What does it take to make the world’s best playgrounds? What are the best play motivators for children to play, stay and come back again and again? Which designs inspire children to play and develop physically, social-emotionally and cognitive-creatively? These are the main research and innovation questions of the KOMPAN Play Institute.
The KOMPAN Play Institute is KOMPAN’s unit of play specialists, dedicated to developing, documenting and researching play and playgrounds. The KOMPAN Play Institute has been part of developing, researching and advocating playgrounds for KOMPAN since the 1980s.
The main work areas of the KOMPAN Play Institute are:
Research in playground and child development
Testing and documentation of play designs with children of all abilities
White papers, publications and research on playground-specific topics
Consultancy and advocacy on playgrounds and city planning for play
Play changes as times and lifestyles change, but children remain constant play experts in an evolving world. Successful play designs are based on their input, combined with a specialist insight into the ongoing changes in child development. Thorough research and a respectful mindset of carefully listening to and observing children at play are the corner stones of KOMPAN’s play innovation.
The KOMPAN Play Institute follows and conducts continuous research into play benefits and child development. These insights lie behind the briefs for play innovation. Documenting the play value and child benefits of play is a main expertise of the Institute. It cooperates with special design units within KOMPAN and tests prototypes with children, documenting the effects of playground play. Child approval and specialist documentation of play value throughout the design process ensures that KOMPAN equipment stands the test of attraction, retention and play value.
