Through observations of the childrens play, I have made notes of all activities at the pre-school Playground. The intention of the observations was to see if the Playground environment invites and stimulate the childs motorie development. The study will be a part of a future planning work of the preschool environment.The results show that the pre-school Playground environment invites to physical activities that stimulate the childs motory development. The variation of activities is dependent on the design of the landscapes. The pedagogues taking part of the childrens activities are one of the factors which contributed to the childs choice of activity.The preschool plays an important part in the childrens development so it is important that all personnel have basic knowledge on the importance of outdoor activities.Keywords: Fundamental movement, motorie development, preschool Playground, outdoor enviroment.

For an outdoor environment to function optimally as a playarea requires that it is flexible, that is, contains places and elements that give room for the imagination and for own interpetretations, and also that the children in some way can influence and change their surroundings. It is also important to have variety, both in the sense that the Playground has a unique character that distinguishes it from other places, and that it allows many different games and activities. There should for example be room for both wild games of running and moving around where many children can participate, and calm corners to withdraw to for rest or quiet play. A good Playground should surprise, challenge and encourage children to discover their surroundings. One way to achive this is to use plants and materials from nature, whose irregular forms and structures can become interesting elements to explore. Vegetation also gives sence-experiences of various kinds, materials like twigs and leafs to play with and a place to play house.

The aim with this report is to investigate what influence the way Playgrounds are used throw the case study in Vänersborg, and also to find methods for municipalities to collect information about how Playgrounds are used. The methods were observations, interviews with parents and children, a questionary with questions about what Playgrounds they used, how often and why they used them and what the children used to do there. There was also a demographic investigation and documentary research. The most popular Playground, Skräcklan, gets visitors from all parts of the municipality. It is located in a park with a view over the lake Vänern, there is a parking place and a café and it has furthermore a large area and many play equipments. Many of the families make shorter trips and picnics to this place. In exception of this Playground, the families almost always go to the Playground in their neighborhood and their part of the town.

Boulognerskogen is a park in the central of Skövde that have had a health resort, paths for strolling, outdoor-bath, outdoor-sport areas and events. During the 1970:th there was a lack of interest for the park and very few visited it. By a motion from a resident in Skövde wich proposes that a city Playground will be build in Boulognerskogen gave me an opportunity to investigate how the potential of the park can be used to create a funny and nice place to visit for children in company with adults. By a program that contains the main goals and design program for a city Playground in Boulognerskogen, I wanted to present a proposal that could meet childrens needs to play and to use the conditions of the place to create places to play in, and where children in company with adults could be together. To reach this, I wanted to try different methods that could lead to a proposal that was well supported by children and adults, and wich was possible to use by the local authority in their further actions. The methods that I used was therefor an important part of the work. I have choosen to define the concept "city Playground" as a greater Playground situated in the center of the town that are suitable for outings and as a meetingplace, with a varation in Playground attractions and promote children and adults to be together, aiming at younger children in the ages of 1-10 years in company with adults, but should also give space to activities of other groups.

Studies in the recent years have showed that the preschool Playground is important for both the physical and emotional development of children. The Botkyrka local government has decided to improve their preschool Playgrounds in order to take advantage of these studies. The administration of childcare and education in Botkyrka is arranging a network between the different preschools where they work together to improve their outdoor environments. The network is arranging workshops and seminars where people from the different preschools can come and gain inspiration for improvements of their own preschools. The administration of properties has created a document where they describe the changes that are supposed to be made to the different outdoor environments. Through the administration of properties and the person who is responsible for the outdoor environments I was introduced to their work with the preschool Playgrounds.

The purpose of this study was to investigate what attracts children to activity and movement on the Playground in a central and municipal preschool in a town located in middle of Sweden. The method was to use a qualitative group interview with five children, two girls and three boys, at the age of five. The interview consisted of a general question about what kids think is fun to do on the Playground and was complemented with follow-up questions depending on what the children said. A qualitative interview with a preschool teacher and observations were carried out in the hope that they would confirm what children claimed about play and movement. This study showed a gender difference when girls like to swing together while the boys are making the swinging for a contest.

Children's need of a good environment of playing outdoor at schoolyards is, both from a perspective of commonly public's health and from the children themselves, indisputable. Children who have a good and varying Playground develop physically, psychologically and socially. As an instrument of pedagogic a Playground also is valuable for example in teaching the round, periodical successions and understanding of democratic processes. The conception Playground means here in my work the environment outdoor for children at schools up to about twelve years old. What is a good Playground then? How is it possible for a landscape architect to contribute improvements? The purpose of my work has been to enlarge my knowledge about Playgrounds, understand more of the profession as a landscape architect and apply a perspective of children in the planning. To sum up, the shaping of Playgrounds has great importance for the activities of the children and if the teachers make use of it, the teaching. A good Playground gives the delight, the excitement and the curiosity free spaces and stimulates new challenges.

The purpose of this study is to illustrate the impact on children's development around playing and how significance the formation of the schoolyards is focusing on how it inspire and calls to play within the children's. The study will also show how the youth workers experience the schoolyards and how they can incorporate the Playground in their work to inspire the children's play and activities. The methods used in this study is based on both real conversations and by mail with educated youth workers and observations. The results shows that the schoolyard environment is very important for the children's play and development. The study reveals the importance of having nature like forest nearby and that the environment should be suited for everyone.

Which lignoses are suitable for childrens enviroment? There are many aspects to consider when establishment on schoolyards and Playgrounds..

Invoxicated is an interactive play sculpture where children can explore the wonderful and playful opportunities of sound. Talk into one end of the sculpture, and the sound will travel through the sculpture and come out in the other end. On its way, the sound gets distorted by a number of sound effects. By bending the sculpture?s body, and pressing the sculpture?s buttons, the sound effects gets altered in real time.

The research of today shows that natural environments are importantfor children's physical and mental development. It alsoshows that children often opt out of the traditional equipmentPlaygrounds have to offer. By breaking the boundary betweenthe Playground and park, is it possible to create a new spacethat will encourage rather than demand play? Through gatheringinformation and talking to landscape architects, designers,and children, I realized that today's parks already have environmentsand objects that could be used for playing. But whatthey need is something that makes the environment even moreinviting for children to play.

When visiting Scaniaparken in Malmö you have the possibility of listening to music streaming out of grass-covered hills. In Helsingborg children can compose their own music and play for their friends on the Playground. On a square in Nacka Strand you can hear birds singing in the quiet intervals of traf?c. What the places have in common are that they all contain sound installations.

Folkhälsovetenskapligt program.

Under våren år 2013 har Emilia Andersson, en designingenjörsstudent på Högskolan i Skövde, utfört ett produktutvecklingsprojekt i samarbete med HAGS Aneby AB. Syftet med projektet var att utveckla en vippgunga vars storlek skulle vara anpassad för barn i åldrarna 1-3 år. Målet var att vippgungan ska kunna säljas över hela världen samt uppfylla den amerikanska standarden och europastandarden för lekredskap.Projektet inleddes med en förstudie och teori-fas, där bland annat litteraturstudie och konkurrentanalys genomfördes och annan information samlades in för att få djupare kunskaper inom ämnet. Därefter började idéer och koncept genereras, som sedan genomgick utvärderingar, så som användartester, vilket ledde till ett slutkoncept. Konceptet utvärderades med hjälp av bland annat hållfasthetsberäkningar och en antropometrisk analys.Den slutgiltiga vippgungan kan trots anpassningen för åldersgruppen, inte bara användas av 1-3-åringar utan också av äldre barn, tack vare att konstruktion och framförallt handtag ger extra lekvärden.

This thesis was rendered for the client HAGS Aneby AB that is a global leader in Playground equipment. The goal of this project was to develop a seesaw that is available for children aged 5-12 years; both with and without disabilities. The project has aimed to develop a seesaw that fits everyone in the target group without looking specially adapted.Children with disabilities have difficulty using today's seesaws because they consist of only a seat and a handle on each side. It requires that the user has strong arms and legs and can sit up without support. HAGS Aneby AB would like to change this.To gain knowledge of the target group and on the different types of disabilities information was sought for on the internet including the RBU's and UNICEF's websites.