We spend a big chunk of our childhood on the playground. It’s where we race down slides, see how high we can swing, dig around in the sand and chase other kids until we’re exhausted. Ideally, those memories come with plenty of laughs and maybe a few scraped knees.
Whoever came up with the playgrounds below, though, seems to have had something slightly more nightmarish in mind. From genuinely dangerous equipment to wildly inappropriate features, they’re so wrong it’s hard not to laugh. Scroll down to see them for yourself and upvote the worst fails.
#1 Some Designs Are So Badly Thought Out That They Create More Problems
Image source: growthtoprofit
#2 Noah’s Ark, In Bristol, Unveiled Its New Children’s ‘Elephant Play Zone’
Image source: djtopicality
#3 Cursed _tube
Image source: Exomian
We can laugh all we want at the horrors on this list, but designing a genuinely good playground is much trickier than it looks. There’s a lot more to it than installing a jungle gym next to a sandbox on a patch of grass and calling it a day.
At their best, playgrounds are legitimate works of architecture and art. They give children space to develop social and physical skills while, of course, letting their imaginations run wild. All of that can play a big role in how they grow and develop.
#4 Kids Playground Design Fails
Image source: BlazingRed9
#5 Swedish Playground
Image source: KermitTheSnail
#6 Been Slowly But Surely Putting Together A Children’s Park
Image source: blockheadnyc
Interestingly, a well-designed playground isn’t necessarily the one that looks the most impressive. Those brightly colored plastic spaces packed with slides and built-in games can actually be less interesting for children because everything is so obvious.
You quickly figure out where to climb and what each part is meant to do, and before long, there isn’t much left to discover. A pile of mud or a couple of sticks can sometimes keep a child busy far longer, simply because there’s no one right way to play with them.
#7 Photos Of Old Playgrounds Always Make Me Feel Uneasy
Image source: LittleBitHasto
#8 Real Life Krabby Land
Image source: Saintrph
#9 Hmmm
Image source: [deleted]
People started noticing exactly that after World War II. In parts of Europe, children were playing among the remains of damaged buildings and turning bits of rubble into their own toys and games.
Strange as the setting was, it showed adults something important: children could have far more fun when they were given materials to mess around with instead of being told exactly how everything should be used.
#10 Just A Normal Russian Playground
Image source: cuducos
#11 Soviet Playgrounds
Image source: robertbonomo
#12 My Grade School’s Playground In The 70s
Image source: snugglebandit
That thinking eventually led to the rise of adventure playgrounds. The idea originated in Denmark, where landscape architect Carl Theodor Sørensen helped create the first “junk playground” in Copenhagen in 1943.
A few years later, British landscape architect Marjory Allen, Lady Allen of Hurtwood, visited it and was so impressed that she brought the concept back to the UK, where adventure playgrounds soon began appearing.
These spaces looked very different from traditional playgrounds. Instead of neat rows of swings and slides, children were given loose materials and discarded objects they could move around and use however they liked.
#13 “Play Around And Find Out” Learning In A 1970s Playground
Image source: clawstuckblues
#14 You’re Not Having Fun Unless You Get A Concussion
Image source: JGSpeedfit
#15 Sometimes Accidents Can Be Anticipated?
Image source: pipsolicitors
By the end of the 20th century, that experimental spirit had started to fade. Concerns over safety were growing, and expensive lawsuits made legal responsibility a much bigger issue.
In Chicago, for example, a child was badly injured after falling from a tall slide in 1978 and was later awarded at least $9.5 million. All of this led to stricter rules and much more standardization in playground design.
#16 All Aboard Thomas The Existential Angst Engine
Image source: c0253484
#17 If You’re A 10 Foot Child And Want To Learn Braille Do I Have The Playground For You!
Image source: MrCrash2U
#18 This Terrifying Playground For Children
Image source: tzvibish
Manufacturing was changing around the same time. Plastic playground pieces became cheaper to produce, and companies could sell the same modular designs all over.
By the late 1980s and 1990s, those brightly colored structures with connected platforms and slides had become the familiar playground look we still recognize today.
#19 Modern Playgrounds Are Great But I’ve Seen This Atrocity At Multiple Parks. What’s It’s Purpose Besides Potential Injury?
Image source: [deleted]
#20 This One Is Just-
Image source: [deleted]
#21 I Have So Many Questions
Image source: TierNaNoggin
Adventure playgrounds didn’t disappear, though their numbers declined as this more standardized approach took over.
Play spaces became easier to regulate and reproduce, while the loose materials and strange homemade structures that once encouraged children to invent their own games became much less common.
#22 This Slide
Image source: Damnit_Dogz
#23 The Slide For Bad Kids
Image source: elephantate
#24 This Useless Playground Tic-Tac-Toe Board
Image source: SWGlassPit
More recently, some designers have started moving away from that one-size-fits-all approach again. Modern play spaces are increasingly bringing in natural elements and features that children can change or use in different ways.
Project for Public Spaces argues that the best ones keep giving kids something new to do rather than staying exactly the same every time they visit.
Maybe that’s what good playground design comes down to in the end. Children don’t need every bit of fun planned out for them. Give them something that sparks an idea, and they’re usually pretty good at taking it from there.
#25 Graveyard Next To A Playground
Image source: NoahTheAttacker
#26 A Playground In The USA In The 1970s
Image source: gorillaz0e
#27 Hey Tide Pod Eaters
Image source: Historical_Ad_3356
#28 70s Plagrounds – Fun Yet Dangerous
Image source: PersonalSherbert9485
#29 Dangerous Playgrounds Of The 1970s – Photo That Proves Safety Wasn’t A Priority
Image source: unl0veable
#30 70s Slides Thing Took A Long Climb To Get On Top, I Will Never Forget The Burn Of The Slide In Summer. Playground,1970s
Image source: theanti_influencer75
#31 Trip To The Playground Kids?
Image source: lakesidehire
#32 Terrible Playground Design
Image source: wyazici
#33 Not Exactly The Right Place For A Playground
Image source: 1Voice1Life
#34 Possibly The Worst Playground Ever
Image source: gabrielmesser
#35 Never Split Your Legs When You Slide Down
#36 This Mickey Mouse That’s At A Local Play Park
Image source: YungThotDestroyer
#37 Morg And Lisu
#38 The Road As A Playground
Image source: roolio_
#39 This Playground For Kids I Saw Next To The Beach In Australia With A Creepy Looking Disembodied Head And A Weird Spiral Staircase Nobody Can Climb
Image source: rosalina888
#40 The Donut Hole
Image source: lisahanniganfan
#41 Specialist
Image source: Awesomer_Than_Me
#42 The Slide Is A Drop Tube, It Drops The Kid On His Head
Image source: langer_cdn
#43 Name This
Image source: HonestzPractice
#44 Playground Design Fails
Image source: Krista Coons
#45 You Had One Job
Image source: Century Roofing Limited
#46 This Spiderman Children’s Ride Has A Visible Panty Line
Image source: butterstubble
#47 Make Fun… Safe
Image source: tyhorner
#48 Guess Donald Duck Really Likes Kids
Image source: [deleted]
#49 At The Playground
Image source: icebergiman
#50 At A Playground
Image source: bennystat
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