Back to School: Why School Playgrounds Matter More Than Ever for Child Development
- Jac Robinson
- Jan 5
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 9
by Jac Robinson February marks the return to school across Australia with new classrooms, new teachers, and for many students, new playground equipment - but playgrounds are no longer just for burning energy in between reading and maths. Australian research reveals that quality play spaces and adequate break time have a profound impact on academic performance, social skills, and emotional wellbeing.
At Timber Creations, as well as being the experts in nature-play spaces in Australia, we’re also a team of educators - so here's what the research says about why school playgrounds matter more than ever.
The Learning Through Play Revolution
Early Childhood educators have been preaching this for years, and Aussie primary schools are finally catching up - play isn’t the opposite of learning, it’s how children learn best! However, our education system still has a rough transition from pre-school to kindergarten. Kids go from their pre-school, play-based environments to a setting where they’re expected to hold attention for long periods, with minimal access to the outdoors and collaborative play.
There is currently no national policy documentation or framework that mandates daily outdoor learning opportunities for primary aged children - even though it is a requirement in our Early Childhood sector. This results in outdoor learning becoming a low priority for our primary educators, and the research sadly backs this up. A study in South Australia found that even though 63% of public primary schools have purposed built nature play spaces (and a further 25% are building one), most schools use these spaces for play rather than integrated learning (Miller et al., 2023).
The real outcomes of outdoor play-based learning were uncovered, through a groundbreaking study undertaken in New South Wales in November 2025. Over 10 weeks, children in Year One (5-6 years old), participated in a Bush School program, where they engaged with 2 hours of unstructured nature play every Thursday. This included bushwalks, bug hunting, mud kitchen play, storytelling, cubby building and other bushcraft activities; and the success of the program was measured by self-reflection from the kids, including journalling and drawing, and through feedback from both the teachers and parents.
The results were profound and determined that it was merely a different kind of learning to that normally found in the classroom. Furthermore, it found that this time outside had no negative impact on literacy or numeracy outcomes, which counters the most common concerns that educators have – that there will be lost instructional time (Harper et al., 2025).
From this study, we can see that nature play meaningfully supports children’s well-being, engagement, belonging, and connection to nature; and should be a core pedagogical approach, not just an enrichment activity.
Social and Emotional Development in Australian Playgrounds
The school playground has always been a critical part of social and emotional learning for our children. It provides kids with access to unstructured social environments, where they can form friendships organically, without teacher or parent involvement. Children learn to negotiate, compromise, and build real peer connection through these self-directed interactions in the playground.
Aside from the fun part of the playground, I’m sure that we all remember getting into scrapes with our peers, and social conflict continues to be one of the main barriers to children’s play during recess and lunch. However, well designed spaces can reduce this conflict significantly, as was found by Dr Fatemah Aminpour of UNSW. Play areas which are designed specifically for ball-free active play, had marked reductions in playground conflict, as they allow for more diverse types of physical, cognitive and social activity. (Aminpour, F. et al., 2020). These areas, such as the sections between covered outdoor learning areas, ovals and classrooms are perfect for self-directed construction play, such as building “house”, or more social games, such as forming clubs with made up roles.
This research clearly shows that diversity in our school play spaces boosts social development, and that play is the primary mechanism that children use to establish their social identities – the foundation for navigating the greater physical and social world in adulthood.
The Growing Nature Play Movement in Australian Schools
Play Australia reports that only 1 in 3 Australian children engage in free play outdoors daily. This affirms the greater shift toward structured, sedentary, and screen-dominated childhoods, so schools represent one of the few remaining opportunities for many children to experience regular outdoor play and nature connection (Play Australia, 2020).
There is a wealth of literature on Nature Play, and a team of Australian Researchers collated almost 150 international studies, spanning the past 20 years, to create a comprehensive review of the findings. From the review, there is strong evidence that nature specific outdoor learning has measurable socio-emotional, academic and wellbeing benefits for children from pre-school through to high school. However, to ensure continual positive impacts, we need to push educational policy makers to understand that Nature Play isn’t a “nice-to-have”, and that it is an effective pedagogical approach. (Mann et al., 2022).
The strictly Australian-specific research shows similar results, that contact with nature enhances children's creativity, improves both cognitive function and psycho-social wellbeing, cultivates risk-taking and self-reliance, and promotes physical fitness (Gray, 2018). And, as Dr Nicole Miller from the University of SA notes, schools across the state are investing in purpose-built nature spaces, but the next step is increasing investment in teachers to boost their skills and confidence to deliver curriculum in these outdoor areas (Miller et al., 2023).
The challenges we face moving forward are ensuring that these outdoor spaces are fully optimised for learning, and that our teachers receive the support they need to deliver the curriculum outdoors. For any school that is planning facility upgrades or looking to invest in playground equipment, the question is not whether you can afford to prioritise nature play – it’s whether you can afford not to.
Conclusion: An Investment in the Whole Child
As we prepare to start the 2026 school year, playground quality deserves the same amount of attention as classroom resources do – and it’s the Aussie research that backs this up – outdoor time outside of recess does not detract from academic achievement, it enhances it.
At Timber Creations, we work in conjunction with schools in NSW to design bespoke playgrounds, in under-utilised areas, that truly support learning via play. The research is there, the benefits are documented, and the time to act is now.
Our team combines the latest research with decades of designing playgrounds that work alongside educators, with the best interests of our children in mind. Whether you need a complete overhaul, or just strategic upgrades to your space, we can work with you to create a space which delivers real educational outcomes.
Let’s chat today about what play and learning looks like for your school in 2026. Email us at create@timbercreations.com.au
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