What School Playgrounds of The Future Will Look Like

Covid 19 certainly has had quite a significant impact on the world and we perhaps still don’t know yet the full ramifications and implications it has imposed upon societies. But there is one thing for sure and that is the world has or will need to change and adapt our way of life quite significantly to combat global warming and other environmental issues which are now ever more pressing.

I have spent the last 21 years visiting schools to talk to teachers, staff and children about what they want or need for their playground. This is an element of my job that I love as it gives me a first-hand opportunity to meet with interested parties and to fully understand what they need. I cannot understand companies who never go out of their way to meet their customer base – how can you understand in this instance what they want or how they think? When I am visiting a school playground, my “creative radar” is always on as I am forever scanning the playground for other ideas or other products I have seen which we could adapt or make better. A chance or casual comment from a school teacher could, and has, spawned a completely new product range for our company!

But from all of my recent visits to schools, there are some topics which come back time and time again; the environment and how schools need to embrace moving to a low carbon economy and sustainable life habits. And how to improve children’s mental and physical well-being especially nowadays after having had to spend so much time off school because of the enforced lockdowns. So if I was to crystal ball gaze, I would say that the playground products of the future (or near future) would be designed with these aspects in mind. They might even be playing in a virtual reality playground if the recently released video from Mark Zuckerberg of Meta (Facebook) is anything to go by! Personally, I really hope not.

At the Hideout House Company, we have already started moving in this direction with some of our products. For example, we are using and ever more so recycled plastic instead of the traditional timber. There are some very good reasons for this – firstly it is very eco friendly as it is made out of recycled plastic milk cartons so rather than going to landfill, it is now your school’s playground! Plus there are other benefits too – it does not rot or decay and typically lasts a lot longer than timber (x5)

Schools also now have in their playgrounds outdoor gym equipment which of course are excellent items for physical as well as mental fitness. But imagine that you had a piece of equipment which when the children exercised on it, it actually created power which could power up some school lights for example or even be sent back to the grid for future use. Not only are children getting fit but they are also contributing to creating the greenest power possible for their school and their local community. We have already started exploring this possibility with our special dynamo pedal bikes which you have to pedal to create power/electricity.

Our eco outdoor classrooms feature a unique renewable energy equipment package which consists of a solar panel, wind turbine and a central control panel with battery, outdoor sockets, bulk head light and datalogger. I have noticed that this year, approximately half of our outdoor classroom sales feature this piece of equipment.

Whilst on the subject of outdoor classrooms, it is also Outdoor Classroom Day this week. Worth checking out the website.

We as a company are always open to ideas so if your school has an idea or concept in mind that promotes and incentivises mental health, physical wellbeing and the environment, then we would love to hear from you

Please contact the Hideout House Company on 01832 275902 or email: info@hideouthouse.com