Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/making-outdoor-learning-possible/5015175/
In Minneapolis there is a skyway system that connects the second floors of buildings throughout the downtown area - offices, hotels, stores, and residential developments. There is also a domed stadium and there are domed tennis courts, skating rinks, swimming pools, and indoor fountains. In Minneapolis and many other places, one can seriously ask: Why go outside to the world of snow and ice, heat and mosquitoes, auto exhaust, and rain?The outdoors has weather and life, the vastness of the sky, the universe in the petals of a flower. But many programs, following the models of schools, have seen the very qualities that make the outdoors different as obstacles or annoying side effects. The openness is tightly constricted; weather provides a reason to stay in, and landscape and life are things to be eliminated. A playground, considered the primary, if not the only outdoor setting, performs the same function as a squirrel cage or a prison exercise yard - it is a place for emotional and physical release and a bit of free social interchange.
Playground Types
Traditional playgrounds in schools, centers, or parks are open areas dotted with various pieces of unrelated commercial, usually metal, large muscle equipment such as slides, swings, ...