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Become a National Demonstration Site

High-quality play and recreation destinations are lasting evidence of a community’s dedication to supporting health and wellness and providing meaningful outdoor environments that turn research into practice. Intentionally aligning to National Demonstration Site design criteria ensures that your community can maximize the value of your investment by implementing scholarly best practice research to activate meaningful play and recreation spaces.

7 Principles of Inclusive Playground Design

Provide high-quality outdoor play experiences for people of all ages and abilities that develop the whole child, address the whole environment, and ultimately, benefit the whole community

Explore Inclusion Research

Outdoor Adult Fitness Parks

Provide a variety of meaningful outcomes to communities and serve as a critical health solution by offering new ways to make physical activity more available, accessible, affordable, and enjoyable.

Explore Outdoor Adult Fitness Research

Play On!

Promote physical activity and fun through the use of thoughtfully designed outdoor play environments and creative playground learning activities.

Explore Youth Physical Activity Research

NatureGrounds

Create a dramatic shift in the standard playground development process by deliberately designing nature back into the everyday spaces of childhood, not only to benefit children’s play, but also to engage communities in working together to deliver high-quality play experiences across generations.

Explore Nature Play Research

Pathways for Play

Intentionally integrate play — critical for children’s health — into walkable, bikeable, shared use community pathway networks.

Explore Playful Pathways Research

Design

Work with a local, National Demonstration Site trained representative to design your site to implement evidence-based

Explore the Research

Collaborate

Participate in data collection, outcomes sharing, and network engagement

Download the Brochure

Not sure where to start?

Create positive attention through collaborative marketing and/or programming, and encourage community members to share their experiences using onsite data collection methods.