Lappset Funpark in Rovaniemi offers play and games

Santasport Instute in Rovaniemi features Lappset Funpark, an indoor playground (in Finnish: leikkialue) environment for children and other age groups alike. The park is situated in the proximity of the new Sport hotel rooms and the spa. The indoor park is designed to provide games and exercises which help the development of motor skills of children. The aim in the design is also to create a learning environments where the play has a central role. The indoor playground is designed on the jungle theme and it was carried out with the help of the Lappset My Design design service. Lappset Funpark was opened in March last year.


Lappset Fun park purposes to bring all age groups together, and the indoor playground is designed with the children's´ and adults´ common experience in mind. The indoor playground can be used also by the school class groups for an alternative for an ordinary class environments. The playground features for example slides, climbing towers and ball games. It is also possible to arrange for example birthday parties for children in Fun park.


Santa sport features everyday also theme jiffies in Fun park, in which the quided playing and games are offered from the classical memory games and treasure hunt into the climbing and trampoline games. These are suitable for all ages.


Lappset Fun park and Santa sport is open on every week day. There are different kind of tickets, one with only the access to the Fun park and one which includes the spa services as well. The park offers also services for child care and children's play school and swimming school lessons.

Angy Birds and Lappset start a collaboration

Rovio and Lappset announced a collaboration between the companies, in which they will build Angry Birds children's amusement parks around the world. The first Angry Birds theme parks will be build into Espoo, to Tapiola and Suurpelto areas. The playing equipments are designed after the characters of the famous Angry Bird mobile game. Espoo city will cooperate with the companies in the building of the first two parks.


The researchers have announced their concern about building playgrounds (in Finnish: leikkialue) around the aggressive mobile game theme, in which the gamer tries to destroy egg-steeling green pigs with the help of the aggressive birds. The chief of the domestic sales of Lappset Group Sari Anttila told the Espoo local newspaper Länsiväylä, that she doesen´t believe that children would think the characters of Angry Birds as that angry and hateful. She said that on the contrary, children comprehend usually them as sympathetic friends. Anttila added that even if the birds seem angry, they always have a blink in their eye. The game has gained a vast popularity and it has been downloaded millions of times and Rovio has built an extensive lineup of merchandise items around the game.

Anttila also told, that in Angry Birds theme park the visitors will be able to download new characters and game levels in their mobile phones with the help of the gps location information. According to her, these extra characters and levels are not available elsewhere. The aim is also that the children who play lot of games and sit by the computer could be lured out and to exercise and play games outdoors. The game is a good inducement for outdoor sporting for children, who live in the digital environments.

Outdoors exercise enhances the development of children’s motor skills

Children’s gross and fine motor can be trained and give them opportunities to develop as good as possible through giving right incentives and tasks on the right time of the developmental phase. When around 12 months old child stands alone taking her first steps or learns how to climb up the stairs and later on discovers the joys of running, a journey of a discovery begins. Children around two year old already know how to jump and can keep their body stable on a balance beam. A three year old child can jump with one foot and stand on it for awhile.

Good places to develop both fine and gross motor skills are for example parks and playground areas (in Finnish: leikkialue), where there is a safe environment to search the boundaries of ones abilities and reach over them learning new skills. On playground areas there is possibility to practice for example jumping over object and rope climbing or glide on slides and have a safe landing, usually on the soft sandy ground. Even if the child seems to be confident and solid with his physical skills the safety rules are good to remember on the playground areas.

Playing games and taking part on child’s journey through new and greatly inspiring environments makes the learning a discovery not only for the child, but for the parent as well. Outdoor activities together build also the bond between the parent and the child. Exercising with the family helps to mediate healthy way of living for next generation. It also gives to a child a non-competitive environment to practice motor skill, without having the pressure to succeed and having a go to try again and again and learn through mistakes. The learning and discovering of the new abilities and motor skills also improves child’s self-esteem and gives positive experiences.

Parkour and freerun

Parkour is a method of movement originally developed by such French guys as David Belle and Sebastian Foucan. The sports concentrate on moving around obstacles as fast and efficiently as possible. The term parkour was coined by Hubert Kounde, a French actor and film director and it derives from the military training courses called parkours du combattant. It has no set movements and is said to be more of a state of mind than a specific way of moving. Parkour avoids rivalry and competition and drives towards the international unification, breaking through the economic and social boundaries which are separating people from one another.

The ideology of the breaking through and finding bondages across countries and nationalities eventually resulted in parkour to spread all over the world. English speaking world was introduced into to the sports through the movie Jump London, which was directed by Sebastian Foucan. The term free running was coined in the film as an translation of the word parkour in English, but it came to mean later on slightly different things than the original parkour was.

Foucan was dissatisfied by the limitations in parkour and stated that free running was a discipline of the self-development and emphasizes the freedom of movement and creativity. According to Foucan acrobatics, which were incorporated in free running, is not parkour, since parkour takes advantages of movement’s efficiency and ultimately was a way of the French soldiers to escape or reach in the emergency situation in Vietnam.

In free running the acrobatics in urban landscapes play a major role. The movements are performed through structure of the landscape and the sport emphasizes especially the creativity of the movement. Free running features athletic and aesthetically pleasing movement which takes advantage of the urban obstacles unlike parkour, which is more about crossing the obstacle efficiently and quickly.

Mostly parkour and free running diverge in their philosophy. In parkour, as already stated, practitioner finds his way through the landscape passing the obstacles and barriers with efficient and fast movements. Parkour is about getting into places which are inaccessible and escaping the chasers, while free running is about creativity of the movement and beauty of the motion.

Ageing of the population affects the design of urban areas

In Finland the ageing of population will be exceptionally fast comparing to the rest of the European Union countries due to big baby boom after the war period. According to statistic 17 percent of the people living in cities were pensioners in the year 2010.

The generations born in 40´s and 50´s will have special needs for their living environments when they get older. This will affect also design and planning of the living spaces and their surrounding outdoors. Especially challenging will be the planning of the living environments of the people with a decreased ability to function in their everyday life. Flexibility and ability to transform with the inhabitants age challenges the planning of the living spaces and the design of the interiors not to mention the opportunities for senior fitness (in Finnish: senioriliikunta).

The ability of the elderly people to handle the everyday tasks and function without outside help can be improved with a careful planning of the living environments. Accessible apartments and for example assisting technology can make the living of an old aged person easier. Environments can be also inspiring, attracting people into, for example senior sports by having an exercise ground on the apartment building yard or having a common gym. These can also serve as a social hot spots, meeting points for the elderly as well as other generations. Living environments can be an obstacle or a possibility. The ageing of the population affects as well the community structure and planning as the accessibility of the services grows more important. The local grocery stores and public transportation enable the flow of everyday life.

The World Diabetes Day

World Diabetes Day was passed on November 14th. The day is for to remind of the seriousness of the illness and to support proper research and treatment for patients. Diabetes is categorized as a national illness in Finland. According to estimations, half a million adults in Finland are suffering from type 2 diabetes, half of them without knowing it, and other half having a diagnose. The disease causes increasing risk of cardiovascular diseases, decline of the kidneys and higher risk for retinopathy.

Diabetes has spread vast and it´s commonness is increasing rapidly. According to specialists and researchers, this is connected with lifestyle, nutrition, increasing overweight and bad fitness. The key factors in growing diabetes risk are the same as in cardiovascular diseases. Diabetes can develop itself in quiet without any symptoms for many years. Tiredness, increased blood sugar levels and constant feel of thirst can be signs of diabetes in progress. The highest risk for type 2 diabetes is with people over 60 years and with overweight. The Finnish Diabetes Association recommends all those who belong to risk groups to make a diabetes risk test found in their homepage. The early discovery of the illness will prevent the more serious symptoms.

Diabetes can however be prevented and counter acted, by reviewing the risks of the lifestyle and nutrition, and increasing exercise and fitness. The necessary changes in lifestyle to prevent diabetes are not always inevitably massive. Avoiding excessive amounts of sugar and fat and eating at list half a kilogram of veggies per day is by nutrition enough to make a difference.

In older age, senior fitness (in Finnish: senioriliikunta) and being active physically in general are the best ways to prevent and treat diabetes. According to specialists, the exercise should be at least thrice a week, get you sweaty and rise your pulse at least a little, but even a half an hour walk can help to keep the condition. For good senior fitness it is recommended for example Nordic walking, light jogging, golf and gymnastic exercises. According to researches regular exercise minimizes 60 percent of the risk of the diabetes even in older age.

Children’s computer gaming useful

It is more than often comprehended that spending too much time with computers and video games just isn´t good for children and teenagers, making them, in the worst case scenario, an unsociable nerd incubating evil thoughts in their dark rooms and gaining massive overweight while using their muscles mostly to only open cola cans.

This idea has been turned around in recent years by several new applications and solutions, which use new technologies of player movement and touch screens. New IT technologies make it possible for players to use their bodies and movements to advance in the game and the game itself can simulate the actual sports, such as tennis or yoga. Technology has been used also to create interactive spaces and sporting environments, where gaming and outdoor sports, using your brain and using your body movements are combined. The possibilities of these technologies are almost limitless and give chance to develop games we never could imagine before. They make people move, dance, play, and do sports.

Lappset offers the DigiPlay concept which introduces IT-based games to outdoors and public spaces. The series includes interactive learning environment, a game unit and Lappset Mobile Playground (in Finnish: leikkialue), which takes gaming outdoors. SmartUs application enables contacts to other children in other physical locations, and the newest solutions features mobile applications as well. 

Designing an enjoyable garden for your house

When building a house most people concentrate on the planning and design on the interiors and outlooks, but forget to give detailed attention to houses exteriors as well. This concerns most public spaces around apartment buildings as well. Gardens and yards can however be designed in a way that they give even more joy for their respective householders.

Plans where yard is segmented into spaces according to which purpose and who are using the area help to construct the outer spaces to benefit efficiently and pleasantly the use of all the inhabitants. Especially families with children can benefit more on their exterior spaces when the needs of the all the members of the family have been taken into account when designing the outer spaces of the house. The car park should be in a distance from the areas meant to be hang outs and playground (in Finnish: leikkialue) areas, and football and basketball is best to play away from windows and other fragile items.

For children all kinds of hides, slides and open spaces are inspiration for play, an exciting environment to explore. These can be nicely combined with gardening areas such as plantings and group of bushes or trees. Special playground areas invite children to use their creativity and imagination. For security and especially with small children, good items are a fence around the playground are and a gate, which prevent them to run from the yard into dangers of for example nearby road. Inspirational equipment and scaffoldings to climb on will give children more activity on the exterior spaces. Adventure and imagination lives in children’s play.

Lappset offers great variety of products to suit, beside the needs of the children of all ages, also adults and seniors as well. When a suitable combination of equipment is chosen carefully it can serve generations from grandmother to youngest one in the family. Lappset wooden Finno equipment are classics found in many Finnish children’s park areas, and the designs, materials and colors suits the Finnish habitation landscape well. The equipment include among others swings, sandboxes, slides and climbing frames. 

Does play make you relaxed

The Finnish playground manufacturer Lappset promotes playgrounds for adults in their website (btw, playground in Finnish is leikkialue and children “lapset”). According to their websites, “the world of adults is all about performance, scoring, setting targets. Play can offer an alternative where adults can express themselves and relax.”

I disagree here – adults do play. We play football, floorball, soccer, hockey, golf and so on. The play of adults is usually s called “hobby”, and the meaning of all these hobbies is tha same as mentioned above: to relax and do something else than what we do in everyday life, which usually means work.

The element of scoring is present in these adult plays called hobbies. We want to beat another team, our competitor in game, or our own ranking. We do want to score, even if we say that it is “just a play”. When looking at inter-company games where not-so-fitty adults are running after any ball, stress-free is not the word that comes first in mind. I do not even know how well the players are able to express themselves, if we do not take into account that they are not wearing their everyday suit but shorts and t-shirts instead.

Roger Caillois was a French intellectual, who in his work discussed widely about the meaning of the play. In his book “Man, Play and Games” he defines the play by six core characteristics: Play is not obligatory and it is separate from the routine of life; the results of play cannot be pre-determined and so that the player's initiative is involved; it is unproductive; it is governed by rules that suspend ordinary laws and must be followed by players; and that it involves make-believe that confirms in players the existence of imagined realities that may be set against 'real life'.

There have been critiques towards Caillois similar than mine above: in the western society, everything is more or less subordinated to the social pressure and we do think what the right ways to use your time are. But Caillois’ definition does provide an interesting connection between play and the relaxation. In Caillois’s definition the idea of escapism is obviously present – and escapism is strongly connected with relaxation.

So maybe scoring is related to relaxation, after all, but not so straightforwardly than presented above. And in any case, the play does not start from game or playground – it starts from the attitude. We adults adore children’s ability to surrender oneself to game; we admire the way children can make up stories and play almost out of nowhere. This attitude is something to look for, whatever its presentation might be.

Playground in shopping centre

In a good old times some more advantageous shopping malls had children’s play room in some dark corner, where adults were able to drop their children while they were shopping. In modern malls the playground (in Finnish, leikkialue) is located in the middle, and surrounded with benches for adults to watch and rest.

One of these indoor playgrounds can be found from Örebo, Sweden. There the playground is truly located in the middle of the shopping mall. The entrance is made easy as there are no walls or entrance fee – anyone can come and join fun. In this busy environment, the simple forms and striking colors of playground equipments attract passersby eyes, and encourage them to participate.

In this case the playground environment is by Smartus concept, which is totally new way to approach the playgrounds. Smartus is digiplay concept created by Finnish playground manufacturer Lappset, which uses digital environment for deepening the play experience. This playground for the 21st century combines modern technology with playground equipment and turns play environments into a network. As any other playground, Smartus encourages users to exercise, play together and succeed together, but with the aim of the technology the players do not even need to be in the same space.

But it does not have to be the latest technological invention of the playgrounds to attract visitors! To have public playground in indoor area is a great idea at least in northern countries, where the weather can be nasty sometimes. It will not replace the good effects of being outdoors, but definitely physical exercise and play are better than just sitting indoors and watch television.

Shopping malls are ideal places for indoor playgrounds as the mall provides the basic functions already. In malls, there are already good air conditioning systems and public toilets; there are services like restaurants around; and people come to malls to spend their free time, so there are no need to seduce them to come over.

Malls providing the possibility to physical exercise have understood that providing free services like this do serve the public and individual good. Obvious is that they want to attract families to spend more time in their mall – but this way to spend time is probably much healthier than traditional hanging around.

Get teenagers out and play!

The old stereotype is about a teenager who sits inside and plays video games or watches TV, with his parents complaining “go out and play”. There might be a true reason behind this action, as the studies have shown that obesity in teen ages brings the same risks as heavy smoking.

Some playground manufacturers like Lappset have realized this need and designed their own playground equipments for teenagers (playground in Finnish leikkialue). Their series of playground equipments for teenagers include rougher looking climbing nets and frames, that are made from hot-dip galvanised thin-walled tubes and steel, and no bright color are used like in kids’ park.

This is actually following the first rule of teenager playground design. As being the teenager is rebelling against being a child, this has to be taken into account when designing playground areas for teens. The playground must set them apart from the younger ones in order to please this target group.

The nature of play changes also when growing to teenager years. Playgrounds for teenagers should focus more on exercise. As for younger children playing is learning, for these more adult ones playing is more physical and competitive by its nature.

The ideal playground offers the possibilities for sport and socializing, and it should nurture the need of adventure and physical challenge. The area offering wide choice of play different kind of games and do various exercises would be ideal: from football to basketball, climbing areas to just places to hang around and socialize. And the more plentiful the assortment of the games is, more likely there are more teens to gather there!

Play for teenagers is not anymore their work, as it is for younger ones. Play in teenager years is closely linked with the areas of social growth. Playing might provide the way to handle issues that cannot necessarily be put into words, and understand changes in the body through the physical exercises.

Teenager playgrounds are great way to direct the unchangeable energy to in more practical framework. Facilities like this can reduce anti-social behavior and help to prevent teenager crimes.

The importance of play

I never really thought of the reason for all the different playground equipments until now, when I have been spending a lot of time hanging in playgrounds (that is BTW in Finnish leikkialue).

Most of the equipments are still same as in my childhood: swings, carousels, springs, slides, and climbing frames. According to the manufacturers, they are made to develop children’s balance, muscles, spatial awareness and sense of rhythm.

According to the studies it is indeed so. Physical playing develops skills needed for surviving in modern world. These exercises develop the ability to reach and grasp, estimate measures and the power needed to crawl, run or climb. These skills even help them to develop the ability to write.

In his book “The importance of play: Moving and Learning for the Young Child” (1990) C. S. Rogers says that play supports the entire development of a child in all levels: physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally. So not only the physical part is present on play, but also other qualities what are needed for growing up.

As the saying goes, play is a child’s work. Through play, children learn how society works, about their environment and of their own skills. Along with physical exercise, playing gives children the lessons of teamwork skills and other social interaction - like co-operation, taking turns, play by the rules and lead the team - and provides sources for intellectual development. Play develops the creativity and language skills when interacting with others.

And to go even further: positive experiences while play creates positive emotions. That is good for child’s well-being. Play, which is closely connected with imagination, can help child to master their feeling and experiences, even the negative ones. I read somewhere that when children feel secure and safe while play, they acquire important components of positive emotional health.

Playing is not just for the human child while growing up. Other animals play too. So it is not something we, or our age, invented. Play is something built inside us, and it truly has an important meaning for our development.

My playground places

Lately I have been introduced to a place I haven’t visited for a long time: the playground (in Finnish, leikkialue). The reason is the most common one any adult visits in this place, but this is not about cute and clever child. This is about my relationship with the playground.

As hard as I try I cannot remember, when I was taken to play in the playground for the first time. I was probably quite young, as we lived in a suburb where there were lots of playgrounds placed around the area. The kindergarten I went to had one as well: there were swings, carousels, springs shaped as horses, slides, sandboxes, and climbing frames, many of each as the suburb was new and kindergarten full of children. I can remember my favorite equipment, which was some kind of mix between swing and spring, and would probably be banned today as being too dangerous. Then again I cannot remember the games we played; I just remember that we played.

When reaching the teenager years, we local teenage rebels had a habit of gathering at the local playground after dusk. At those days we didn’t play with the equipments anymore, if you do not count the coincident swinging while sitting on the swing and chatting to each others. We were there to spend some quality time with our fellow rebel teenagers.

I find it very symbolic that after our childhood we teenager gathered in the playground. The location was familiar to all of us, as we had played there when we all were kids. Maybe the location represented us the safe place to be. It at least gave us the frames to try the games of adults: social intercourse and shy steps of getting to know the other sex. After a while, we were ready for discos and bars and the days spent in playgrounds were history.

And here I am again. Something like ten years later, standing next to a sandbox and watching the child play. As history has a habit of repeating itself, the playground I spend time is located in a brand new suburb with lots of kids around. The role of us adults is the same as when we were teenagers: sit and speak, this time usually about the children playing around. And after couple of years from now, my relationship with the playground will break off again, this time maybe forever.

Adults wants to play too!

We tend to think that play is the work of children. The Finnish playground (in Finnish, leikkialue) manufacturer Lappset has taken another approach to the subject matter. They want to encourage adults to play as well – and are even making playgrounds for that!

The idea of Lappset starts from the fact that we adults live busy life, full of performance and scoring. Play could be the alternative to that, action which gives adults the possibility relax and express themselves.

This way of thinking has a lot of potentially in itself. Adult life in first world countries is a continuous search of finding the balance between work and time without work. It is more than common to hear how stressed we are, and about the various ways to unstress ourselves. Why not think of play as the one?

I suppose here the world “play” do not mean playing squash, football, badminton or tennis with crazy look in eyes and eager to win the game in the soul. If I understand right, Lappset means play as playful, kind of a mental stage.

Wiktionary defines play as “liking play, prone to play frequently, such as a child or kitten; rather sportive”. The alternatives are “funny, humorous, jesting, frolicsome”, ”fun, recreational, not serious” and “experimental”, which all kind of sum up what kind of action is this relaxing and stress-free play.

But what good could come up from play, or being playful? Obviously lowering one’s stress level should work positively for everyone’s body. Also, playing is often exercise, and the best way to do that: because of fun, not because we have to. Playing can be the way to spend quality time with children and get some fresh air, if done outside. And last but not least: it is believed that being playful can be the reason your partner is choosing you, as the creative and fun person do not possess the threat to the children or family. And they can be more fun to live with, too!

Aging and play - More excitement, less isolation, courage

"We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw

Thirty-seven percent of people aged over 75 live alone. Their independence suffers from deteriorating coordination and balance, and moving becomes a slower and slower process. As much as 41 percent of elderly people deliberately avoid moving for fear of taking a fall. The resulting isolation and loneliness can lead to severe depression and even suicide. A number of studies have shown that daily stimulating “play”, such as filling in crossword puzzles or playing chess, reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Lappset has enrolled the help of several academic institutions to study the possibilities of playgrounds designed for elderly people. The findings are encouraging: the elderly people who sampled the playground (In Finnish leikkialue) reported improvement in their balance – which is a key element of the physical fitness of elderly people – agility, mood and courage to leave the house on their own. Being able to spend time with their grandchildren at the same time is an added bonus. Regular physical activity promotes health amongst the elderly, which in turn benefits the national economy and public health.

Did you know that...

Richard Faull, professor at Auckland University, studies Huntington’s disease. He believes that playing encourages the brain to produce new cells and to repair itself.

In industrial countries, playing is seen as the work of children.

In industrial countries, children are allowed and encouraged to play. Play is seen as a vital part of their lives for their development and for becoming responsible adults. But as they reach the age of being an adult, they and we might laugh aloud when seeing playgrounds (in Finnish, leikkialue)

“The opposite of play is not work. It’s depression.” – Brian Sutton-Smith

The question “what are the benefits of play?” is actually a very typical example of how adults think. The world of adults is all about performance, scoring, and setting targets. Play can offer an alternative where adults can express themselves and relax.

The Terman studies, which have been in progress in the United States since the 1920s, aim at finding gifted children. The studies have shown a link between long life and habitual participation in playing and games throughout the individual’s life. Playful properties are also believed to have significance for choosing a partner. Both women and men unconsciously reason that a playful spouse will not present a threat to them or their children.

For adults, play represents:

Enjoyable quality time with their children

A chance to give their brains a breather and to prevent them from becoming set in their ways

Exercise

Creativity

Did you know that...

Our ancestors dedicated a lot more energy to play. According to anthropologist Marshall Sahlins, communities of hunter-gatherers spent around four hours a day on work. The remainder was dedicated to playing and games.

Playgrounds for seniors

I recently became aware of an innovation from the Finnish playground manufacturer Lappset: the playgrounds (in Finnish, leikkialue) for senior citizens. First I was not sure should I was going to laugh or what, but then I decided to take it as a reflection of today’s culture.

Lets face the facts: the population of industrialized countries is getting older. The big generations born after the World Wars are just about at the age of retirement, and, due to different lifestyles, contraceptives and the independence of women, younger generations are not so large in numbers anymore. This makes the balance between old and young population totally different relation to what it has traditionally been: traditionally, children were the majority generation of the population, and elders the dying one, not figuratively speaking.

The way of life has changed drastically over the last few decades. Whereas more or less hundred years ago it was typical that three generations, from grandparents to toddlers, live under the same roof, nowadays the idea of nuclear family, parent or parents and children, is the main solution for living style. Grandparents are living in their own apartments, or when enough old, in retirement homes.

But is Lappset innovative in their thinking, or are they just reflecting the changing world? A hundred years ago, it might have been fun idea to have special playgrounds with special playground equipments for children even in industrialized countries. Children were, at least in some parts of the nation, considered as the source of labor. It was a challenge even getting them to school, and still special holidays had to be given for school children when they were needed for helping their parents with harvest duties. No playgrounds for them at those times.

Nowadays senior citizens are living older, and many of them are living alone. Is it really a stupid idea to provide them places to have some outdoor activities and meet others? Any outdoor activity is more stimulating than bingo; and this kind of specific area, maybe even with playground attendant, make safe place to do exercise. The senior citizen playground in the park of retirement home makes a great hang-around place for seniors living there, and with good city planning, this kind of playground could be the meeting place for children and elders alike.

The interactive playground

Although children tend to play the same games throughout the ages with minor updates, technology has allowed the playground (in Finnish: leikkialue) to take a quantum leap into the modern era much to the delight of the creative and active. An innovation just like this is SmartUs from Lappset, the Finnish developer of outdoor fitness (in Finnish: ulkoliikunta) equipment.

SmartUs is an internationally recognized playful learning and activity concept for today's children and families. Combining modern technology with play equipment, SmartUs offers a wide range of possibilities for playful activities and learning. The concept was developed by Lappset with the help of experts from the fitness, education, design and technology sectors.

The product line offers a wide range of opportunities for playful activities and learning by combining traditional playground equipment and modern technology, and by joining individual playgrounds to form networks. The network of SmartUs environments forms a foundation for new kinds of sporty games and tournaments, a range of different learning experiences and possibilities for online gaming.

New SmartUs outdoor gyms (in Finnish: ulkoliikuntapaikka) have been emerging all over Europe since 2006. SmartUs environments can already be found in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Romania, Spain, Portugal and Finland, for example. And the community is growing all the time.

Joy of play for senior citizens

While surfing meaninglessly on theInternet, I encountered a video demonstrating the senior citizens playground (in Finnish, leikkialue). This video is a demo video from the Finnish playground manufacturer Lappset, demonstrating their new series of playground equipments of older persons.

In the video an elderly lady (but by no means old, actually a very fit looking one) is moving a ring from one end to another in the equipment called a snake bar. According to the video texts, this movement helps getting dressed, combing hair, washing oneself, and hanging up clothes. For me, this looks like a pretty dull activity, but then again I am not the professional in physiotherapy or geriatrics.

The second part of the video is about grey haired gentleman (he doesn’t look as fit as the first lady) crossing a net that is stretched near the ground. He steps slowly in the holes of the net or on the net; this exercise should help avoid and cross obstacles. Even with a provided hand-rail, this looks like a much more dangerous activity to me, and I’m not sure I would like to see my grandma using this equipment without someone watching over her.

The rest of the exercises on the video are more or less similar to the first two: either looking too complicated or way too simple. There are two of them that catch my attention: the Finger Steps, where you ascend or descend the steps with your fingers (for helping unbuttoning and using a mobile phone), and Spring Stool, where one can do hip rotation when seated (helps finding and maintaining a good sitting position). The Spring Stool I would like to get in my work place – that would be ideal way to relax in the middle of the boring day. Finger Steps could probably serve as the stress tool for most stressed sales managers.

While watching the video I tried to picture an elderly person in very weak physical condition, or on contrary and one of these power seniors running marathons, using these equipments. Some of the exercises might be too challenging for the first person, and for the second, definitely not challenging at all. But what bothers me most is the simplicity of many of these exercises: according the manufacturer, these equipments should inspire the playful mind, and facilitate and enrich the everyday lives of senior citizens. It might be just me, but I feel that at some level, elderly are highly underestimated here.

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.