When traveling with young children, it’s valuable to know where playgrounds are!
At one point while traveling Switzerland, my husband and I joked we were doing a playground tour of Zürich rather than visiting family.
Our boys wanted to stop at every single playground they saw, whether we were driving or walking.
Something stood out to me about these playgrounds though.
Similarities
But first the similarities to American playgrounds.
They still had slides and swings. There were bridges and ladders too.
Just like here in the states, the playgrounds did vary in size. Some spanned a large field and others were tucked in a corner.
Both sets offered many options for open ended play.
Differences
The first theme I noticed was natural colors and materials.
American playgrounds are bright colors and metal and plastic.
Swiss playgrounds were brown, gray, and tan. The material was also wood, rope, and some metal (swings, and some toys).
The playgrounds in Switzerland had regular stairs but they had a lot more rope climbing walls or rope bridges instead.
Another recurring theme I noticed amongst a lot of these was doing dangerous things carefully.
Some of the towers were about 8 feet tall. Many only had a thin rope around the top as a barrier for kids to not fall down.
You got up to the top by climbing up either a rockwall, a climbing rope, or a rope ladder. Getting down involved a slide or climbing back down.
The ‘higher risk’ factor of these playgrounds meant more parents were wandering the playground interacting with their kids rather than sitting off to the side.
These playgrounds also felt like they were designed for a wider age of kids.
Many of the playgrounds I’ve encountered in the states are designed for either toddlers (ages 2-4) or elementary school (5 to 9).
About nine, they start getting bored with playgrounds because they’re not challenging enough.
The Swiss playgrounds were enjoyed by my almost 2 year olds, my three year-old, and I saw about 9 year-olds up there.
My husband told me how he grew up playing on them till he was 11 or 12 and then they found other things to do.
There were toddler specific playgrounds next to some of the larger sets.
There were also older kid playgrounds by some of the schools.
These playgrounds (and Switzerland in general) were a lot cleaner than many city playgrounds in the states. No trash of any kind and people didn’t leave trash behind.
We Can’t wait to return
Even with all the differences, my boys loved these playgrounds more than the ones at home.
The combined ability to challenge my older child while still being entertaining for younger kids tired them all out!
The only downside was they didn’t want to leave which made getting places harder!
Doing dangerous things safely makes for brave children – a good character quality for anyone.