Girls playing on natural playground in forest at Tucker Ranch

Build a Natural Playground That Lasts

Imagine a space where children feel free to move, explore, and connect with nature. That’s the power of nature play. It awakens curiosity, sparks joy, and helps children grow through movement, discovery, and shared experiences. With a thoughtfully designed wooden playground, you create more than just a place to play—you build an environment that inspires activity, creativity, and togetherness. Crafted from durable, high-quality materials like robinia wood, will become a natural gathering place where play feels both wild and welcoming, day after day, year after year.

Everything to Know About Nature Play

Nature play is play that happens in and with nature. Nature play typically involves play with natural elements such as plants and trees, water, dirt, sand, and stones. Most often, nature play happens outdoors, where children can feel the breezes, take in fresh air, observe the changes in weather and seasons, and feel the warmth of the sun on their skin. Nature play excites all of the senses with sights, sounds, textures, scents, tastes, and also with challenges to how the body moves in outdoor spaces.

Our Nature Play category is dominated by one word–robinia. European robinia wood is more than just a component material; with its strength, durability, and creative potential, it's at the center of our Nature Play playground equipment, utilized across products and solutions, including:

  • Classic structures like wooden villages, wooden play houses, and wooden play systems

  • Imaginative playgrounds and pieces, such as a wooden pirate ship playground, a wooden castle playground, and themed playground equipment

  • Individual pieces, including commercial wooden swing sets, springers & seesaws, and other freestanding equipment

  • Balancing & agility equipment, such as wooden playground climbers and kids obstacle course equipment

Experiences in nature and naturalized environments have benefits for health, well-being, and cognitive functioning. For children, developing a connection with nature also supports their desire to participate in conservation efforts. A connection with nature requires direct and repeated experiences in natural or naturalized environments. With their emphasis on enjoyment, activity, and socialization, natural playgrounds make for the perfect places to support connections with nature.

Get Inspiration from Real-Life Nature Playgrounds:

Taylor Farm Park

Taylor Farm Park is a sprawling, 99-acre green space outside of Richmond, Virginia. Once a family-owned farm dating back to 1858, the land was acquired in part of a 2016 Henrico County bond referendum. Today, the park helps families harvest new memories and immerse themselves in multiple natural elements on one nature-based playground. Seeing nearly 1 million visitors in its first year of operations, Taylor Farm Park received national recognition with the National Recreation and Park Association's (NRPA) "2025 Innovation in Park Design Award."

“We worked with KOMPAN from the earliest planning meetings, and that allowed us to shape the land, the water features and the play equipment into a dynamic, unique destination playground. Taylor Farm Park is our largest play equipment installation, and by far, Henrico County’s most talked about park.” – Al Azzarone, ASLA, Park Planner, Henrico Recreation and Parks

Boyd Hill Nature Preserve

In Florida’s most densely populated county, you’ll find Boyd Hill Nature Preserve with 245 acres of pristine Florida wilderness. The Preserve has roughly 6 miles of trails through a variety of natural habitats that are used for environmental education programs and school field trips. In the middle of this pristine wilderness, where alligators and birds roam free, you’ll find one of the most unique nature themed playgrounds around.

"With the new playground, kids can stay in touch with their natural environment." – Barbara Stalbird, Natural and Cultural Areas Manager, City of St. Petersburg

Robinia wood materials

Materials

Our Nature Play range is defined by robinia, a hardwood we love for its strength, durability, and unique grain. Each piece guides its use, making every structure one-of-a-kind. While we use other woods like pine when suitable, robina is at the heart of our designs. From Villages and Ships to Obstacle Courses and Springers, every structure transforms robinia’s durability and charm into play experiences that spark imagination and endure for generations.

Want to see more nature play inspiration?