Treehouse Building

Winner of an International Play award

Treehouse Building

Wonderful creations are made when kids have tools

Treehouse Building

Allowing children to experience play

Treehouse Building

This project won an International Play award in recognition of its impact in relation to Children’s Rights to play. The treehouse project was not necessarily about trees or houses but it used ‘tree houses’ as a grown up tool to allow children to experience play.

This is play that is led by the children and treehouses that are not judged by how they look but more for the play value their development and subsequent usage holds. The project, led by Wendy Jeeves, was about changing environments, experiencing challenge, developing selves, affecting and effecting space, exploring ideas, trying things out, building imaginings, being alone, playing together and using tools, even power tools.

The project led us into many different discussions with adults across the borough and we challenged core beliefs about what children can do and want to do. We found that giving children tools, wood and freedom means that wonderful creations are made and accidents hardly ever happen. Over three years we saw a handful of minor accidents and hundreds of amazing creations.