Back-to-nature playgrounds are a simple idea, and a growing niche — if you can handle the risky complexities.

Playgrounds are so common they are almost invisible. Comprised of asphalt and structures from a catalogue, they offer the same play experience everywhere. Older generations remember getting kicked outdoors, told not to come back until mealtime, and creating fantasy worlds out of sticks and dirt. An enterprising contractor is building natural playspaces for today’s children, with a passion to bring nature’s rich texture back into their lives.

Picture a play area that reflects the outdoors, with slides built into natural slopes and logs that frame sandpiles into irregular shapes. Mulch is a safe, soft play surface that provides opportunity for fun. Objects like driftwood become building blocks for a child’s imagination. Trees and foliage are part of the picture, providing shade and habitat for birds and bugs. No Jungle Gym? The kids don’t need one.

Adam Bienenstock is a contractor with a mission to spread this playground concept across Canada, and beyond. His company is Gardens for Living, based in Hamilton, Ont. Although Bienenstock and GFL have plenty of years’ experience with traditional design-build projects, the company’s work is moving almost exclusively toward the natural playground direction.

Bienenstock says natural playgrounds are a niche opportunity for contractors. However, playgrounds present all the problems of traditional projects, plus layers of bureaucratic process — which translates into risk. Apart from the rare private residence job, natural playgrounds are affiliated with institutions, and they must be insurable.

Inspectors from the Canadian Standards Authority (CSA) inspect playgrounds for safety hazards as an insurance requirement. The smart contractor, according to Bienenstock, has addressed safety (and this inspection) well before the inspector arrives. He says you must know the regulations, understand politics, and be able to argue your points effectively. Still, he says there are CSA inspectors who will not approve natural playgrounds under any circumstance.


Vigilance is policy
Limiting risk is key to Bienenstock’s business model. He employs staffers in specialties way outside the typical landscaper’s portfolio, such as kinesiology and early childhood education. This expertise helps him mitigate risk factors. “My staff is top-heavy; I have as many people in the office as in the field.” As the company grows, it maintains the same ratio of specialists.

Bienenstock also hires sub-contractors to minimize his risk, and works with an outside safety consultant. He says other contractors have built natural playspaces, been burned with a lawsuit, and got out of it. “It’s not a magic pill; it could be a poison pill.”

GFL’s extreme due diligence policy has prevented it from being sued to date, but Bienenstock believes getting sued is only a matter of time. GFL staff is trained to continually ask the question, Are we doing everything right to limit our risk? Bienenstock takes every precaution to protect himself, his clients and the ultimate concern, children.

Even with his extraordinary staffing overhead, Bienenstock says square-foot costs for natural playgrounds are about the same as traditional installations, from the client’s perspective. In some cases, his partnership with clients has led him to participate in fundraising. As with any landscape job, he says, you can adapt to budget needs.

Toward this objective, Bienenstock says the education process is just as important to success as the construction process. Bienenstock recommends meeting with all stakeholders well before a playground project begins. Parents, teachers, administrators — all must be consulted and educated. Bienenstock recommends pitching the natural playground idea by framing positive questions: “What behaviors do we want to encourage? Can we provide positive solutions for everybody?”

This opening leads stakeholders down the natural playground path, since strong cases can be made that the concept mitigates childhood obesity, bullying and even absenteeism, by both students and teachers. In every case, he says the key is to build partners. If you find yourself in an adversarial situation, you lose.


For their own good…
Prying children away from video screens toward outdoor challenges is daunting. There is real opposition to getting kids outdoors, which needs to be overcome. The idea of playing outside a fence is foreign to today’s kids, Bienenstock says, and even the kids think it’s irresponsible. The fact is, these kids’ parents were raised in the same protective environment, and it’s tough telling them their experience is wrong.

Do mothers complain because natural-playground kids come home dirty? Bienenstock says if that happens, you have not done your parent education right.

Bienenstock believes that keeping children indoors, afraid of nature, has another specific implication for the trade; that this mindset has contributed to the horticultural labour shortage. He hopes drawing children back closer to nature could help draw future talent back into horticulture.

Building expertise in the non-construction components of the business has led Bienenstock increasingly into consulting — with an international circle of clients. A contractor since 1984, he values his horticulture diploma, and credits the MBA he earned mid-career with helping him navigate in settings where corporate business skills are important.

Unique sales challenge
Being alert to bureaucratic and administrative layers has helped GFL’s sales and marketing initiatives. In Ontario, grade schools must provide space for pre-school daycare centres by provincial mandate. Either school boards or other organizations can take on administrative responsibility. In the greater Toronto area, the YMCA manages over 200 such facilities, and is working with GFL to incorporate the natural concept into its playspaces.

The company’s communications show a flair for promotion. The Gardens for Living website is unusually rich in information including research, media coverage and testimonials. Bienenstock constructed a natural playground that hosted 7,500 kids on the floor of Canada Blooms 2008. The kids loved it, the show benefitted from the excitement and Gardens for Living enjoyed great profile. His communications strategy mirrors his project strategy in an important way: he is continually enhancing his profile by building partnerships with organizations involved with education, conservation, safety and of course, the horticulture industry.

His installations depend heavily upon native plants, not because he is a purist, but because many natives withstand “child abuse” well. But if an introduction works better for the site and today’s zone changes, Bienenstock uses it.

Bienenstock observes that the natural playground concept is hard to understand, even for professionals. “Nobody gets it until you stand in it. Calling yourself a natural playground landscaper makes it look like you want to hug trees.”

If the natural playground movement is to grow into an industry, Bienenstock believes advocacy paired with efficacy research is necessary. Quite a bit of relevant research is available from Europe, and North America is just now coming online. GFL is co-operating in the research movement, which shows play in a natural environment can truly help kids improve their physical and mental health. “Shakespeare’s players simply staged productions in open parks. They used what was on hand for props,” says Bienenstock. He sees himself providing that opportunity for kids, regarding the playground as a stage for their imagination. The irony is, a simpler play environment, closer to nature, exposes builders to greater risk — which he is managing successfully, in the interest of kids.