Loud Molded Plastic Overview

Loud Molded Plastic play structures have a few things in common with Busy Walls. Most notably, they can be visually overwhelming and are not always the best use of the space available.

In their defense, these structures are simple to set up, easy to clean, durable, inexpensive, and widely available. We shouldn’t look down upon this category of play structure. They can be useful in early learning settings. How they are used is what matters. Some of this stuff is fine–too much is visually overwhelming and tends to crowed out other materials and play options. Let’s look at some pictures.

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The top third of the image is calming, the lower two thirds are…not. It’s crowded with loud molded plastic. Not a lot of space between structures. Removing a few things would open up the space.

You’ll notice these spaces all lack items to manipulate. There are a few riding toys, but loose parts, building materials, art materials, sensory play materials are noticeably lacking. There’s not a lot of opportunity for heavy work. Granted, most of these shots show only a portion of the whole play space, but manipulatives tend to move around. Outside spaces should provide the opportunity for things like painting, hauling, writing, reading, and stacking.

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Not as crowded as the previous image. More space for running, skipping, rolling, and spinning. Again, all that loud molded plastic really stands out in comparison with the natural surroundings. But, a couple structures here are easier on the eyes–their muted colors are a bit more pleasing.

All those structures would be more interesting if there was stuff to interact with and haul around. Balls to roll down the slide, baby dolls to carry from house to house, mud to splatter. Those materials help with sensory integration–something that’s very important for school readiness.

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That’s a lot of slides. These structures seem to multiply. Is the tiny orange slide the result of a romantic encounter between the red slide and the teal slide?

“Red, I’m pregnant. You’re going to be a father!”

“Oh my God, Lorraine! I’m so happy! I can’t wait to tell the Swing’s that there will be a new slide on the playground!

“I think we should wait awhile before telling our friends, but tomorrow, you do need to march into Mr. Motorcycle-Trikes office and ask for a raise. You do good work and deserve it. Oh, I hate how he just sits there in the shade while we toil in the hot sun! He’ll probably expect the baby to work too.”

While we’re on the topic of slides, a drawback of plastic slides is that they’re not that great for sliding compared to metal slides. Which can really frustrate children. Sometimes kids stop halfway down.

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Samantha’s got no beef with the fake turf–she thinks it is easy to maintain. Jeff, on the other hand, has a herd of Herefords worth of beef with the stuff–but that’ll be covered in another play space critique.

BALLS! Four of them. The first non-wheeled manipulatives we’ve seen so far. Everything is so tightly packed that it’s hard to imagine kids not getting whacked with balls on a regular basis.

The structure on the left is faded. Not as bright as the one just like it a few photos back. The color of these structures does tend to mellow with time–that’s a plus.

Pruning some of the loud molded plastic from the space would open it up. Adding more loose parts, installing a couple easels on the fence, and a mud kitchen in the corner would expand the play possibilities.

The loud molded plastic stuff falls short when it comes to supporting sensory integration. It all feels the same. The simulated stone of the castle and wooden siding slats of the play house do not feel anything like stone or wood. Kids need physical contact with lots of textures. This stuff is visually overstimulating and tactilely under stimulating.

Does anyone else feel sorry for that tree? She’s the only living thing in that play space.

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Loud Molded Plastic Conclusions

To recap, loud molded plastic isn’t bad–we mentioned may qualities of these things in the first few paragraphs. The real problems are overuse of the stuff and cramming too much of it into a space. These spaces would benefit from more textures, more manipulatives, and more play options. They seem locked in on loud molded plastic as the preferred plaything.

NOTE: Since originally drafting this post, we’ve been informed that Red spoke up and got his raise. He and Lorraine are expecting twins in the spring. Best wishes to them from everyone here at Playvolution HQ.

Have thoughts on the photos–or thoughts on our thoughts? Share them in the comments. You’ll find more play space critiques here.

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