The somewhat different playground

Timo Groß

Two swings, a climbing frame that connects the ladder and slide with a suspension bridge, a sandpit, a seesaw and everything neatly framed by a gravel base. This is how you would imagine a classic playground. But not social worker Timo Groß. He has been looking after a construction playground in Chemnitz since June this year. Whatever the weather, the construction playground at Sophienstraße 8 on Sonnenberg also opens its doors during the autumn holidays. In our Maker of the Week interview, the Chemnitz resident reveals what makes this place so special and what a surfboard has to do with a playground.

A construction playground - what is that?
Timo Groß: It's a place where you can climb, play and build, where you meet up with others to share time and different skills. Here, children and young people learn how to use hammers, pliers and saws under pedagogical and manual guidance. They can experiment with different materials here. It is a play world that children and young people can create themselves.

What is the educational concept behind it?
It is an open concept. We attach great importance to keeping a low profile. In this place, the children should decide for themselves and create things. In principle, the construction playground is an open place where experiences can be made. Creative strategies can be devised and tried out. The children should be able to create their playground in their heads and then realise their ideas pragmatically.

How did this type of play come about?
The idea of building and adventure playgrounds has been around for a long time. The first playgrounds in Germany were created in the 1960s. The nationwide umbrella organisation of youth farms and active playgrounds was founded in the early 1970s and spread the concept of building playgrounds. The AJZ Chemnitz took up this idea a few years ago and wanted to realise the concept in its own city. We found a sponsor and a suitable site and were able to open the construction playground in Chemnitz on Children's Day on 1 June this year.

Who is the playground aimed at?
Anyone can use this space, it is not just limited to building and playing, it can also be used for events. The main target group is children and young people in different age groups. Most visitors are between the ages of eight and twelve, but in general anyone aged six and over is welcome. If you are younger, you need an accompanying person who is at least 16 years old.

What exactly can the children and young people do there?
They can create their own world. We have all kinds of materials and tools that can be used by everyone. Some children recently dug a trench, we laid a pond tarp and created a small pond. Larvae, fleas and caterpillars have accumulated here and the natural history book is pulled out to look up the species of one or two animals. Butterflies are constructed from sticks, huts are built from wood, bows and arrows are carved, birdhouses are built and a surfboard has been converted into a slide. A lot of things develop on their own and the children decide what they want to do and learn.

What skills are trained?
Creativity, dexterity, teamwork, organisation, sustainability - the construction playground promotes many skills. Some children have innate manual skills, while others have never handled a hammer before. Here, everyone comes together and helps each other. The children and young people gain experience and exchange ideas with the projects they create themselves.

Timo Groß is passionate about the project and supervises up to 20 children at the construction playground on some days. Anyone who needs help, materials or ways of realising the project can always turn to Timo. Whether the weather is good or bad, he is on site to greet the children, make building plans with them, help them write lists of materials, support them in converting units of measurement and also teach the kids about sustainability and environmental awareness. The next project is a compostable toilet for the construction playground, built solely by and for the children and young people at the construction playground. "The hut also needs to be winterised soon." The trained carpenter of course knows how to protect the buildings and structures against slush, rain and cold, but the exciting thing about the project is seeing what ideas the children have and how they implement them, Timo emphasises.

The construction playground has been running in Chemnitz since June this year. How has the response been?
Since the opening, we have had just over 700 participants, which I think is very good. On some days there were over 20 children there. We have never opened the gates to the construction playground for free, even when it rains children always come by. The children see this place as their own and they identify with it through their work and handicrafts. I am positively surprised at how quickly the children have accepted this place as their own. But I've also had feedback from the school, for example from craft teachers who notice that the children bring new skills to the classroom.

Is it difficult to encourage the children and young people to do this?
The children who come here want to get stuck in and do something. They come to the construction playground and bring a lot of ideas with them. So it's not difficult to get them excited about it. The children tell each other a lot about it and we introduce our construction playground to social institutions in the neighbourhood. The children come all on their own and appreciate not being overly regimented here.

Was Sonnenberg intended as a specific location for this?
The funding programme that enables us to finance the project is aimed at the Sonnenberg, but we also looked at the entire city area. In the end, the Sonnenberg was very suitable, as it is very well connected to the AJZ-Streetwork contact office at the foot of the Sonnenberg. I can quickly exchange ideas with colleagues, we can organise services more flexibly and support each other.

Are there plans for more playgrounds of this kind?
We are focussing on this playground for now. In the future, I can imagine that we will expand the playground on Sonneberg. This would allow us to create more offers and better coordinate projects for young and old visitors. The location naturally appeals mainly to children from Sonneberg. Long distances can be an obstacle for children from other parts of the city to come here. Therefore, we could perhaps become more active in other neighbourhoods. First and foremost, we would like to gather our experience here on the Sonnenberg.

What distinguishes a construction playground from a conventional playground?
The construction playground is constantly changing. It's not just the space that is constantly changing, but also the experience and skills of the construction playground teams. Small projects and plans that appear to be quick and spontaneous to realise can become bigger and more daring. Then there are fewer and fewer limits for the experienced builder players in their creative use of tools and building materials. We have made an agreement together: If a project has not been touched for six weeks, the construction can be dismantled. The materials are then reused for new ideas. This means that the appearance of the construction playground is always different. It's basically like a small town, very dynamic and something is always changing in different corners. The children also communicate a lot with each other on a construction playground, as they have to share their ideas and want to plan new projects.

What is your role as a social worker on the playground?
I provide assistance and keep an eye on the general framework. The children create the structures according to their own ideas, but of course I pay attention to safety features in the designs. The children also like to sit together and talk about their everyday lives. They talk about their successes at school or about difficulties when they're having trouble with writing or maths. Then we sit down and practise this in a playful and practical way, far away from theoretical debates. In a relaxed atmosphere, converting metres into centimetres suddenly becomes much easier.

Where do you see Chemnitz and the Bauspielplatz project in 2025?
I am in favour of the Capital of Culture bid. Chemnitz is a city with rough edges, the remarkable and interesting things are not immediately obvious and that is what makes its potential. People have to come to terms with the upheavals in their city. The residents themselves must present and embody their city. The Capital of Culture bid can help with this. My wish for the building theatre project is that these free spaces remain without strong regulation. The AJZ Chemnitz can offer creative spaces for the people of this city. The experiences at the building playground show that it can also be somewhat unconventional. Chemnitz has the potential to fill even more empty spaces with ideas!