Designing for Real workshops

At TouchWood, we believe that to get the best value from your playground, it is vital to engage the wider community and any stakeholder groups at an early stage of the design process.

That’s why we developed Designing for Real – a fun, unique and effective way of getting your community involved in your playground project right from the start.

There are three stages of Designing for Real:

1. Getting Inspired: Participants explore different types of play through fun, hands-on activities that help them understand how spaces can shape imagination, movement, challenge and connection.

2. Designing for Real: Participants work together to build temporary full-scale playscapes and smaller models, testing ideas and shaping a bespoke design brief for their future play space.

3. Building for Real: Participants take part in creating real features for their new playground using traditional craft tools and green wood, building lasting ownership and connection to the space.

Want to know more? Get in touch.

Stage One: Getting Inspired

The first stage focuses on helping participants explore what great play feels like and how outdoor spaces can shape those experiences.

Through fun, interactive activities, participants will experience different types of play and begin to understand how design influences movement, imagination, challenge and social interaction. This stage encourages children to think beyond traditional playground equipment and consider how landscapes, loose parts and natural materials can create richer play opportunities.

Activities may include games, den building, temporary play structures, and exploring how different environments support different styles of play. This stage helps build excitement, curiosity, and confidence before moving into the design process.

The aim is to inspire participants to think creatively and recognise the potential of their own outdoor space.

Stage Two: Designing for Real

Once participants are inspired by the possibilities of play, they move into the practical design stage.

This is a fully participative, hands-on workshop where participants work together to create full-scale temporary playscapes and smaller models of play features using loose parts, natural materials and model-making techniques.

They may build temporary structures, test ideas, discuss what works best and explore different ways the space could be transformed. Throughout the process, our experienced workshop leaders guide discussions to help identify the group’s unique play needs, preferences and priorities.

These workshops allows children and stakeholders to actively shape the future playground rather than simply respond to a finished design.

Following the workshop, all ideas are recorded digitally through photographs and observations and compiled into a detailed Designing for Real report. This report forms the backbone of the project brief and provides a clear framework for future design development and funding applications.

For projects requiring a more developed proposal, these ideas can then progress into a fully costed Masterplan Design, including bespoke 3D visuals and phased installation recommendations.

Stage Three: Building for Real

Our practical Building for Real workshops take community engagement to the next level and enable participants to get involved in not only the design of your new play area, but the building of it too.

Using traditional craft tools and freshly felled green wood, participants work alongside our skilled workshop leaders to build real features that can be permanently installed into the playground. Depending on the design, this could include benches, signs, entranceways, willow tunnels, monkey bars and other bespoke natural play features.

Children experience the full journey of taking timber from its raw state through to a collaboratively built feature, following the philosophy that many hands make light work.

It is a powerful way to create ownership, pride and a lasting connection to the finished space.

Come and look around some of our bespoke playgrounds

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A new playscape inspired by nature

A new playscape inspired by nature
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Increasing family appeal for retail at Bicester Village

Increasing family appeal for retail at Bicester Village
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Building active communities: South Molton’s play and outdoor gym area

Building active communities: South Molton's play and outdoor gym area
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