Welcome to the process, this project is ongoing.....

The Children Belong to the City Playground project builds on existing efforts to connect children at the Burlington Children’s Space and local outdoor spaces including the Intervale gardens and walking paths, local community garden sites, public parks and green spaces, and the city’s waterfront. The focus of this project is the development of a new playground for The Burlington Children’s Space incorporating elements from public spaces around the city that promote open ended play, physical challenges, and interest in the natural world throughout the seasons. Children, teachers, and parents will be involved in various outings to observe, play, and collect ideas. The process provides many opportunities for children, teachers and parents to share healthy activities such as neighborhood walks, visits to parks and gardens, and open ended outdoor play.

We are researchers, adventurers, collaborators.





The first stage of the process was to go out into the community to collect information about the places we love.


What do we do here? What is special about the feel, smell, sounds, and rituals we create in this place? What interest does it have for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, families? What is it like in different seasons? These were the questions we had in mind on our many outings.


We used digital cameras, notebooks, clipboards, and memory to hold onto what we found. We reflected individually and together sharing inspiration and telling stories. We collected our ideas to collect more.