pile of logs into a store, or an appartment complex, a space ship
or a fishing boat.

Fun in a ditch

For a school ground to be a nurturing space for everyone, it should be designed and thought of as a garden.
No great garden is complete without the presence of some form of water.
Forget ponds and fountains for the school setting, but a shallow ditch that fills with rainwater
can be a huge form of entertainment. Dressed up with different sized rocks and
pebbles and surrounded by planting, this ditch becomes a river bed.