Playgrounds are big business for parents, especially in an era when there has never been more pressure to limit screen time and to get little ones out of the house and into the fresh air.
But gone are the days of the brightly painted lone set of red or blue monkey bars, and the solo tunnel connecting the stairs to a short slide.
Playgrounds are bigger and better than ever before.
Perth parents are travelling up and down the coast to take their little ones to some of the more inventive spots the city has to offer.
In fact, there’s a booming economy online of social media creators garnering thousands — and at times hundreds of thousands — of views on their videos showcasing them.
Among them is Perth Mums Who duo Nellie and Ash D’Avray.
The sisters-in-law regularly visit a new Perth park with their combined four kids, curating a video highlight of the best bits and sharing it with their 17,000 followers.
“There’s so many good options in Perth, we are really spoilt for choice,” Ash told The Sunday Times as her son Louis dangled his feet from one of the swings at their local playground.
But what exactly makes a good playground — sensory play, water play, accessibility?
Plan E Landscape Architects principal David Smith is the brains behind popular playgrounds including the Busselton foreshore playground and the Rio Tinto Naturescape in Kings Park.
After close to 30 years creating playgrounds, Mr Smith has watched the design philosophy evolve dramatically.
“There’s been a major shift in playground design and also playground philosophy over the last 10-15 years,” he said.
“It’s basically gone from equipment-based playgrounds to themed and imagination — or stimulation-based playgrounds, so playgrounds that don’t just respond to a child’s physical development, but respond just as strongly to their social and mental development as well.”
Mr Smith is designing three new playgrounds — two for the metro area and one in regional WA — and he said the concepts continued to get bigger and better as demand for new projects grew.
“There’s a huge demand and I think they’re under great demand because educators in particular see the benefits of playgrounds in building children’s social skills as well as their physical skills,” he said.
“Playgrounds are now becoming an integral part of a child’s development, as opposed to a place where parents send them to be entertained.
“They’re very much now designed to be a social catalyst for the whole family.”
The Kids Research Institute Australia’s Healthy Behaviours and Environments Program head Associate Professor Hayley Christian said the value of playgrounds could not be underestimated in childhood development.
“Playgrounds are one of many very important spaces where children have the opportunity to play, be active, grow and learn,” she said.
“Play really is the backbone and the mechanism pathway to all aspects of a child’s development — whether it’s physical, social, emotional, cognitive.”
Good play spaces and playgrounds catered for a wide variety of age groups, she said, including as old as mid-teenage years.
“We need to think about play spaces for different age groups,” she said.
“What a two-year-old needs is very different to what a 14-year-old needs (and) we see differences in boys and girls that may be driven by sex, but also part of our culture and our social goals and needs as well.
“It’s also not just what’s in a playground that encourages different types of play and movement and activity, but it’s also those routes to and from them, so making sure we’ve got connecting paths, and we don’t have four lanes of traffic to cross so we can enjoy the route to and from the playground.”
From a parent’s perspective, Nellie and Ash agree there are some key things parents look for when making a trip to a playground.
“I think what a lot of mums are looking for these days are things like safety, so finding a playground with a fence is a really big one these days,” Nellie said.
For Ash, there also needed to be a number of swings and slides to deal with high demand, while any kinds of water play were always popular.
As the cost-of-living crisis continues to grip West Aussies, Ash also said Perth mums were increasingly looking for activities that families could do without dipping into their pockets.
“It can be really expensive to entertain the kids,” she said.
“We’re happy to drive for a good playground, and lots of Perth mums are because you can pack your lunch box, and you can go out and have essentially a free morning out.”
Mr Smith echoed those sentiments, adding councils and local authorities were also well aware of the importance of the facilities.
“They are an incredibly valuable, largely free social resource,” he said.
“I think all councils understand the value of play in society, and particularly for younger kids … They are very much engaged in providing really good quality environments for kids.”
Nellie said most parents were “just looking for something to get the kids out of the house, keep the kids occupied and entertained”.
While it has been more than a decade since he saw the King’s Park Naturescape first come to life — a favourite of Associate Professor Christian, who said it was a perfect example of a spot for all ages — Mr Smith said he thought it was Perth’s “best all-round playground”.
“That’s probably the one that I would say was the most groundbreaking at the time,” he said.
“It was one of the first in Australia of its kind, or probably one of the first in the world of its kind.”
Having seen the design landscape change, Mr Smith said today there were some important elements that made a good playground.
“In times gone by, playgrounds were very much a response to a child’s physical activity . . . playgrounds were very much equipment-based and very much based on physical activity,” he said.
“I think contemporary playgrounds are much more engaged with storytelling, role-play, physical growth, mental growth.”
Perth Mums Who’s Top 5 Perth playgrounds
Riverlinks All Abilities Playground, Clarkson
Nellie: “Has a great bike park for the kids”
Adventure Park, Calista
Ash: “With a splash pad and a bike skills track right next door, this one is popular among parents.”
Piney Lakes Sensory Playground, Winthrop
Nellie: “Piney Lakes is among the most popular we’ve posted about.”
Bibra Lake Regional Playground, Bibra Lake
Ash: “Also has a great splash pad!”
Maylands Waterland, Maylands
Ash: “Maylands Waterland is great for water play, especially with the warmer weather at this time of year.”