NEW! Origins Natural Playground Equipment

Origins™ Natural Playground Equipment Overview

Build an Origins natural playground and kids will quickly start to blossom. Studies show that playtime in natural playgrounds stimulates all aspects of childhood development, from coordination and balance to problem-solving skills.1 Origins’ ground-breaking holistic design approach maximizes these benefits by blurring the line between nature and a structured play environment.

Choose from a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional play activities that reconnect children to nature, including:

Plus! Check out our Nature-Themed Play Equipment

A 3-D pretend play experience that lets kids imaginations run wild.

Footnote: 1White, Randy. "Benefits for Children of Play in Nature." White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group. Web. 21 July 2010. http://www.whitehutchinson.com/children/articles/benefits.shtml

How Origins™ Natural Playgrounds Work

Origins makes it easy to create an educational and developmentally beneficial natural playground—even in the most urban communities. Here’s how:

Immersive Natural Play Activities

Origins natural playgrounds enable kids to interact directly with nature, whether they’re tending to plants in Garden Beds, or sliding down a Hill Slide that’s built directly into your site’s landscape.

Lifelike—and Living—Materials

Boulders, T-Rex, and Diggables are made with patented PolyFiberCrete®, a durable, non-slip material that looks and feels just like real rock or fossil. And GardenScapes let you add real plants and flowers at every turn in your playground.

Virtually Maintenance-Free Solutions

There’s another reason to love our materials: They’re incredibly low-maintenance. PolyFiberCrete won’t crack or chip over time. And GardenScapes products use GardenSoxx®, specially designed mesh “socks” that keep compost and plants neatly and easily contained.

The Research Behind Origins™ Nature Play Equipment

Research has long shown that natural playgrounds benefit virtually every aspect of childhood wellness. Yet today's children are spending less time outdoors in nature than any generation in history.1 We created Origins nature play equipment to bring the benefits of nature back to our children.

• Nature buffers the impact of life's stresses on children and helps them deal with adversity. 2

• Time spent outdoors is linked to immunity development.3

• Those with access to natural outdoor areas that they can use easily and feel comfortable in have higher levels of physical activity. 3

• Children who play regularly in natural environments show more advanced motor fitness, including coordination, balance, and agility.2

• The problem-solving skills kids learn when playing outdoors aids them in learning executive functioning - the complex skills of planning, organizing, sequencing, and decision making.4

• Children with views of and contact with nature score higher on tests of concentration and self-discipline.2

• Children with symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are better able to concentrate after contact with nature.2

• Children who play in nature have more positive feelings about each other, tend to be more social, and are less likely to bully. 2

• Direct contact with nature in childhood is the most critical influence on later attitude toward the environment.5

Footnote:
1 Willett, David. "Outdoors Alliance for Kids." Sierra Club. 1 June 2010. Web. 21 July 2010. http://action.sierraclub.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=179828.0

2 White, Randy. "Benefits for Children of Play in Nature." White Hutchinson. 8 Nov. 2008. Web. 14 July 2010. http://www.whitehutchinson.com/children/articles/benefits.shtml.

3 Munoz, Sarah A. "Children in the Outdoors." Review. Sustainable Development Research Center 2009. Web. 19 July 2010. http://www.countrysiderecreation.org.uk/Children%20Outdoors.pdf.

4 Burdette, Hillary, MD, MS and Robert C. Whitaker, MD, MPH. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, January 2005. http://www.thechildrenshospital.org/wellness/info/news/40765.aspx.)

5 Zaradic, Patricia A., and Oliver R. Pergams. "Videophilia: Implications for Childhood." The Journal of Developmental Processes 2.1 (2007): 130-47. Web. 21 July 2010. http://videophilia.org/uploads/videophilia2.pdf.

Origins Nature Play Products & Programming

Origins give you countless ways to build a natural playground—from the flowering, hands-on fun of GardenScapes to the towering climbing adventure of Boulders and Ropes.

View all Origins products

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