The Play Institute

Enhancing Playground Play through Research

Creating the world's best playgrounds requires understanding what motivates children to play, stay and return and designing spaces that encourage physical, social-emotional, and cognitive-creative development.

Physical

Joy of movement: motor skills, muscle, cardio and bone density

Cognitive

Joy of learning: curiosity, understanding of causal relationships and knowledge of the world

Social-Emotional

Joy of being together: teamwork, tolerance and sense of belonging

Creative

Joy of creating: co-creation and experimenting with materials

Play is fundamentally human

Play is a crucial part of childhood development, providing opportunities for children to learn, grow, and have fun. Through play, children develop their physical, emotional, and cognitive skills. In addition, it allows them to explore their creativity, challenge their boundaries, and build relationships with others. Play also helps children develop resilience, problem-solving skills, and self-esteem.

children playing with sand and water games at a kindergarten

Evidence-based playground design

The KOMPAN Play Institute is KOMPAN’s unit of play specialists, dedicated to developing, documenting and researching play and playgrounds. The KOMPAN Play Institute has been part of developing, researching and advocating playgrounds for KOMPAN since the 1980s.

The main work areas of the KOMPAN Play Institute are:

Research in playground and child development
Testing and documentation of play designs with children of all abilities
White papers, publications and research on playground-specific topics
Consultancy and advocacy on playgrounds and city planning for play

children playing on a KOMPAN playground with cliff rider

Our competencies

Inclusive Play

Child Development and Play

Play Design

Innovation with the KOMPAN Play Institute

Play evolves with time, but children remain play experts. Successful play designs are based on their input, combined with specialist insight into the ongoing changes in child development.

The KOMPAN Play Institute is all about finding fun and growth through play! They study and test to ensure KOMPAN's commercial playground equipment is top-notch for kids and experts. With its focus on child approval and expert validation, the KOMPAN Play Institute is always looking for the next big playground adventure. And play research findings.