Playground for senior citizens

I recently came across an article about the Finnish playground manufacturer Lappset, which has developed a series of sport equipments for elderly people. The senior citizens playground (in Finnish, leikkialue) sounded so ridiculous idea that I decided to study the subject more.

Apparently the idea came from a multi-discipline study project Lappset conducted in the start of the 21^st century. The study was about the everyday lives of senior citizens and children in daycare - unfortunately this was all the information I was able to find about the study. However, as an offspring of this study was the idea of a senior playground.

Together with professionals of geriatric physiotherapy, Lappset started to develop the range of playground equipment suitable for older persons. The exercises designed are to improve the capacity of elder persons to cope with everyday tasks like buttoning a shirt, getting dressed, avoiding obstacles, using mobile phones and so on. This, I think, is an important aspect of meaningful senior life, although I do not see any help for these kind of exercises for my senior aged mum doing yoga and going to the gym.

However, there are ideas behind the Lappset Senior Series that I find intriguing. In the end of their web page, Lappset mentions that the equipment range is equally suited for children to play on, and senior playground can thus become a meeting place for different generation. Although this will require much more than just setting up the series of senior playground equipments to some corner of the park (i.e. careful planning in municipal level in which corner of which park), I find this idea of playground for all age groups many ways ideal. It does remind me of the good old ages, when grandmas and grandpas were looking after the kids and teaching them their wisdom at the same time. This playground area suitable for both could be the modern version of that.

The idea of Senior Sport equipments (as they are called) are inspire senior citizens to be playful, exercise and to challenge their bodies and senses. What I’m looking for next is some real life user stories of the subject, written by the target group.