Playground Guide - 2021 - 1

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50 Years at Play
Many people remember the days of the freestanding
slides, swings and monkey bars. But in 1967, that idea of
playground design advanced to interconnected play components. The revolutionary idea of combining playground
activities is known as the continuous play concept, which
was created by Steve King, cofounder and chairman of
Delano, Minnesota-based Landscape Structures Inc. As
his final thesis project at Iowa State University, Steve developed a system that linked play activities together to
provide a continuous challenge for children. His premise
was that if kids are together on one structure, then they'll
learn things that they will use throughout life, like social
and conflict-resolution skills.
While his thesis only scored him a C+ grade, Steve took
his continuous play concept to his first job as a landscape
architect specializing in park planning. In 1969, he was assigned a playground design project for the city of Minneapolis, where he was able to put his approach into action.
His first playground was a success, which led to more interest. In early 1971, Steve and his wife Barb King obtained
a $1,000 loan and incorporated Landscape Structures
(tinyurl.com/2umz3bse) to design and build commercial
playstructures.
The company began to see steady growth in the late
1970s and 1980s, which led to building expansions, acquisitions and sales growth at home and overseas. By
the mid-1990s, Landscape Structures had expanded immensely, which led Steve and
Barb to implement the kaizen
approach to lean manufacturing
(tinyurl.com/r5ahca5e).
Kaizen created efficiencies in
the manufacturing and business processes, and even the
engineering and product development process.
In an effort to provide great

play experiences for kids, Landscape Structures always
has been committed to innovation. Hedra® (tinyurl.com/
ndvb4jj6), the company's latest invention, allows kids
to safely navigate via their own intuition and curiosity,
and invent routes, games and imaginary environments.
Landscape Structures has a longstanding commitment
to inclusive play and are breaking barriers with the WeGo-Swing™ (tinyurl.com/snwsy874), the first no-transfer
inclusive swing that can be integrated directly into the
playground setting. In addition, the use of innovative materials and the development of colors that are truly inspired by nature are changing the world of playgrounds.
As Landscape Structures moves into its 50th year of
business, the company is taking time to reflect on the
power of play. With the challenges posed by the ongoing
pandemic, the value of play and recreation is being recognized for its role in health, well-being and fun. That's
why the team at Landscape Structures - nearly 500 employees and a network of more than 200 playground consultants worldwide - are proud to provide unique play
opportunities for all ages, abilities and backgrounds. Because no matter what's happening in the world, we come
back to play (tinyurl.com/fexxf6v8).

www.playlsi.com
888.438.6574

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Parks & Recreation

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Playground Guide - 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Playground Guide - 2021