In a 2023 study, researchers found that adding shade to playgrounds improved thermal comfort among toddlers. This meant they played for longer and performed more types of play, like running, using their imagination, and exploring.
– Shade Lookbook: A Guide to Designing Sun Safety

Contributed by Kirsten Haugen, Director of Professional Growth and Research, Dimensions Foundation, Education Specialist, Nature Explore program, and member of the World Forum Global Collaborative OnDesign.

During a recent Nature Explore outdoor classroom design, the local team, my design partner, and I observed children on the existing playground on a very hot and humid day. Seeking the little shade available, we all felt the effects of the heat. The surfacing was a shredded tire mix — its resilience offered fall protection, but it radiated both heat and a strong tire smell. The children would play for short periods, then take frequent breaks under a solitary shade structure.

As an experiment, I had the adults move to the middle of the asphalt drive, still in full sun. Amazingly, it was cooler than the shredded tires! A step into the shade of a tree lowered the temperature even more. This profoundly impacted our design conversations, as we looked at ways to introduce more natural surfacing, shade structures, and above all, an abundance of trees.

Seeing how the heat — exaggerated by the rubber mulch — interrupted the children’s play reminded me of Dr Breann Corcoran’s Cool Playgrounds 2.0 research, the Center for the Developing Child at Harvard’s Solutions Spotlight on Extreme Heat, the US Early Years Climate Action Plan compiled by Capita, and reports on ‘heat islands’ – neighborhoods and spaces which are significantly hotter due to increased artificial surfacing and lack of green spaces. Not surprisingly, children (and adults) from lower income and systemically impacted groups are more likely to live, work and play in heat islands.

And more and more, I’m encountering the many ways trees unselfishly contribute to our health and well-being, at the grand and micro scale. If you’d like help in creating more shade in your outdoor environments, check out BC Cancer’s Shade Lookbook, contact your local Extension Office, or learn more in this webinar on designing cooler spaces.