Once Upon a Playground: Celebrating the Past and Designing the Future of Play

As a playground designer who has been designing play spaces for more than a decade, one of my favorite books is Brenda Biondo’s Once Upon a Playground: A Celebration of Classic American Playgrounds, 1920–1975. I love looking through the photographs of playgrounds from generations past and seeing just how much playground design has changed over the years. Of course, as a designer—and someone who thinks about playground safety every day—I can’t help but look at some of that old equipment and think, “Oh my gosh, how did we ever play on that?” Towering metal slides, hard surfaces, exposed moving parts, and climbing structures that seemed to encourage kids to go as high as humanly possible—it’s amazing to see them through today’s eyes. But at the same time, there is something wonderful about the simplicity, creativity, and sense of adventure those playgrounds offered. The book is a reminder of how far our industry has come while also showing us something that hasn’t changed at all: kids still want to climb, swing, spin, explore, take on challenges, and simply play.

Maybe you remember a towering metal slide that seemed impossibly tall, a merry-go-round that spun faster and faster until everyone begged to get off, a seesaw that required complete trust in the child sitting across from you, or a jungle gym that challenged you to climb all the way to the top.

For generations of Americans, these simple pieces of playground equipment were the backdrop for childhood.

Photographer and author Brenda Biondo beautifully captures that history in her book Once Upon a Playground: A Celebration of Classic American Playgrounds, 1920–1975. Published in 2014, the book documents an era of American playground design that is quickly disappearing from our parks and schoolyards.

Biondo spent years photographing surviving examples of classic playground equipment and paired those photographs with historic playground catalogs, postcards, and images showing the equipment when it was new. The result is more than a collection of photographs. It is a visual history of how America played.

When Playgrounds Were Simple

Early playgrounds looked very different from the colorful, carefully planned play environments we design today.

There were towering steel slides, geometric climbing structures, swings, seesaws, merry-go-rounds and monkey bars. Equipment was often placed on asphalt, dirt, grass or sand, with little consideration for many of the things we think about today when designing a playground.

Yet these playgrounds accomplished something incredibly important.

They invited children to play.

Children climbed. They swung. They spun. They tested their balance. They invented games. They took turns. They made friends. They challenged themselves and learned what their bodies could do.

The equipment may have been simple, but the experiences created around it were anything but simple.

The Playground Evolves

As our understanding of childhood development, accessibility and playground safety evolved, playground design evolved with it.

Today, designers consider much more than whether a playground has a slide and a swing.

We think about how children move throughout the entire space. We consider climbing, balancing, spinning, sliding and swinging. We think about sensory experiences, social interaction, imaginative play and opportunities for children to challenge themselves.

Most importantly, we increasingly ask: Who gets to play?

Modern playgrounds are being designed so children with different abilities can participate alongside their siblings, classmates and friends. Accessible routes, inclusive swings, sensory activities, ground-level play opportunities, transfer points and thoughtfully designed social spaces are helping transform playgrounds into places where more children can participate.

The playground has evolved from a collection of equipment into a carefully designed play environment.

Some Things Should Never Change

Looking through Once Upon a Playground, it would be easy to focus on how much playgrounds have changed.

But perhaps what is most interesting is how much hasn't changed.

Children still want to climb higher.

They still want to swing.

They still want to spin.

They still want to race their friends down a slide.

They still want to hide, imagine, explore and discover.

And they still want that feeling of accomplishing something they weren't sure they could do.

The challenge for today's playground designer isn't to eliminate those experiences. It's to find better ways to provide them.

We can learn from the playgrounds of the past without recreating every aspect of them.

The giant metal slide may look different today, but children still love the thrill of sliding.

The old steel jungle gym may have evolved into climbing towers, nets and complex climbing systems, but children still want to reach the top.

The merry-go-round may have evolved into more accessible spinning experiences, but kids still love getting dizzy.

The equipment changes. The need for play doesn't.

Today's Playground Has a Bigger Job, Today's playground is expected to do more.

Communities increasingly want spaces that encourage physical activity while also supporting social, emotional and cognitive development. Inclusive design and natural elements have become increasingly important considerations within the playground industry, alongside continuing attention to safety and surfacing.

Playgrounds are also becoming destinations.

Themed environments can tell the story of a community. Nature-inspired play can connect children with their surroundings. Towers and climbing structures can create memorable landmarks. Sensory elements can offer different ways to experience a space.

A playground can reflect the history, culture and personality of the community around it.

And that leads to an exciting question.

What Will the Playground of the Future Look Like?

Imagine someone creating another Once Upon a Playground fifty years from now.

What will they photograph from the playgrounds we're building today?

The future of play will likely continue moving toward spaces that are more inclusive, immersive and connected to their surroundings.

We may see playgrounds become even more integrated with nature and landscape architecture. Technology may create new interactive experiences, while imaginative theming and custom design allow communities to create playgrounds unlike anything that came before them.

Materials will continue to evolve. Sustainability will influence how playgrounds are manufactured and designed. Shade and climate-responsive design will become increasingly important in many communities.

And inclusive design will continue moving beyond simply providing access to creating meaningful opportunities for children of different abilities to play together.

But even with all that innovation, the best playgrounds of tomorrow will probably succeed for exactly the same reason the playgrounds in Brenda Biondo's photographs did. Kids will want to play on them.

Designing the Next Chapter of Play

Once Upon a Playground reminds us that playgrounds are more than equipment.

They become part of our memories.

Ask someone about the playground they visited as a child and chances are they can describe it. They remember the tallest slide. The swing they always raced toward. The place beneath the structure where they created an imaginary clubhouse.

Those spaces become part of childhood—and, eventually, part of a community's history.

At Miracle Playsystems, we have the privilege of helping create the next generation of those memories.

Today's playgrounds may look very different from the steel structures photographed in Once Upon a Playground, and the playgrounds fifty years from now may look very different from the ones we build today.

But one thing has remained constant for more than a century: Children need places to play. Our job is to keep imagining what those places can become.

From Yesterday's Playgrounds to Tomorrow's Adventures

The playground has come a long way from the towering metal slides and spinning merry-go-rounds of the early twentieth century. We celebrate where playgrounds began. We learn from how they evolved. And we can't wait to see where play takes us next.

There's More to the Story of Play Playground design continues to change, and we're excited to see what's ahead. If you'd like to know more, we'd be happy to connect.

Contact Our Team!