DESIGN OF PARK AND RECREATION AREAS 121 



things with their hands. Hence, it is well to provide some shady place where 

 quiet games can be played, handcraft activities carried on, and stories told. 

 This area or areas might be provided in the shelter building, but a shady 

 grove, even though a very small one, is more desirable during good weather 

 for most of these quiet activities than the best indoor facilities. Elaborate 

 equipment for handcraft activities should, of course, be housed. The ideal 

 playground would have a little theatre, indoor perhaps, but preferably some 

 tree-shaded nook where the children might express their well-known interest 

 in dramatic representations. Closely allied with the dramatic interest are 

 the innumerable folk games expressed in rhythmic forms. For these there 

 should be a platform either of wood or some other hard surface, although a 

 good turf is best of all, located in a shady place. 



2. Area for boys from ten or eleven to fourteen. 



(a) Apparatus. Boys of this age will still find delight in using some 

 of the pieces of apparatus listed for the smaller children's area, but in 

 general the apparatus should consist more of the outdoor gymnasium type, 

 including horizontal bars, trapeze, and parallel rings. As in the case of the 

 younger children's play area, all apparatus should be so placed that a 

 maximum free space will be left for organized games. 1 



(b) Space for organized games. Special emphasis should be put on 

 organized games and sports of many different kinds for this age group. 

 These games will include playground ball, baseball, volley ball, basket ball 

 of a modified type; handball, quoits or horseshoes, soccer and hockey. 

 Space may be set aside for marbles and rings. The field sports will include 

 running and jumping, chiefly. Swimming, of course, is a universal interest. 



(c} Handcraft. Boys of this age still find delight in making things 

 with their hands. Unfortunately, too little provision is made in the average 

 public playground for a full and rich expression of this great constructive 

 interest. Practically the only agency that has a great deal of equipment 

 for the expression of this interest is the public school, but in every play- 

 ground building there should be a room equipped with work benches and 

 some simple tools where the boys can fashion things they desire to make. 



3. Area for girls from ten or eleven to fourteen. 



(a) Apparatus. The apparatus for this age group may include some 

 of the types of apparatus as designated for the smaller children's playground 

 such as teeters and swings, but in general the apparatus should be of the 

 gymnastic type. A balancing beam is a valuable piece of apparatus for girls. 

 The general principle governing the location is the same as that for the 



1 In many cities, children's playgrounds are equipped with only one set of apparatus, which is intended 

 primarily for the use of children from six to ten years but which also serves the older boys and girls who wish to- 

 use it. 



