SOME OF THE BEST CHILDREN'S PARKS IN THE WORLD...

i love how the Danish folk think.....
I love their emphasis on family time, play and outdoor living....
Since Sarah will be on a pretty tight budget whilst we are in Copenhagan and she will have the children,  I have been researching things that we can do with them on a budget....
Copenhagen has some of the best children's parks in the work, and I have been looking at quite a few of the "Monstrum" designed and inspired parks that we can visit...
 I love that he designs parks to reflect the history of the area or in keeping with the area in which the park is being erected....


Oh to be a child again.....
I would so love playing on these parks myself..
Now to see how many we can visit whilst we are there..I
Here are a few that I am looking at and hoping to visit.....

THE PARROT IN COPENHAGEN...
About the project
When looking at the brute fortress-resembling gate to Skydebanehaven in Copenhagen you wonder what it leads to.
Most of all, it looks like a scene from a movie with knights and princesses. However, on the other side of the gate you find Vesterbro’s secret green oasis with room for both strolling senior citizens and playful children.
Skydebanehaven used to be the shooting range for the Copenhagen Shooting Society. The society was a gallery for upper middle-class members, who competed in hitting wooden parrots on stakes.

A big parrot with multiple levels inside is the new central play equipment on the playground.
You can run and climb on the outside of the parrot. Children can whoop it up on the large inclined deck covering the parrot’s tail. The parrot is furthermore equipped with a double slide.

BRUMLEBY

About the project
Brumleby is one of Copenhagen’s architectonic culture gems. In 1997, Brumleby was awarded the Europa Nostras prize for its preservation and renovation. The objective of the playground is to add an element to Brumleby that would reflect the nature of the neighbourhood as well as turn everything topsy-turvy.

Back in the days in 1800-something, when Brumleby was located in the countryside there was a dairy and a slaughterhouse at Brumleby. The idea of the playground is to create a piece of this old Brumleby to remind us of its fantastic history. At the same time the Brumleby playground had to be a pretty sight for the adults, and a fun place to play in for the little ones.
Here, everything is allowed. There are climbing grips on the walls, slides from the windows, and balancing lanes from house to house. The children can rush in and out, and up ad down. All this without risking the safety. The playground also includes a combination of roll-over bars, seesaws and the-ground-is-lava-tracks.
The Brumleby playground consists of three houses, a baker’s shop, and an ice-cream booth. The surface around the houses is cast rubber. A the-ground-is-lava snake has been set up next to the small village. Two of the snake bends give room for a swing set with a bird’s nest swing and two common swings.

 PETZI'S WORLD AT TIVOLI

About the project
Tivoli’s major new initiative in 2010 was Petzi’s World.
In cooperation with the prize wining American architect, Jumana J. Brodersen, and Tivoli’s architect, Jonathan Wright, MONSTRUM designed and built more than 30 new playground equipments for a 1.300 m2 large playground.
The area incorporates playing islands connected by rope ladders. Balancing equipment extends from the ship Mary, the submarine and the raft, and leads up to the nine meter tall lighthouse

The Danish cartoon series on Petzi tell about a life of adventure. Petzi and his friends sail their ship Mary to discover new land, solve problems for their new friends, build new things, trade, and play together.
In Tivoli in Copenhagen you can become part of the adventure.
Petzi and his friends have sailed their ship Mary to an island and now begin to explore the area. They do climbing, jumping, swinging and enjoy the splashing of water.
Mary is resting on the side on the island, which appears to be the hump of Petzi’s friend, the whale. Visitors are splashed with water when the whale blows through its breathing hole. There are drops and sprays of water everywhere on the playground.
Around the whale you find many funny challenges. You can jump from rock to rock in the shallow water around Mary’s hull and climb the low hanging ropes along the hull sides. You can also balance on the ropes in the shoreline, climb through barrels and play on a raft.
With ice and blue water, Pingonisia is the home of the penguins. It is an ideal spot for the youngest children. The water drops are tiny, and the slopes are very gentle. You can climb the floating chunks of ice and the gently curved rocks, and play in the tiny water splashes. Seats close to the playing area makes this an ideal resting place for the parents, who can easily observe the curiously playing small children in the enclosed area.

 THE TOWERS OF COPENHAGEN

About the project
The Tower Playground is the winner of Danish Design Award awarded by the Danish Design Centre and has been chosen as City’s Best Children Experience of the on-line city guide, AOK.
A donation from the AP Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation for General Purpose made it possible to realize the renewal of the park.
As part of the ’Fælledparken’s’ renewal, the Copenhagen municipality realized an extensive renovation of the old playground. MONSTRUM in collaboration with GHB Landscape Architects was chosen to design and develop the new playground called “TheTower playground.”
PlayAlive A/S delivered the electronic play devices to the area called “roofs”.
 
If you as a small child want to feel big go to ‘Fælledparken’ in Copenhagen and visit The Tower Playground with its countless opportunities for physical activity and technological interaction.
Here, children can play electronic catch over the rooftops by following the screams of sea gulls, solve a riddle in the Round Tower or talk like a politician from the Town Hall Tower.
The playground is designed as an urban playground, where the children learn about historical facts.
The playground is inspired by five of Copenhagen’s most famous buildings: the Town Hall Tower, the tower of Our Saviour’s Church, the Round Tower, the cupola of the Marble Church and the tower of the Stock Exchange. Together the towers form a challenging playground, among other features using new technology and sounds to encourage to high physical activity.
The Round Tower is 5.5 meters tall, 3.3 meters in diameter. It has an interior ramp, winding 2.5 times around the tower and leading to the lookout platform where a small planetarium allows you to explore the stars. Going down you can take the slide or rope bridges to the Town Hall Tower. You can also climb the silhouette of the city to Our Saviour’s Church and play your own composition on the church bells.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE PLAY HEAD

About the project
This playground is one of five art playgrounds constructed by the City of Copenhagen in 2009 and 2010.
The playground was developed in co-operation with the painter Peter Land. It includes a giant play head, two hands, ten mushrooms, and a swing.
The head and the hands are made of numerous layers of, finely shaped on the outside and on the inside formed in complex shapes like in a tortuous brain.

 There are many ways to move around inside the brain, with narrow tunnels to crawl and platforms, maybe for making a sand cake. The eyes of the play head are prism-shaped coloured windows lighting up the inside of the head in orange and blue.
On the outside, the play head is a mix between a climbing frame and a slideway. The primary objective is of course to be able to sit on the top of the head.
In addition to being a play equipment, the head is a sculpture with references to artists who have worked with fabulous creations, all the way from Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brueghel to the surrealists.

And there are so so many more, but all of these are in pretty much close proximity to where Pete and Maria live so if we manage to get to visit all of these I will be happy.  Kind of makes you want to relive your own childhood over again....