The development and application of design criteria for outdoor play environments for child care centers in Iowa

Abstract

For many children, the child care playground has become a surrogate for the backyard, the vacant lot, the woods, the creek and the pond. In essence, a child care playground is one of the few safe and legal outdoor environments that the contemporary child can experience in an active, direct and developmentally appropriate way. This thesis explores the ways in which these centers can improve their playgrounds to meet the developmental needs and abilities of children and play environments, as well as design standards and quality indicators that might be developed or improved to give child care centers guidelines on which to base their playgrounds.