While friends tell me they hadn't noticed playgrounds until they had their own children this isn't entirely true in my case.
I grew up on some of the poorest and most dangerous council estates and what I noticed, even as a kid, was how God awful rough our playgrounds were. The one space dedicated to children with no money was often strewn with litter, burnt out bins and broken glass. Those playgrounds were all too visible symbols of how little society cared for us.
It’s true though, that now I’m a parent, I've developed a whole new appreciation for playgrounds. I like to think of them as the sibling of libraries – truly egalitarian spaces, where everyone in the community can go for free, stay as long as they want and are expected to give nothing in return. When we consider how much social isolation is part of our new modern lives and as we struggle with trying to get children away from screens, as housing in many cities becomes ever more cramped, they become vitally important.
We have a running joke in our family, which is that we might not be able to tell you where the best restaurants are in any given city, but we could pinpoint every excellent park in Tokyo, Paris or, in this case, Helsinki.
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In fact, I’ve traveled specially from Sweden by ferry to a specific Helsinki playground because it’s the first computer themed one in the world. It combines STEM education with creative, imagination-based play. There is a huge ‘computer-processor’ climbing frame, a racing track painted to resemble code and a stage shaped like a phone screen. The concept is inspired – get our kids away from staring at a computer screen by letting them run around inside one.
On the sunny May day I visited Playground Ruoholahti, inaugurated on the 1st October 2024, they were trialling having a permanent, and hugely enthusiastic, educator, Miriam, onsite. Her job is to help facilitate and engage the many school groups who come daily. Besides this, she explains, they have their own communal building where they can hold activities, and each summer, rain or shine, they serve a free daily communal lunch to every child.
Playground Ruoholahti is the passion project of Finnish children’s book author and illustrator, Linda Liukas, known for her books on coding for children and her international efforts with Rails Girls, an NGO designed to get girls, ‘Started in Tech’ with, ‘sketching, prototyping, basic programming and introductions into the world of technology.’
I asked Linda, who is also currently in talks about outdoor play with Education Scotland regarding their Curriculum Improvement Cycle, what her ultimate goal with the design was: “To show that computers are not just screens. They are made of ideas we can move through and explore with our bodies. I wanted children to feel curiosity and confidence around technology.”
Of course there are challenges with any pioneering project she tells me, she was careful “to keep the wonder. It was hard to balance learning with play. We didn’t want to explain too much. We wanted children to discover things on their own or with their school or kindergarten group”.
Perhaps what is most notable about this incredible playground is how it keeps on evolving. They now have curriculum guides in both Finnish and English to enable teachers to take children there and follow a range of games or activities based on several different learning styles. It is truly a resource for the whole community, with all ages covered.
I asked Linda what other countries, and specifically Scotland, might be able to take from the model of her Helsinki park. She was already impressed with our educators’ engagement with outdoor play: “Scotland's curriculum already supports outdoor learning as a means to enhance engagement and understanding. Use what is already there: local stories, weather, landscapes. You don’t need good weather to build good play, we in Finland know it! Look closely at how children already play, whether in the digital or physical world. And let children help with the design.
“This is not specific to Finland. My family have visited other parks taking that extra step to bring value and education to their young patrons and our travels recently – in Stavanger, an oil town in Norway, familiar to me as an Aberdonian Quine, there is a playground entirely constructed from leftover sea and oil equipment outside the petroleum museum. Even in our hometown Malmö, we have a sprawling playground of makeshift frames, swings, ships, and dens made from scrap wood, metal and tires with tools and materials on site so that children can, as they wish, constantly add and adapt the space for themselves.”
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Playgrounds can be the heart of a community. They not only bring children together, provide adults with the respite and something to do to fill the hours on the weekend or after school, but they provide points of connections in neighborhoods where people might not otherwise cross paths.
Playgrounds are about exercise and education yes, but also feeling a sense of appreciation and ownership of your patch. And of course, they are about socialisation, which feels ever more important in a world where we are all stuck behind our screens barely looking up to meet the eye of the person in front of you.
While some people might spend their time traveling, discovering the latest Michelin star restaurant or seeking out local artisanal boutiques, I think there is as much art, humanity and narrative in a beautiful, thoughtfully designed playground. Playgrounds offer one of the greatest opportunities to gain insight into local life and isn't that what we travel for?
Kerry Hudson is an award-winning, bestselling novelist and memoirist. You can find her on Instagram and on Threads @ThatKerryHudson
