Timberplay bring natural play to Sheffield

Millennium Square was the location for this fun event that promoted the use of natural materials within play, providing the perfect ‘time-out´ opportunity for children shopping with their parents or carers.

The event was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council, in partnership with The University of Sheffield, Sheffield City Council, Activity Sheffield and Timberplay. In amongst the steel balls outside the Winter Gardens, Timberplay provided freestanding wooden play equipment, representing their natural approach to play which children of all ages eagerly climbed on to have fun!

Helen Woolley from the University of Sheffield comments: -
“The event was very well attended and we were delighted with the numbers of children and teenagers that made good use of the equipment during the day. Lots of parents approached us to talk about natural play and how they want to see children getting outside and playing in precisely this kind of environment. It was great to have the support of Timberplay, a local Sheffield based company that specialises in natural outdoor play equipment for children and who understood what we were trying to achieve and were able to get everything in place for the one-day event, everyone appreciated their effort.”

Paul Collings, Managing Director of Timberplay comments on why he was happy to support this event: -
“Historically there is a great synergy between Timberplay and The University of Sheffield. We aspire to offer a pioneering approach to natural play, using landscape design as the hub of our innovative play spaces. This approach is one which the University extols, in fact we have been able to benefit from their research during the recent Knowledge Transfer Partnership program we worked with them on. This event gave visitors to Sheffield City Centre the opportunity to experience elements of the ‘natural´ environment for play and we were therefore happy to support it.”