Photo Credit: Courtesy of RDG Planning & Design
In searching for a definition of “natural play,” you’ll likely find descriptive words like “imaginative” or “ecological.” If you ask friends, neighbors or colleagues, it is unlikely any of them will give the same answer. However, if you ask young families in the Des Moines, Iowa, area, they are likely to respond, “Go see the Natural Playscape at Jester Park.”
Jester Park is a 1,834-acre county park situated along Saylorville Lake. The park offers a wealth of recreational opportunities, such as camping, boating, equestrian trails, golf and, tucked into its farthest northwest corner adjacent to an existing and underutilized bison and elk exhibit, a Natural Playscape. This one-acre project is the brainchild of Lewis Major, a naturalist with Polk County Conservation. Major spends much of his time educating children from local communities about the world they inhabit. He noticed the need for a place where children are allowed to escape from the structure of everyday life, and experience nature in a hands-on manner. He envisioned a “… fun, interactive, natural environment where the highlights of the natural world--the creek, the prairie, the forest--are assembled into a safe geographic area. It’s all 1,800 acres of the park inside of one acre.”
The Kickoff
Landscape architects with RDG Planning & Design were retained by Polk County Conservation to facilitate a discussion with members of the community regarding the meaning of natural play, the potential elements of that experience and, ultimately, the physical articulation of their shared vision. These discussions revolved around the ideas of imagination, interaction, safety and accessibility. A unanimous decision was reached that the project should include only natural, recycled or reclaimed materials (no pre-fabricated play structures allowed), and water should be a central element of the experience.