GreenUP Naturalized Playscape Welcomes the Public To Ecology Park

GreenUP welcomes the community to visit Peterborough’s first natural playscape on public lands; celebrating with a ribbon cutting event on Friday afternoon.

A naturalized playscape is one way to introduce children and those willing to unleash their playfulness to natural play in an urban landscape. Photo by Lili Paradi.

GreenUP donors and supporters alongside Executive Director Tegan Moss play around to celebrate the opening at GreenUP Ecology Park. (Left to right: Ian Attridge, Mark Zippel, Tegan Moss, Kim Zippel, Sue Sauve.) Photo by Lili Paradi.

The Keresztesi family plays on the new naturalized playscape at Ecology Park. Photo by Lili Paradi.

Tegan Moss, executive director at GreenUP, cuts the ribbon to signify the opening of the Peterborough's first naturalized playscape on public grounds at Ecology Park, to the excitement of the many children who then ran onto use the playscape. Photo by Lili Paradi.

Thanks to a $52,800 grant from the Government of Ontario and the Ontario Trillium Foundation in 2021, as well as the support of GreenUP donors, the organization was able to fund the playscape.

The climbing structures added in 2022 were designed by Henry Kortekaas & Associates Inc. and constructed by The Little Building Company.

“I hope that when children play on this natural playscape, they feel a stronger connection to their natural surroundings, and are given the opportunity to learn and engage in unstructured, imaginative play,” said Sean Harris, owner of The Little Building Company. “They can test their limits with the unconventional climbing structure, or interact with the playground perimeter, which features rocks and logs for jumping and balancing. The soft texture and irregularities of the locally sourced white cedar offer a refreshing change from the familiar plastic and metal surfaces. When I look at the playscape, I see not only a fun space for children to play and learn, but also an environmentally responsible play area with low embodied carbon cost and no landfill waste at the end of its lifetime.”

The Naturalized Playscape is the fourth of five capital projects that GreenUP plans to complete in Ecology Park.

GreenUp says they are proud of how this project has re-imagined and restored the Ecology Park Children’s Garden.

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