At Park, Kids Trade in Their Toys for Tools

At the average playground, 7-year-olds pounding sharp, rusty nails into scrap lumber might be a lawsuit waiting to happen. At Berkeley's Adventure Playground, allowing kids to wield hammers and saws is not only legal, but expected.

The alternative playground, located at the Berkeley Marina, is one of only two of its kind in the U.S. The outdoor community center is designed to allow children to construct their own play structures and experiment with tools and materials normally associated with professional carpenters.

The playground, reminiscent of a children's paradise straight out of Neverland, features forts, castles, spider webs made of ropes, walls of tires and the popular zipline trolley, all of which were built by visiting children over the park's 27-year history.

"I like the fact that it's not mass

produced, that the play structures are created by people. It allows kids to create things and come back to visit," said Berkeley parent Kaila Flexer.

"It's not a manufactured plastic slide you could see anywhere in the country. It's really unique," Flexer said.

To allay parents' concerns about the easy accessibility of sharp tools to the park's young patrons, parents are required to supervise toddlers and younger children. Children seven years old and older may only be left alone for three hours after their parents sign a liability waiver.

The playground is staffed by trained supervisors with carpentry or child care experience. These 'playworkers' mediate disputes among children, tear down unstable structures and keep an eye out for children trying to eat nails while facilitating the construction process.

"We help them with some things, but they come up with the ideas," said playworker Marela Keys. "We're out here all the time. We're constantly making laps to find what's new."

The park is run through a barter system between the park's management and its young carpenters. In order to rent a hammer or a saw, children must scavenge for five pieces of trash, 10 nails or a "Mr. Dangerous," a piece of wood with an embedded nail.

"Rules make maintaining the place fun. Maintenance becomes a game," said parent Nancy Petrin.

For some parents, the park's concept is appealing because it allows their children a chance to play dirty instead of playing house.

"Nature deprivation is when kids don't get in the outdoors-that's why I brought my girls here. They were home playing with Barbies way too long," Petrin said.

Alternative outdoor adventure playgrounds, originally called junk playgrounds, first became popular after World War II, when Danish landscape architect and park creator D.T. Sorensen noticed that children enjoyed playing in post-war rubble more than they did in conventional playgrounds.

Today, there are more than 1,000 such playgrounds in Europe. However, the Berkeley playground's only American counterpart is a similar space in Huntington Beach, Calif.

"Berkeley's adventure playground began approximately 27 years ago with one staff person, some dirt clods and a fence. We got the phone company to put some poles in for a case of beer," said Patty Donald, coordinator of the Marina Experience Program. "But lots of volunteers helped put the place together."

With the help of volunteers like the members of UC Berkeley's Alpha Phi Theta, which helped shovel sand and sort wood over the weekend, the playground has become a hotspot for construction-inclined children. On average, 150 children come to park every day during the summer. Groups are required to make reservations or risk being asked to leave.

But while the surreal landscape dotted with paint-flecked old boats and defunct pianos draws many adventure-minded parents, the playground's biggest fans are the children.

"I love the trolly," said six-year old Lucy Flexer while scaling the zipline station. "Mommy, look at me!"

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