Adventure Playground Conference
Adventure Playground Conference
Embedded Files
How can you help?
How can you help?
Support the organization by inviting one of the speakers to lunch.
Tell the next person you meet that on November 20–21 there will be a great conference in Cluj-Napoca at the Tranzit-House about an exciting concept: adventure playgrounds.
Support the organization by contributing with snacks, cakes, coffee, sugar, milk, etc. for the coffee breaks.
Attend the conference.
Support the organization financially by contributing to the costs (travel, accommodation, food). Both the organizers and the speakers are participating voluntarily, without honoraria.
What are adventure playgrounds?
What are adventure playgrounds?
Adventure playgrounds are places where children can engage in “risky play”, such as climbing trees, using hammers, and building things.
In addition to the importance of free play, these spaces have very important ground rules (source link):
3 "frees": "free of charge", "free to come and go", "free to choose".
Are staffed by trained "playworkers".
Adventure playgrounds embrace the benefits of risk.
They are part of the "urban wilderness".
These spaces should not be confused with adventure parks.
Here you can watch a 2-minute video about the temporary adventure playground in Prague.
Zavod Igrišče Adventure Playground, Maribor, 2025, 1. No violence. 2. No means no from the outset. 3. Don’t destroy what you didn’t build.
Photo: Rácz Rebeka, source: szabadjatek.hu
Why do we need adventure playgrounds?
Why do we need adventure playgrounds?
In large cities, there are very few spaces where children can move around freely without having to go far from where they live and ending up at a “catalog playground.”
“Catalog playground” is an informal term for the kind of playgrounds we usually encounter.
A typical “catalog playground” in Cluj-Napoca.
source: cluj24.ro
Compared to this, an adventure playground is a playing environment created by children, not by adults and can offer the following:
Children can freely build and play and the place is in a constant flux.
photo source link
Children can be creative and learn to use real tools.
photo source link
It is staffed by trained playworkers, who are aware of the risks and how to manage them, and who work according to an international methodology.
photo source link
Where are there adventure playgrounds nearby? Where can people find inspiration?
Where are there adventure playgrounds nearby? Where can people find inspiration?
Prague, Czech Republic: Město přátelské k dětem, z. s.
photo: adventureplayground.cz
Maribor, Slovenia: Zavod Igrišče
photo: playeast.eu
Graz, Austria: Fratz Graz
photo: fratz-graz.at
Lublin, Poland: Rezerwat Dzikich Dzieci
photo: playeast.eu
Berlin, Germany: Spielkultur Berlin-Buch e.V.
photo: playeast.eu
Tartu, Estonia
photo: lapsedoue.com
How did I hear about this in the first place, and what will happen in November 2026 in Cluj?
How did I hear about this in the first place, and what will happen in November 2026 in Cluj?
In November 2025, I attended the first Playeast.eu Conference about Adventure Playgrounds in Budapest.
Here you can read the conference program in English.
photo: Michal Glos, The Association for Free Play, link
The presentations were incredibly inspiring, and together with the colleagues of the Eastern European Adventure Playground Network, we decided to organise the 2nd Playeast.eu Conference in Cluj-Napoca in 2026, where you have a chance to meet the speakers in Romania, as well.
Organizers and supporters:
Organizers and supporters:
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse