# Design of Children’s Pleasure Grounds in China’s Residential Areas Based on Signal Processing System

Authors: Shenqiao Li
Journal: Security and Communication Networks
 (2022)

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## Abstract

As a significant children’s recreational facility, children’s pleasure ground not merely affects children’s mental health, but is closely bound up with children’s physical health and growth. 2-3 hours of outdoor activities every day is indispensable for children, especially for preschool children. Currently, China’s pleasure grounds are too commercialized, and the recreational facilities are monotonous and boring, which severely restricts children’s creativity and imagination. This paper aims to improve the design of children’s playgrounds in China based on the signal processing system and help designers design more helpful playgrounds for children in terms of space layout, facility standards, safety hazards, education, and other aspects.


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## Body

## 1. Introduction

### 1.1. Background

Through outdoor activities, children can bathe in sunshine and breathe fresh air; above all, outdoor activities satisfy children’s active and playful nature, which enables them to grow up healthily and happily. It can be perceived that children’s outdoor recreation ground is a children’s paradise, which can fully satisfy the children’s needs of daily games, sports, and contact with nature [1]. Hu Baolin, a notable expert and scholar on children’s studies at Taiwan University, has researched the relationship between children’s growth and the existence of recreational space and has written quite a number of articles on children’s physical and mental growth (such as “Painting and Visual Imagination: A New Law on Children’s Education”) [2]. Most of his books lay emphasis on the concept that “children’s pleasure ground design should accord with children’s physical and mental growth.” Early in the 19th century, Europe, America, Japan, Korea, and other countries began to conduct systematic design and research on children’s pleasure grounds, designing and building quite a number of pleasure grounds beneficial to children’s physical and mental growth, of which Disneyland is an excellent representative [3]. However, there are a large number of problems involving the design of children’s pleasure grounds at the moment; for instance, (1) there is less recreational space tailored for children. As different groups raise diversified demands for space, it is quite easy for groups to interfere with each other. Today, children’s outdoor pleasure grounds include not merely facilities suitable for children’s entertainment, but some places for adults’ activities, which will render children’s some behaviors unchanged; (2) there is a lack of diversified recreational facilities that are indeed suitable for children. Currently, China’s pleasure grounds are too commercialized, and the recreational facilities are monotonous and boring, which severely restricts children’s creativity and imagination; (3) there exist risks in the quality assurance of recreational facilities. On account of the large size of recreational facilities in the pleasure grounds, it is rather difficult to supervise and spot-check these places. As a result, facilities such as “combination slides, large outdoor building blocks, and large climbing frames” will pose potential threats to children’s safety by reason of disrepair [3–5]. Thus, it is extremely urgent to design a guidance plan for children’s pleasure grounds in light of China's national conditions.


### 1.2. Issues Investigated

As what has been mentioned above, it is imminent to introduce a guidance plan for the design of children’s pleasure grounds suitable for China’s national conditions. How can the new guidance plan for the design of children’s pleasure grounds help designers design children’s outdoor activities with respect to space layout, standard of facilities, hidden safety hazards, and education?


### 1.3. Purpose and Tasks of Investigation

The main purpose of this paper is to design a new standard for children’s pleasure ground facilities suitable for Chinese residential areas by studying children’s pleasure ground facilities in three large residential areas in Tai’an City, Shandong Province, and combining this with the design standards for children’s pleasure ground facilities in foreign residential areas. To achieve this goal, the investigation will unfold from the following three tasks:(1)
To learn the history of the development of children’s outdoor pleasure ground design abroad by studying the literature review abroad and summarize and put forward methods and viewpoints that can help enhance the design of children’s outdoor pleasure ground in contemporary China.(2)
To find out the current problems of children’s outdoor pleasure grounds in Shandong Province through on-the-spot investigation of children’s pleasure ground facilities in three large residential areas in Tai’an City, Shandong Province.(3)
To design a framework suitable for the children’s outdoor pleasure ground in Shandong Province of contemporary China based on the above two tasks.


## 1.1. Background

Through outdoor activities, children can bathe in sunshine and breathe fresh air; above all, outdoor activities satisfy children’s active and playful nature, which enables them to grow up healthily and happily. It can be perceived that children’s outdoor recreation ground is a children’s paradise, which can fully satisfy the children’s needs of daily games, sports, and contact with nature [1]. Hu Baolin, a notable expert and scholar on children’s studies at Taiwan University, has researched the relationship between children’s growth and the existence of recreational space and has written quite a number of articles on children’s physical and mental growth (such as “Painting and Visual Imagination: A New Law on Children’s Education”) [2]. Most of his books lay emphasis on the concept that “children’s pleasure ground design should accord with children’s physical and mental growth.” Early in the 19th century, Europe, America, Japan, Korea, and other countries began to conduct systematic design and research on children’s pleasure grounds, designing and building quite a number of pleasure grounds beneficial to children’s physical and mental growth, of which Disneyland is an excellent representative [3]. However, there are a large number of problems involving the design of children’s pleasure grounds at the moment; for instance, (1) there is less recreational space tailored for children. As different groups raise diversified demands for space, it is quite easy for groups to interfere with each other. Today, children’s outdoor pleasure grounds include not merely facilities suitable for children’s entertainment, but some places for adults’ activities, which will render children’s some behaviors unchanged; (2) there is a lack of diversified recreational facilities that are indeed suitable for children. Currently, China’s pleasure grounds are too commercialized, and the recreational facilities are monotonous and boring, which severely restricts children’s creativity and imagination; (3) there exist risks in the quality assurance of recreational facilities. On account of the large size of recreational facilities in the pleasure grounds, it is rather difficult to supervise and spot-check these places. As a result, facilities such as “combination slides, large outdoor building blocks, and large climbing frames” will pose potential threats to children’s safety by reason of disrepair [3–5]. Thus, it is extremely urgent to design a guidance plan for children’s pleasure grounds in light of China's national conditions.


## 1.2. Issues Investigated

As what has been mentioned above, it is imminent to introduce a guidance plan for the design of children’s pleasure grounds suitable for China’s national conditions. How can the new guidance plan for the design of children’s pleasure grounds help designers design children’s outdoor activities with respect to space layout, standard of facilities, hidden safety hazards, and education?


## 1.3. Purpose and Tasks of Investigation

The main purpose of this paper is to design a new standard for children’s pleasure ground facilities suitable for Chinese residential areas by studying children’s pleasure ground facilities in three large residential areas in Tai’an City, Shandong Province, and combining this with the design standards for children’s pleasure ground facilities in foreign residential areas. To achieve this goal, the investigation will unfold from the following three tasks:(1)
To learn the history of the development of children’s outdoor pleasure ground design abroad by studying the literature review abroad and summarize and put forward methods and viewpoints that can help enhance the design of children’s outdoor pleasure ground in contemporary China.(2)
To find out the current problems of children’s outdoor pleasure grounds in Shandong Province through on-the-spot investigation of children’s pleasure ground facilities in three large residential areas in Tai’an City, Shandong Province.(3)
To design a framework suitable for the children’s outdoor pleasure ground in Shandong Province of contemporary China based on the above two tasks.


## 2. Literature Review

### 2.1. Development Course of Children’s Pleasure Ground on a Global Scale

#### 2.1.1. Concept of Children’s Pleasure Ground

The concept of pleasure ground originated in Germany. Early in the 19th century, Bernhard Christoph Faust, German doctor and architectural theorist, came up with the establishment of children’s pleasure grounds. The first pleasure ground was born in a park in Manchester, England, in 1859.


#### 2.1.2. Initial Stage of Children’s Pleasure Grounds (1866–1930)

In the early days of children’s pleasure grounds, they were generally closely associated with school construction and management. During the holidays, the school’s activity spaces remain open to satisfy the needs of children’s daily activities. In 1868, the first outdoor children’s pleasure ground was built in a public primary school in Boston, United States. Later, a children’s home in the city took the lead in the construction of children’s sand pit playgrounds. These children’s pleasure grounds were small in scale and were only equipped with simple recreational facilities such as swings and seesaws, which basically could only satisfy children’s limb exercises. Along with the rise of the urban park movement, children’s pleasure grounds also emerged with the development of parks, and large-scale new city parks were built in all parts of the country. In the meanwhile, amusement and sports venues that attract people, such as the pleasure ground in Central Park and the children’s pleasure ground in Franklin Park, were built. In 1887, New York passed legislation to build small parks with children’s pleasure ground equipment, which gradually introduced the concept of park system into the design of pleasure grounds.The pleasure grounds at this time were characterized in the following: the overall layout was relatively simple; in the middle of the venue was a box-type space or pavilion; trees were planted around it; there were large lawns that can satisfy the needs of activities; meanwhile, there were also equipment activity venues; besides, convenient passages existed between different types of activity venues; and playgrounds were usually in symmetrical forms.


#### 2.1.3. Emergence and Development of Fixed Models of Children’s Pleasure Grounds (1930–1970)

After Roosevelt was elected president, the United States built quite a number of national parks and some small parks and pleasure grounds. There was also a fixed pattern in the design of pleasure grounds. Children’s recreational facilities such as three-dimensional climbing frames, swings, slides, seesaws, and merry-go-rounds were usually set up to allow children to carry out physical activities. However, the activities furnished by such pleasure grounds were too single. From the perspective of children’s growth and safety, the traditional pleasure grounds have exposed their defects. After the end of the Second World War, the value orientation of western society underwent tremendous changes: people began to put a high premium on their inner world while pursuing material life. This series of changes made the postwar American landscape develop in a diversified direction, and children’s pleasure grounds were also deeply influenced by it. Children’s pleasure grounds changed from a fixed design mode to a changeable and flexible design mode.In the 1950s, the exhibition on pleasure grounds held by the New York Museum of Modern Art and the establishment of creative toy companies set off an upsurge in the construction of pleasure grounds in the United States. Influenced by “cubism,” the appearance of pleasure grounds began to change in the 1960s and 1970s. Richard Danner and M. Paul Ferid Borg collaborated to build a new design model, aiming to enhance children’s creativity, increase the communication between children, and furnish them with some operable sand pools and pools. They built a new model based on pillars and platforms. The new model broke through the previous design model that only cared about children’s physical activities, paved the way for the emergence of adventurous children’s pleasure grounds, and began to put a high premium on children’s psychological development, which was a major change in the design of children’s pleasure grounds.


#### 2.1.4. Emergence and Prevalence of McDonald’s Model of Pleasure Grounds (1970–1980)

Since the mid-1970s, the design model based on pillars and platforms has gradually been transformed into all sorts of large-scale amusement devices, which have been accepted by people through McDonald and become amusement tools for more children. McDonald’s model has become prevalent in the United States. Susan Solomon mentioned in “Changes in American Children’s Pleasure Grounds from 1966 to 2006” that the activities of going up, passing through, going down, waiting, and starting over again brought about by this McDonald’s model of children’s recreational facilities lack communication among children, let alone cooperation. It has little effect on the children’s perception and creativity. The design of these recreational facilities deviates from the original intention designed by Richard Danner and M. Paul Ferid Borg. They cannot allow children to experience all kinds of knowledge, enhance their social skills, and give full play to their creativity. Besides, this model also locks more children indoors, making them lack connection with nature.


#### 2.1.5. Emergence and Development of Adventurous Pleasure Grounds (1970–1980)

While McDonald’s model was prevalent, there also appeared children’s pleasure grounds imitating natural gardens and using waste materials. They were fenced in, with all sorts of building materials and waste industrial equipment on the site, and a small room was used to place all kinds of tools. Usually, full-time staff took children to carry out natural activities on this kind of pleasure ground, such as building small houses, building city walls, building walls, planting, digging holes, climbing trees, digging ditches, and raising small animals. They encouraged children to rearrange pleasure grounds based on their own interests, and they could change them constantly and flexibly based on their needs, which was helpful in boosting the healthy growth of children; besides, they attached importance to children’s practical capability, imagination, creativity, and problem-solving capability; furthermore, they encouraged exchanges and cooperation between different groups so as to enhance their social skills. Simultaneously, this kind of adventurous pleasure ground provides children with the chance to contact nature, which was especially precious for children living in cities today.


#### 2.1.6. Design of Outdoor Pleasure Grounds from the Position of Children (1980–2010)

After the 1980s, designers began to conduct in-depth research on children’s behavior, psychology, and other aspects. These new design concepts for children’s pleasure grounds were back to creating exploration sites for children not restricted to formality. For instance, George and Judy Marcus’ Magic Mirror Garden for Children created a magical environment with mounds, fog, water, and sculpture. Apart from that, Cheryl Barton designed MC Enrui Children’s Park in San Jose, California.Not only that, based on the different needs of children, the types and functions of children’s pleasure grounds were becoming increasingly abundant, and all sorts of specialized parks such as science parks, adventure islands, and plant plantations were easy to satisfy the needs of children in multiple aspects. Owing to the continuous update of information on recreation and recreation environment, people began to consider designing a safer, more challenging and more suitable recreation environment for children’s physical and mental growth. They indeed stood on the position of children and created recreational spaces for children that were truly suitable for their healthy growth [6].


### 2.2. Development Course of Children’s Pleasure Grounds in China

#### 2.2.1. From Ancient Times to Ming and Qing Dynasties

As a significant cultural activity, games have always existed in the development history of the Chinese nation. In the past 2,000 years of feudal society, Chinese games have been widely developed. In 1976, archaeologists unearthed over 1,500 stone balls in Shanxi Province. Wang Qihui et al. wrote in theChinese and Foreign Sports History: “after the invention and widespread application of bows and arrows, stone balls began to become a game tool in the heyday of matriarchal clan commune [7].


#### 2.2.2. After the Liberation of China

After the liberation of China, the construction of new China developed in a rapid manner. Influenced by European and American countries, China first opened up children’s game zones in city parks. On June 9, 2004, the Ministry of Construction issued the “Guidelines for Environmental Landscape Design in Residential Areas,” setting standards for children’s recreational facilities in residential areas. Fueled by the deepening of the reform of the national economic system, the development of China’s children’s pleasure grounds has undergone significant changes in the construction of urban parks. The newly built children’s pleasure grounds have made up over half of the urban parks since the 1980s [7].


### 2.3. Analysis on Design Features and Current Situation of Children’s Pleasure Grounds in Contemporary Chinese Urban Residential Areas

Community is a significant place for children’s outdoor activities, and children’s public recreational facilities therein can furnish children with sufficient activity spaces and diversified and interesting activity opportunities, thereby facilitating children’s healthy growth and enhancing mutual communication and interaction. At the beginning of the construction of modern communities, multiple factors including land scale, population size, and other factors will be taken into account in architectural design, garden planning, community facilities design, and property management. However, there is a great deal of randomness in the design of recreational space for outdoor activities of community children and the selection of recreational facilities configuration. This results in some problems. Some residential communities with a long construction time did not receive reasonable planning for children’s public recreational facilities at the beginning of the construction, and there are not enough venues at the end of the construction. Hence, residents could only take their children to nearby communities or to schools, parks, squares, shopping malls, and other places further away for leisure and entertainment. Apart from that, despite the fact that some newly built residential communities furnished outdoor venues for residents at the beginning of planning and construction, only adult fitness facilities are furnished. The size of such facilities does not conform to the physiological characteristics of children and is not suitable for children at all. In such communities, children even suffered injuries when they used such facilities. There are also some high-grade residential communities, which are not merely relatively perfect with regard to facilities allocation and community planning, and there are also certain children’s recreational space and some outdoor recreational facilities for children, such as slides, seesaws, and swings, which satisfy the needs of children and parents to a certain extent. However, overall, the development of children’s public recreational facilities varies greatly from place to place and from community to community, which need to be improved and perfected as a whole [8].


#### 2.3.1. Design Features and Problems of Children’s Pleasure Grounds in Contemporary Chinese Urban Residential Areas

As for the orientation of children’s pleasure ground, it is not merely a place to place game equipment, but an activity space to furnish a healthy environment for children to grow up. Hence, the early design of children’s pleasure ground is particularly important. Among the residential areas of domestic cities today, most of them will build outdoor recreational spaces for residents more or less. Among them, recreational spaces for children are generally characterized by the following:(1)
The research on children’s developmental psychology holds that children are stimulated by color from birth. Color, as the first information received in children’s brain, can better boost the healthy development of their psychology. In the process of children exploring the world, the first thing that arouses children’s interest is the things with strong color and appeal. Children’s activity facilities in residential outdoor recreational spaces in China are extremely brightly colored, and these colors can stimulate children’s feelings towards the outside world [9].(2)
Children’s recreational facilities are mostly made of engineering plastics, and the connecting parts are mostly wrapped by engineering plastics or rubber parts; apart from that, to avoid children’s safety problems, the lifting position and the outer edge of the facilities are rounded. Floors of recreation grounds are of fewer types of materials, some good ones include foam floors or rubber floors, but most of them are cement floors coated with color paint, and floors made of other materials will not normally appear [10].(3)
The facilities in domestic children’s entertainment venues are single in form and few in variety and lack affinity and attraction by reason of lack of innovation and other factors. In entertainment venues, there are generally combined facilities for children. The content of children’s activities is relatively single and can only be carried out based on established routes and methods to ensure the safety of children during entertainment [11].(3)
Generally speaking, children’s outdoor recreational space and facilities in residential areas are planned synchronously with the residential areas, subject to property management of residence uniformly, with acceptable quality and maintenance; the recreational space is relatively wide, and the environment and air quality in the space are closely associated with the community; many children (especially children younger than 8 years old) are usually accompanied by grandparents [10].(4)
Most of the common children’s activity facilities in China are “combined”; that is, children carry out activities based on the set route of travel. This “combined” function is clearly defined, but there is no room for choice. This outdoor activity space lacks guidelines and systematic children in the early stage of design [10]. Design guidance for pleasure grounds does not fundamentally and comprehensively design children’s pleasure grounds, including entertainment, education, protection, and other aspects.(5)
Research indicates that playing in open space is a prerequisite for children’s healthy development, and children can learn a lot of basic skills of life through recreational activities in public space [12]. There is not enough space for outdoor activities in our country. In the open space, there is not enough space for activities that meet children’s physiological standards, communication, and psychological needs. The average time for children to participate in static activities in their leisure time is about 2.2 hours per day, and their outdoor activities are insufficient. Therein, about 40% of the children consider that they lack exercise owing to “lack of suitable places” [13].(6)
Outdoor recreational facilities are the media and carrier of children’s games. A variety of recreational facilities are conducive to creating more abundant games for children, which exerts a positive impact on children’s physical and mental growth [14]. The types of outdoor facilities in our country are relatively single, and many open spaces are mostly equipped with simple and crude recreational facilities, which are only for children to do some mechanical activities [15].(7)
In children’s pleasure grounds, safe recreational facilities are a significant guarantee for children to play safe games. Children’s pleasure grounds wear out quickly. If the recreational facilities and venues are not repaired and maintained in a timely manner, there will exist greater potential safety hazards; according to the survey, there are few kinds of outdoor game facilities in many residential areas in our country, and serious problems such as breakage and aging also exist, and the proportion of these problems in old residential areas is relatively high, such as broken slideways, rusty parts, and residual parts [16].(8)
Potential safety hazards exist in outdoor venues and facilities; on account of the lack of special venues and a variety of recreational facilities, quite a number of children will choose some obscure sculpture sketches or adult facilities as recreational venues. These sculptures and facilities are often oversize, with unsmooth and angular surfaces, which pose a serious safety hazard for children with weak self-protection awareness [15].(9)
In China, there is a lack of education in outdoor activity spaces and few accompanying parents interact with children in pleasure grounds. Research suggests that some socialized behaviors of parents can enhance children’s perception in multiple aspects, which may be aroused by parents’ expectations; furthermore, children change their own attitudes and game behaviors by predicting their parents’ attitudes and behaviors in daily game activities [17]. For instance, in the children’s recreation area of London Wetland Park, it can be often seen that children play with their parents and understand nature, which exerts a positive impact on children’s healthy growth.


## 2.1. Development Course of Children’s Pleasure Ground on a Global Scale

### 2.1.1. Concept of Children’s Pleasure Ground

The concept of pleasure ground originated in Germany. Early in the 19th century, Bernhard Christoph Faust, German doctor and architectural theorist, came up with the establishment of children’s pleasure grounds. The first pleasure ground was born in a park in Manchester, England, in 1859.


### 2.1.2. Initial Stage of Children’s Pleasure Grounds (1866–1930)

In the early days of children’s pleasure grounds, they were generally closely associated with school construction and management. During the holidays, the school’s activity spaces remain open to satisfy the needs of children’s daily activities. In 1868, the first outdoor children’s pleasure ground was built in a public primary school in Boston, United States. Later, a children’s home in the city took the lead in the construction of children’s sand pit playgrounds. These children’s pleasure grounds were small in scale and were only equipped with simple recreational facilities such as swings and seesaws, which basically could only satisfy children’s limb exercises. Along with the rise of the urban park movement, children’s pleasure grounds also emerged with the development of parks, and large-scale new city parks were built in all parts of the country. In the meanwhile, amusement and sports venues that attract people, such as the pleasure ground in Central Park and the children’s pleasure ground in Franklin Park, were built. In 1887, New York passed legislation to build small parks with children’s pleasure ground equipment, which gradually introduced the concept of park system into the design of pleasure grounds.The pleasure grounds at this time were characterized in the following: the overall layout was relatively simple; in the middle of the venue was a box-type space or pavilion; trees were planted around it; there were large lawns that can satisfy the needs of activities; meanwhile, there were also equipment activity venues; besides, convenient passages existed between different types of activity venues; and playgrounds were usually in symmetrical forms.


### 2.1.3. Emergence and Development of Fixed Models of Children’s Pleasure Grounds (1930–1970)

After Roosevelt was elected president, the United States built quite a number of national parks and some small parks and pleasure grounds. There was also a fixed pattern in the design of pleasure grounds. Children’s recreational facilities such as three-dimensional climbing frames, swings, slides, seesaws, and merry-go-rounds were usually set up to allow children to carry out physical activities. However, the activities furnished by such pleasure grounds were too single. From the perspective of children’s growth and safety, the traditional pleasure grounds have exposed their defects. After the end of the Second World War, the value orientation of western society underwent tremendous changes: people began to put a high premium on their inner world while pursuing material life. This series of changes made the postwar American landscape develop in a diversified direction, and children’s pleasure grounds were also deeply influenced by it. Children’s pleasure grounds changed from a fixed design mode to a changeable and flexible design mode.In the 1950s, the exhibition on pleasure grounds held by the New York Museum of Modern Art and the establishment of creative toy companies set off an upsurge in the construction of pleasure grounds in the United States. Influenced by “cubism,” the appearance of pleasure grounds began to change in the 1960s and 1970s. Richard Danner and M. Paul Ferid Borg collaborated to build a new design model, aiming to enhance children’s creativity, increase the communication between children, and furnish them with some operable sand pools and pools. They built a new model based on pillars and platforms. The new model broke through the previous design model that only cared about children’s physical activities, paved the way for the emergence of adventurous children’s pleasure grounds, and began to put a high premium on children’s psychological development, which was a major change in the design of children’s pleasure grounds.


### 2.1.4. Emergence and Prevalence of McDonald’s Model of Pleasure Grounds (1970–1980)

Since the mid-1970s, the design model based on pillars and platforms has gradually been transformed into all sorts of large-scale amusement devices, which have been accepted by people through McDonald and become amusement tools for more children. McDonald’s model has become prevalent in the United States. Susan Solomon mentioned in “Changes in American Children’s Pleasure Grounds from 1966 to 2006” that the activities of going up, passing through, going down, waiting, and starting over again brought about by this McDonald’s model of children’s recreational facilities lack communication among children, let alone cooperation. It has little effect on the children’s perception and creativity. The design of these recreational facilities deviates from the original intention designed by Richard Danner and M. Paul Ferid Borg. They cannot allow children to experience all kinds of knowledge, enhance their social skills, and give full play to their creativity. Besides, this model also locks more children indoors, making them lack connection with nature.


### 2.1.5. Emergence and Development of Adventurous Pleasure Grounds (1970–1980)

While McDonald’s model was prevalent, there also appeared children’s pleasure grounds imitating natural gardens and using waste materials. They were fenced in, with all sorts of building materials and waste industrial equipment on the site, and a small room was used to place all kinds of tools. Usually, full-time staff took children to carry out natural activities on this kind of pleasure ground, such as building small houses, building city walls, building walls, planting, digging holes, climbing trees, digging ditches, and raising small animals. They encouraged children to rearrange pleasure grounds based on their own interests, and they could change them constantly and flexibly based on their needs, which was helpful in boosting the healthy growth of children; besides, they attached importance to children’s practical capability, imagination, creativity, and problem-solving capability; furthermore, they encouraged exchanges and cooperation between different groups so as to enhance their social skills. Simultaneously, this kind of adventurous pleasure ground provides children with the chance to contact nature, which was especially precious for children living in cities today.


### 2.1.6. Design of Outdoor Pleasure Grounds from the Position of Children (1980–2010)

After the 1980s, designers began to conduct in-depth research on children’s behavior, psychology, and other aspects. These new design concepts for children’s pleasure grounds were back to creating exploration sites for children not restricted to formality. For instance, George and Judy Marcus’ Magic Mirror Garden for Children created a magical environment with mounds, fog, water, and sculpture. Apart from that, Cheryl Barton designed MC Enrui Children’s Park in San Jose, California.Not only that, based on the different needs of children, the types and functions of children’s pleasure grounds were becoming increasingly abundant, and all sorts of specialized parks such as science parks, adventure islands, and plant plantations were easy to satisfy the needs of children in multiple aspects. Owing to the continuous update of information on recreation and recreation environment, people began to consider designing a safer, more challenging and more suitable recreation environment for children’s physical and mental growth. They indeed stood on the position of children and created recreational spaces for children that were truly suitable for their healthy growth [6].


## 2.1.1. Concept of Children’s Pleasure Ground

The concept of pleasure ground originated in Germany. Early in the 19th century, Bernhard Christoph Faust, German doctor and architectural theorist, came up with the establishment of children’s pleasure grounds. The first pleasure ground was born in a park in Manchester, England, in 1859.


## 2.1.2. Initial Stage of Children’s Pleasure Grounds (1866–1930)

In the early days of children’s pleasure grounds, they were generally closely associated with school construction and management. During the holidays, the school’s activity spaces remain open to satisfy the needs of children’s daily activities. In 1868, the first outdoor children’s pleasure ground was built in a public primary school in Boston, United States. Later, a children’s home in the city took the lead in the construction of children’s sand pit playgrounds. These children’s pleasure grounds were small in scale and were only equipped with simple recreational facilities such as swings and seesaws, which basically could only satisfy children’s limb exercises. Along with the rise of the urban park movement, children’s pleasure grounds also emerged with the development of parks, and large-scale new city parks were built in all parts of the country. In the meanwhile, amusement and sports venues that attract people, such as the pleasure ground in Central Park and the children’s pleasure ground in Franklin Park, were built. In 1887, New York passed legislation to build small parks with children’s pleasure ground equipment, which gradually introduced the concept of park system into the design of pleasure grounds.The pleasure grounds at this time were characterized in the following: the overall layout was relatively simple; in the middle of the venue was a box-type space or pavilion; trees were planted around it; there were large lawns that can satisfy the needs of activities; meanwhile, there were also equipment activity venues; besides, convenient passages existed between different types of activity venues; and playgrounds were usually in symmetrical forms.


## 2.1.3. Emergence and Development of Fixed Models of Children’s Pleasure Grounds (1930–1970)

After Roosevelt was elected president, the United States built quite a number of national parks and some small parks and pleasure grounds. There was also a fixed pattern in the design of pleasure grounds. Children’s recreational facilities such as three-dimensional climbing frames, swings, slides, seesaws, and merry-go-rounds were usually set up to allow children to carry out physical activities. However, the activities furnished by such pleasure grounds were too single. From the perspective of children’s growth and safety, the traditional pleasure grounds have exposed their defects. After the end of the Second World War, the value orientation of western society underwent tremendous changes: people began to put a high premium on their inner world while pursuing material life. This series of changes made the postwar American landscape develop in a diversified direction, and children’s pleasure grounds were also deeply influenced by it. Children’s pleasure grounds changed from a fixed design mode to a changeable and flexible design mode.In the 1950s, the exhibition on pleasure grounds held by the New York Museum of Modern Art and the establishment of creative toy companies set off an upsurge in the construction of pleasure grounds in the United States. Influenced by “cubism,” the appearance of pleasure grounds began to change in the 1960s and 1970s. Richard Danner and M. Paul Ferid Borg collaborated to build a new design model, aiming to enhance children’s creativity, increase the communication between children, and furnish them with some operable sand pools and pools. They built a new model based on pillars and platforms. The new model broke through the previous design model that only cared about children’s physical activities, paved the way for the emergence of adventurous children’s pleasure grounds, and began to put a high premium on children’s psychological development, which was a major change in the design of children’s pleasure grounds.


## 2.1.4. Emergence and Prevalence of McDonald’s Model of Pleasure Grounds (1970–1980)

Since the mid-1970s, the design model based on pillars and platforms has gradually been transformed into all sorts of large-scale amusement devices, which have been accepted by people through McDonald and become amusement tools for more children. McDonald’s model has become prevalent in the United States. Susan Solomon mentioned in “Changes in American Children’s Pleasure Grounds from 1966 to 2006” that the activities of going up, passing through, going down, waiting, and starting over again brought about by this McDonald’s model of children’s recreational facilities lack communication among children, let alone cooperation. It has little effect on the children’s perception and creativity. The design of these recreational facilities deviates from the original intention designed by Richard Danner and M. Paul Ferid Borg. They cannot allow children to experience all kinds of knowledge, enhance their social skills, and give full play to their creativity. Besides, this model also locks more children indoors, making them lack connection with nature.


## 2.1.5. Emergence and Development of Adventurous Pleasure Grounds (1970–1980)

While McDonald’s model was prevalent, there also appeared children’s pleasure grounds imitating natural gardens and using waste materials. They were fenced in, with all sorts of building materials and waste industrial equipment on the site, and a small room was used to place all kinds of tools. Usually, full-time staff took children to carry out natural activities on this kind of pleasure ground, such as building small houses, building city walls, building walls, planting, digging holes, climbing trees, digging ditches, and raising small animals. They encouraged children to rearrange pleasure grounds based on their own interests, and they could change them constantly and flexibly based on their needs, which was helpful in boosting the healthy growth of children; besides, they attached importance to children’s practical capability, imagination, creativity, and problem-solving capability; furthermore, they encouraged exchanges and cooperation between different groups so as to enhance their social skills. Simultaneously, this kind of adventurous pleasure ground provides children with the chance to contact nature, which was especially precious for children living in cities today.


## 2.1.6. Design of Outdoor Pleasure Grounds from the Position of Children (1980–2010)

After the 1980s, designers began to conduct in-depth research on children’s behavior, psychology, and other aspects. These new design concepts for children’s pleasure grounds were back to creating exploration sites for children not restricted to formality. For instance, George and Judy Marcus’ Magic Mirror Garden for Children created a magical environment with mounds, fog, water, and sculpture. Apart from that, Cheryl Barton designed MC Enrui Children’s Park in San Jose, California.Not only that, based on the different needs of children, the types and functions of children’s pleasure grounds were becoming increasingly abundant, and all sorts of specialized parks such as science parks, adventure islands, and plant plantations were easy to satisfy the needs of children in multiple aspects. Owing to the continuous update of information on recreation and recreation environment, people began to consider designing a safer, more challenging and more suitable recreation environment for children’s physical and mental growth. They indeed stood on the position of children and created recreational spaces for children that were truly suitable for their healthy growth [6].


## 2.2. Development Course of Children’s Pleasure Grounds in China

### 2.2.1. From Ancient Times to Ming and Qing Dynasties

As a significant cultural activity, games have always existed in the development history of the Chinese nation. In the past 2,000 years of feudal society, Chinese games have been widely developed. In 1976, archaeologists unearthed over 1,500 stone balls in Shanxi Province. Wang Qihui et al. wrote in theChinese and Foreign Sports History: “after the invention and widespread application of bows and arrows, stone balls began to become a game tool in the heyday of matriarchal clan commune [7].


### 2.2.2. After the Liberation of China

After the liberation of China, the construction of new China developed in a rapid manner. Influenced by European and American countries, China first opened up children’s game zones in city parks. On June 9, 2004, the Ministry of Construction issued the “Guidelines for Environmental Landscape Design in Residential Areas,” setting standards for children’s recreational facilities in residential areas. Fueled by the deepening of the reform of the national economic system, the development of China’s children’s pleasure grounds has undergone significant changes in the construction of urban parks. The newly built children’s pleasure grounds have made up over half of the urban parks since the 1980s [7].


## 2.2.1. From Ancient Times to Ming and Qing Dynasties

As a significant cultural activity, games have always existed in the development history of the Chinese nation. In the past 2,000 years of feudal society, Chinese games have been widely developed. In 1976, archaeologists unearthed over 1,500 stone balls in Shanxi Province. Wang Qihui et al. wrote in theChinese and Foreign Sports History: “after the invention and widespread application of bows and arrows, stone balls began to become a game tool in the heyday of matriarchal clan commune [7].


## 2.2.2. After the Liberation of China

After the liberation of China, the construction of new China developed in a rapid manner. Influenced by European and American countries, China first opened up children’s game zones in city parks. On June 9, 2004, the Ministry of Construction issued the “Guidelines for Environmental Landscape Design in Residential Areas,” setting standards for children’s recreational facilities in residential areas. Fueled by the deepening of the reform of the national economic system, the development of China’s children’s pleasure grounds has undergone significant changes in the construction of urban parks. The newly built children’s pleasure grounds have made up over half of the urban parks since the 1980s [7].


## 2.3. Analysis on Design Features and Current Situation of Children’s Pleasure Grounds in Contemporary Chinese Urban Residential Areas

Community is a significant place for children’s outdoor activities, and children’s public recreational facilities therein can furnish children with sufficient activity spaces and diversified and interesting activity opportunities, thereby facilitating children’s healthy growth and enhancing mutual communication and interaction. At the beginning of the construction of modern communities, multiple factors including land scale, population size, and other factors will be taken into account in architectural design, garden planning, community facilities design, and property management. However, there is a great deal of randomness in the design of recreational space for outdoor activities of community children and the selection of recreational facilities configuration. This results in some problems. Some residential communities with a long construction time did not receive reasonable planning for children’s public recreational facilities at the beginning of the construction, and there are not enough venues at the end of the construction. Hence, residents could only take their children to nearby communities or to schools, parks, squares, shopping malls, and other places further away for leisure and entertainment. Apart from that, despite the fact that some newly built residential communities furnished outdoor venues for residents at the beginning of planning and construction, only adult fitness facilities are furnished. The size of such facilities does not conform to the physiological characteristics of children and is not suitable for children at all. In such communities, children even suffered injuries when they used such facilities. There are also some high-grade residential communities, which are not merely relatively perfect with regard to facilities allocation and community planning, and there are also certain children’s recreational space and some outdoor recreational facilities for children, such as slides, seesaws, and swings, which satisfy the needs of children and parents to a certain extent. However, overall, the development of children’s public recreational facilities varies greatly from place to place and from community to community, which need to be improved and perfected as a whole [8].


### 2.3.1. Design Features and Problems of Children’s Pleasure Grounds in Contemporary Chinese Urban Residential Areas

As for the orientation of children’s pleasure ground, it is not merely a place to place game equipment, but an activity space to furnish a healthy environment for children to grow up. Hence, the early design of children’s pleasure ground is particularly important. Among the residential areas of domestic cities today, most of them will build outdoor recreational spaces for residents more or less. Among them, recreational spaces for children are generally characterized by the following:(1)
The research on children’s developmental psychology holds that children are stimulated by color from birth. Color, as the first information received in children’s brain, can better boost the healthy development of their psychology. In the process of children exploring the world, the first thing that arouses children’s interest is the things with strong color and appeal. Children’s activity facilities in residential outdoor recreational spaces in China are extremely brightly colored, and these colors can stimulate children’s feelings towards the outside world [9].(2)
Children’s recreational facilities are mostly made of engineering plastics, and the connecting parts are mostly wrapped by engineering plastics or rubber parts; apart from that, to avoid children’s safety problems, the lifting position and the outer edge of the facilities are rounded. Floors of recreation grounds are of fewer types of materials, some good ones include foam floors or rubber floors, but most of them are cement floors coated with color paint, and floors made of other materials will not normally appear [10].(3)
The facilities in domestic children’s entertainment venues are single in form and few in variety and lack affinity and attraction by reason of lack of innovation and other factors. In entertainment venues, there are generally combined facilities for children. The content of children’s activities is relatively single and can only be carried out based on established routes and methods to ensure the safety of children during entertainment [11].(3)
Generally speaking, children’s outdoor recreational space and facilities in residential areas are planned synchronously with the residential areas, subject to property management of residence uniformly, with acceptable quality and maintenance; the recreational space is relatively wide, and the environment and air quality in the space are closely associated with the community; many children (especially children younger than 8 years old) are usually accompanied by grandparents [10].(4)
Most of the common children’s activity facilities in China are “combined”; that is, children carry out activities based on the set route of travel. This “combined” function is clearly defined, but there is no room for choice. This outdoor activity space lacks guidelines and systematic children in the early stage of design [10]. Design guidance for pleasure grounds does not fundamentally and comprehensively design children’s pleasure grounds, including entertainment, education, protection, and other aspects.(5)
Research indicates that playing in open space is a prerequisite for children’s healthy development, and children can learn a lot of basic skills of life through recreational activities in public space [12]. There is not enough space for outdoor activities in our country. In the open space, there is not enough space for activities that meet children’s physiological standards, communication, and psychological needs. The average time for children to participate in static activities in their leisure time is about 2.2 hours per day, and their outdoor activities are insufficient. Therein, about 40% of the children consider that they lack exercise owing to “lack of suitable places” [13].(6)
Outdoor recreational facilities are the media and carrier of children’s games. A variety of recreational facilities are conducive to creating more abundant games for children, which exerts a positive impact on children’s physical and mental growth [14]. The types of outdoor facilities in our country are relatively single, and many open spaces are mostly equipped with simple and crude recreational facilities, which are only for children to do some mechanical activities [15].(7)
In children’s pleasure grounds, safe recreational facilities are a significant guarantee for children to play safe games. Children’s pleasure grounds wear out quickly. If the recreational facilities and venues are not repaired and maintained in a timely manner, there will exist greater potential safety hazards; according to the survey, there are few kinds of outdoor game facilities in many residential areas in our country, and serious problems such as breakage and aging also exist, and the proportion of these problems in old residential areas is relatively high, such as broken slideways, rusty parts, and residual parts [16].(8)
Potential safety hazards exist in outdoor venues and facilities; on account of the lack of special venues and a variety of recreational facilities, quite a number of children will choose some obscure sculpture sketches or adult facilities as recreational venues. These sculptures and facilities are often oversize, with unsmooth and angular surfaces, which pose a serious safety hazard for children with weak self-protection awareness [15].(9)
In China, there is a lack of education in outdoor activity spaces and few accompanying parents interact with children in pleasure grounds. Research suggests that some socialized behaviors of parents can enhance children’s perception in multiple aspects, which may be aroused by parents’ expectations; furthermore, children change their own attitudes and game behaviors by predicting their parents’ attitudes and behaviors in daily game activities [17]. For instance, in the children’s recreation area of London Wetland Park, it can be often seen that children play with their parents and understand nature, which exerts a positive impact on children’s healthy growth.


## 2.3.1. Design Features and Problems of Children’s Pleasure Grounds in Contemporary Chinese Urban Residential Areas

As for the orientation of children’s pleasure ground, it is not merely a place to place game equipment, but an activity space to furnish a healthy environment for children to grow up. Hence, the early design of children’s pleasure ground is particularly important. Among the residential areas of domestic cities today, most of them will build outdoor recreational spaces for residents more or less. Among them, recreational spaces for children are generally characterized by the following:(1)
The research on children’s developmental psychology holds that children are stimulated by color from birth. Color, as the first information received in children’s brain, can better boost the healthy development of their psychology. In the process of children exploring the world, the first thing that arouses children’s interest is the things with strong color and appeal. Children’s activity facilities in residential outdoor recreational spaces in China are extremely brightly colored, and these colors can stimulate children’s feelings towards the outside world [9].(2)
Children’s recreational facilities are mostly made of engineering plastics, and the connecting parts are mostly wrapped by engineering plastics or rubber parts; apart from that, to avoid children’s safety problems, the lifting position and the outer edge of the facilities are rounded. Floors of recreation grounds are of fewer types of materials, some good ones include foam floors or rubber floors, but most of them are cement floors coated with color paint, and floors made of other materials will not normally appear [10].(3)
The facilities in domestic children’s entertainment venues are single in form and few in variety and lack affinity and attraction by reason of lack of innovation and other factors. In entertainment venues, there are generally combined facilities for children. The content of children’s activities is relatively single and can only be carried out based on established routes and methods to ensure the safety of children during entertainment [11].(3)
Generally speaking, children’s outdoor recreational space and facilities in residential areas are planned synchronously with the residential areas, subject to property management of residence uniformly, with acceptable quality and maintenance; the recreational space is relatively wide, and the environment and air quality in the space are closely associated with the community; many children (especially children younger than 8 years old) are usually accompanied by grandparents [10].(4)
Most of the common children’s activity facilities in China are “combined”; that is, children carry out activities based on the set route of travel. This “combined” function is clearly defined, but there is no room for choice. This outdoor activity space lacks guidelines and systematic children in the early stage of design [10]. Design guidance for pleasure grounds does not fundamentally and comprehensively design children’s pleasure grounds, including entertainment, education, protection, and other aspects.(5)
Research indicates that playing in open space is a prerequisite for children’s healthy development, and children can learn a lot of basic skills of life through recreational activities in public space [12]. There is not enough space for outdoor activities in our country. In the open space, there is not enough space for activities that meet children’s physiological standards, communication, and psychological needs. The average time for children to participate in static activities in their leisure time is about 2.2 hours per day, and their outdoor activities are insufficient. Therein, about 40% of the children consider that they lack exercise owing to “lack of suitable places” [13].(6)
Outdoor recreational facilities are the media and carrier of children’s games. A variety of recreational facilities are conducive to creating more abundant games for children, which exerts a positive impact on children’s physical and mental growth [14]. The types of outdoor facilities in our country are relatively single, and many open spaces are mostly equipped with simple and crude recreational facilities, which are only for children to do some mechanical activities [15].(7)
In children’s pleasure grounds, safe recreational facilities are a significant guarantee for children to play safe games. Children’s pleasure grounds wear out quickly. If the recreational facilities and venues are not repaired and maintained in a timely manner, there will exist greater potential safety hazards; according to the survey, there are few kinds of outdoor game facilities in many residential areas in our country, and serious problems such as breakage and aging also exist, and the proportion of these problems in old residential areas is relatively high, such as broken slideways, rusty parts, and residual parts [16].(8)
Potential safety hazards exist in outdoor venues and facilities; on account of the lack of special venues and a variety of recreational facilities, quite a number of children will choose some obscure sculpture sketches or adult facilities as recreational venues. These sculptures and facilities are often oversize, with unsmooth and angular surfaces, which pose a serious safety hazard for children with weak self-protection awareness [15].(9)
In China, there is a lack of education in outdoor activity spaces and few accompanying parents interact with children in pleasure grounds. Research suggests that some socialized behaviors of parents can enhance children’s perception in multiple aspects, which may be aroused by parents’ expectations; furthermore, children change their own attitudes and game behaviors by predicting their parents’ attitudes and behaviors in daily game activities [17]. For instance, in the children’s recreation area of London Wetland Park, it can be often seen that children play with their parents and understand nature, which exerts a positive impact on children’s healthy growth.


## 3. Research Methods

This paper principally adopts a combination of qualitative research and quantitative research. The quantitative research includes observation and questionnaire survey methods to learn about the problems of children’s pleasure grounds in Jinxiu City Community, Fuli Taoyuan Community, and Taoyuan Mingjun Community in Tai’an City, Shandong Province, China. The qualitative research principally designs standards suitable for children’s pleasure grounds in urban residential areas with Chinese characteristics through the form of literature review and combined with children’s pleasure grounds in UK residential areas.


### 3.1. Research Design

In this study, the observation method and the questionnaire survey method are used for research, and the current usage of children’s recreational facilities in the communities is summarized; the observation method is employed to investigate the objective usage, and the questionnaire method is used to learn about the potential usage requirement.


### 3.2. Design of Observation Method

Spend two weekends (four days in total) from 6:00 a.m. to 24:00 a.m. to record the three sites once an hour, respectively, and adopt the observation method to observe and count the three communities (here assumed to be the three communities of A, B, and C).(1)
The observation process is as follows:Start to take photos of Community A from 6 o’clock in the morning on the first day; after taking photos, take photos in Community B, and finally take photos in Community C; take photos of three communities once an hour, from 6 o’clock in the morning to 24 o’clock in the evening, for a total of 18 hours a day, for a total of 72 hours in four days.(2)
The observation method is as follows:Take Community A as an example. Find a suitable location in Community A to ensure that all outdoor children’s recreational facilities in the Community can be observed; keep the location unchanged and take photos of children’s recreational facilities clockwise (Table1).Table 1
Questionnaire design.
Questions of the questionnairePurpose1. How old is your child?To summarize different age groups2. What is the sex of your child?To summarize the male-female ratio3. What do children principally play here?To summarize the popularity of different items4. When do you usually bring your children here?To summarize children’s different playtime5. Do you think the recreational facilities in this community have any advantages?To determine advantages of recreational facilities6. Do you think there are any shortcomings in the recreational facilities in this communityTo find out where recreational facilities need improvement7. How long do your children usually play outdoors every day?To determine the average time of children’s playing outdoors8. Do you think there are many places suitable for children to play outdoors?To confirm whether the outdoor playing area is suitable for children9. Which kind of recreational facilities do your children like best?To determine children’s favorable recreational facilities10. What environment do you want recreational facilities to be placed in?To summarize the setting environment for recreational facilities meeting children’s requirements


### 3.3. Areas Investigated

This investigation selected Jinxiu City Community, Fuli Taoyuan Community, and Taoyuan Mingjun Community in Feicheng City, Tai’an City, Shandong Province, as the investigation sites.(1)
Jinxiu City Community, situated in the middle of Tai’an City, Shandong Province, is a middle-income community, and the children’s recreation area is situated in the middle of the community.(2)
Fuli Taoyuan Community, situated in the middle of Tai’an City, Shandong Province, is a middle-end income community, and the children’s recreation area is situated in the north of the community.(3)
Taoyuan Mingjun Community is situated in the middle of Tai’an City, Shandong Province. It is a middle-end income community, and the children’s recreation area is situated in the north of the community.


## 3.1. Research Design

In this study, the observation method and the questionnaire survey method are used for research, and the current usage of children’s recreational facilities in the communities is summarized; the observation method is employed to investigate the objective usage, and the questionnaire method is used to learn about the potential usage requirement.


## 3.2. Design of Observation Method

Spend two weekends (four days in total) from 6:00 a.m. to 24:00 a.m. to record the three sites once an hour, respectively, and adopt the observation method to observe and count the three communities (here assumed to be the three communities of A, B, and C).(1)
The observation process is as follows:Start to take photos of Community A from 6 o’clock in the morning on the first day; after taking photos, take photos in Community B, and finally take photos in Community C; take photos of three communities once an hour, from 6 o’clock in the morning to 24 o’clock in the evening, for a total of 18 hours a day, for a total of 72 hours in four days.(2)
The observation method is as follows:Take Community A as an example. Find a suitable location in Community A to ensure that all outdoor children’s recreational facilities in the Community can be observed; keep the location unchanged and take photos of children’s recreational facilities clockwise (Table1).Table 1
Questionnaire design.
Questions of the questionnairePurpose1. How old is your child?To summarize different age groups2. What is the sex of your child?To summarize the male-female ratio3. What do children principally play here?To summarize the popularity of different items4. When do you usually bring your children here?To summarize children’s different playtime5. Do you think the recreational facilities in this community have any advantages?To determine advantages of recreational facilities6. Do you think there are any shortcomings in the recreational facilities in this communityTo find out where recreational facilities need improvement7. How long do your children usually play outdoors every day?To determine the average time of children’s playing outdoors8. Do you think there are many places suitable for children to play outdoors?To confirm whether the outdoor playing area is suitable for children9. Which kind of recreational facilities do your children like best?To determine children’s favorable recreational facilities10. What environment do you want recreational facilities to be placed in?To summarize the setting environment for recreational facilities meeting children’s requirements


## 3.3. Areas Investigated

This investigation selected Jinxiu City Community, Fuli Taoyuan Community, and Taoyuan Mingjun Community in Feicheng City, Tai’an City, Shandong Province, as the investigation sites.(1)
Jinxiu City Community, situated in the middle of Tai’an City, Shandong Province, is a middle-income community, and the children’s recreation area is situated in the middle of the community.(2)
Fuli Taoyuan Community, situated in the middle of Tai’an City, Shandong Province, is a middle-end income community, and the children’s recreation area is situated in the north of the community.(3)
Taoyuan Mingjun Community is situated in the middle of Tai’an City, Shandong Province. It is a middle-end income community, and the children’s recreation area is situated in the north of the community.


## 4. Results and Analysis

### 4.1. Overview

Through 4-day observation on Jinxiu City Community, Fuli Taoyuan Community, and Taoyuan Mingjun Community, the researcher sorts out and analyzes the activity trend of children of all ages, the frequency of using all sorts of recreational facilities, and the activity frequency of children of all time periods in all communities.


### 4.2. Results

#### 4.2.1. Jinxiu City

Swings and slides are the most popular activities in Jinxiu City Community. The trend of activities and number of people of all ages in this community are summarized in Table2:Table 2
Ranking of age and activity frequency in Jinxiu city.
AgeTrend of activitiesTrend of number of people0–6They play in the outdoor recreational facilities of the community accompanied by their grandparents, and their playing time is usually from 8 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon16-17 o’clock7–10They play in the outdoor recreational facilities of the community accompanied by their parents, or take their younger brothers and sisters (aged 3–6 years old) out to play, and their playing time is usually from 7 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoonThere is no certain rule11–14Children of this age group mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselvesThere is no certain ruleThere are few people15–17Children of this age group mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselvesThere is no certain ruleThere are few peopleThere are three main trends for children aged 0–6 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 0–6 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community accompanied by grandparents. Their playing time is usually from 8 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon.(2)
Children of this age group are usually in large numbers in the afternoon (16-17)(3)
The most popular recreational facilities for children in this age group are slides (18 people), swings (12 people), and adventure facilities (9 people).There are three main trends for children aged 7–10 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 7–10 principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community accompanied by their parents or take their younger brothers and sisters (aged 3–6) out for play. Their playing time is usually from 7 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon.(2)
Children of this age group appear in relatively scattered periods, and there is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics.(3)
The most popular recreational facilities for children of this age group are swings (5 people).There are three main trends for children aged 11–14 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 11–14 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves.(2)
Children of this age group appear in relatively scattered periods, and there is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics.(3)
The number of children in this age group is relatively small, and only one person appears in Jinxiu City Community within 4 days. The recreational facility chosen is swing.There are three main trends for children aged 15–17 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 15–17 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves.(2)
Children of 15–17 years old appear in relatively scattered periods, and there is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics.(3)
The number of children in this age group is relatively small. The recreational facilities selected include slides (1 person), swings (2 persons), and space walkers (1 person), and one child chose to sit on a bench to rest.


#### 4.2.2. Fuli Taoyuan

There are 14 kinds of activities in Fuli Taoyuan Community, as shown in Appendix 03. The trend of activities and number of people of all ages in this community are summarized in Table3:Table 3
Ranking of age and activity frequency.
AgeTrend of activitiesTrend of number of people0–6They play in the outdoor recreational facilities of the community accompanied by their grandparents, and their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the afternoon15–17 o’clock7–10Children of this age group appear in relatively scattered time periods. There is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics. Their playing time is usually from 9 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon17-18 o’clock11–14Children of this age group mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselvesThere are no children of this age group.15–17Children of this age group mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselves7–9 in the morning and 17–19 in the afternoonThere are three main trends for children aged 0–6 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 0–6 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community accompanied by grandparents. Their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the afternoon.(2)
Children of this age group are usually in large numbers in the afternoon (15–17).(3)
The most popular recreational facilities for children of this age group are slides (18 persons) and rocking chairs (18 persons).There are three main trends for children aged 7–10 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children of this age group appear in relatively scattered time periods. There is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics. Their playing time is usually from 9 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon.(2)
The period with the largest number of people in this age group is 17-18 o’clock in the afternoon of the first day.(3)
The most popular recreational facilities for children of this age group are slides (7 people) and old slideways (9 people).The trend of children aged 11–14 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days principally includes the following two points:(1)
Children aged 11–14 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves.(2)
No children of this age group appear within 4 days.There are four main trends for children aged 15–17 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 15–17 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves. Their playing time is usually from 7 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon.(2)
Children aged 15–17 years old principally appear at 7–9 o’clock in the morning or 17–19 o’clock in the evening.(3)
The number of children in this age group is relatively small.(4)
Children of this age group choose children’s recreational facilities such as slides (3 persons). Apart from that, one child sits on a bench to rest, and 4 children stand and chat.


#### 4.2.3. Taoyuan Mingjun

Slides and rocking chairs are the most popular activities in Taoyuan Mingjun Community. The trend of activities and number of people of all ages in the community are summarized in Table4:Table 4
Trend of activities and number of people of all ages in the community.
AgeTrend of activitiesTrend of number of people0–6They play in the outdoor recreational facilities of the community accompanied by their grandparents, and their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the afternoon9–11 o’clock16–18 o’clock7–10They play in the outdoor recreational facilities of the community accompanied by their parents, or take their younger brothers and sisters (aged 3–6 years old) out to play, and their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock at night16 o’clock in the afternoon19-20 o’clock11–14They mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselves, and their playing time is usually from 10 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock at nightThere is no certain ruleThere are few people15–17Children of this age group mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselvesThere is no certain ruleThere are few people, only 2 peopleThere are three main trends for children aged 0–6 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 0–6 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community accompanied by grandparents. Their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the evening.(2)
There is a large number of children of this age group all day long, principally at 9–11 am and 16–18 pm.(3)
The most popular recreational facilities for children of this age group are slides (48 people), followed by rocking chairs (23 people); on account of the large area in the community, 25 children are running around in four days.There are three main trends for children aged 7–10 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 7–10 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community accompanied by their parents or take their younger brothers and sisters (aged 3–6 years) out to play. Their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the evening.(2)
Children of this age group principally appear at 16 o’clock in the afternoon and 19-20 o’clock in the evening.(3)
The most popular recreational facility for children of this age group is the slide (13 people).There are three main trends for children aged 11–14 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 11–14 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves. Their playing time is usually from 10 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the evening.(2)
Children of this age group appear in relatively scattered periods, and there is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics.(3)
The number of children in this age group is relatively small, with a total of 5 in 4 days, of which only 1 chose the existing recreational facility in the venue-the space walker.There are four main trends for children aged 15–17 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 15–17 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves.(2)
Children of 15–17 ears old appear in relatively scattered periods, and there is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics.(3)
The number of children in this age group is relatively small, appearing only at 17 o’clock in the afternoon of the first day and at 13 o’clock in the afternoon of the second day.(4)
There are two children in this age group, one of whom chose the space walker, and the other is playing with his younger brother (8 years old) in a toy truck.


### 4.3. Analysis

#### 4.3.1. Main Behaviors of Children in the Community

(1)
All the behaviors of the three communities include playing recreational equipment, playing adventure facilities, playing climbing equipment, playing fitness equipment, sitting in the baby chair, walking around, running around, stopping to watch, playing with scooters, picking up things, playing mobile phones, chatting, sleeping, playing with mud, lying down, skating, riding bicycles, playing toy guns, playing with scooters, playing footballs, playing toy trucks, blowing bubbles, playing horseplay, and sitting.(2)
The main behaviors of the three communities are as follows: slide (29.2%), rocking chair (11.8%).(3)
The action of sitting in the baby chair principally takes place from 7: 00 to 9: 00 and from 16: 00 to 18: 00, because the action principally takes place on children aged 0-1 year, principally accompanied by grandparents. Older people usually choose the periods with more appropriate temperature, such as 7:00 to 9:00 and 16:00 to 18:00.(4)
The action of playing mobile phones principally happens to children of 15–17 years old, because children of this age have the capability to wear mobile phone.(5)
Some actions only take place in a specific period of time. For instance, skating only takes place in Taoyuan Mingjun Community at 16 o’clock on the fourth day.


#### 4.3.2. On the Design and Use of Children’s Facilities in the Community

(1)
Lack of recreational facilities of the right age. Upon research, it is discovered that the users of different age groups in each square take on different usage trends and usage levels during the day. However, by comparing three different community squares, the four different age groups present the same usage level. The survey reveals that children aged 0–6 years old years are the most frequent users of recreational facilities in the three squares; the frequency of children between 7 and 10 years old using recreational facilities in three squares is comparatively general; children between 11 and 14 years old hardly use recreational facilities in the three squares; children aged 15–17 years old use the recreational facilities in the three squares less frequently. Thus, it can be seen that there are fewer recreational facilities suitable for children aged 7–10 years old, and there is a lack of recreational facilities suitable for children aged 11–14 years old and 15–17 years old.(2)
The recreational facilities of the right age are single. According to investigation, children play in all three communities but use recreational facilities other than the community. For instance, there are one person playing a bicycle in Jinxiu City Community, one person playing an airplane model in Fuli Taoyuan Community, four persons playing toy trucks in Taoyuan Mingjun Community, 12 persons playing mud in tree pits, 10 persons playing with scooters, 6 persons playing bicycles, etc. Imagination is an internal activity. Children’s imagination is creative, and they are good at reconstructing the real world in their minds through association, adhesion, and exaggeration, while games are the main place for children’s imagination, which plays an irreplaceable role in the development of children’s imagination [18]. The forms of recreational facilities in the three communities are too single, and no design suitable for children has been carried out from children’s point of view, which makes some children lose interest in the existing recreational facilities and turn to play with mud and adopt other forms to meet the development of their creativity.(3)
There exist potential safety hazards. Through questionnaire survey and on-the-spot investigation, there are rusting and aging recreational facilities in the three communities. The slides in Taoyuan Mingjun Community have potential safety hazards, which is a great risk for children in their growing period. Besides, there is an artificial river beside the children’s pleasure ground in Jinxiu City Community, and there is no safety barrier to block children from the river. For the younger children without adult care, there exists a certain safety risk.(4)
Lack of auxiliary design for pleasure grounds. As the lights in Taoyuan Mingjun Community are brighter at night than those in Jinxiu City Community and Fuli Taoyuan Community, children use the facilities more frequently at night (19–20 o’clock). The children who use recreational facilities in this community at night are principally 0–6 years old and 7–10 years old. In contrast, in this period of time, almost no children use the outdoor recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community and Fuli Taoyuan Community. Thus, for outdoor children’s entertainment venues, there is a great influence on the soundness of lighting facilities.(5)
Lack of targeted design. In Fuli Taoyuan Community, a total of 16 children from 0–6 years old and 7–12 years old choose the abandoned slideway, which is randomly left aside by the community property company as their entertainment equipment. Although it is an abandoned slideway, it can become a place for children to play. Instead, few children go to play some recreational facilities built beside. This fully reflects the irrationality of recreational facilities in most children’s pleasure grounds in our country. In the meanwhile, it inspires designers today that the design of recreational facilities should proceed from the position of children and combined with children’s psychological conditions.


## 4.1. Overview

Through 4-day observation on Jinxiu City Community, Fuli Taoyuan Community, and Taoyuan Mingjun Community, the researcher sorts out and analyzes the activity trend of children of all ages, the frequency of using all sorts of recreational facilities, and the activity frequency of children of all time periods in all communities.


## 4.2. Results

### 4.2.1. Jinxiu City

Swings and slides are the most popular activities in Jinxiu City Community. The trend of activities and number of people of all ages in this community are summarized in Table2:Table 2
Ranking of age and activity frequency in Jinxiu city.
AgeTrend of activitiesTrend of number of people0–6They play in the outdoor recreational facilities of the community accompanied by their grandparents, and their playing time is usually from 8 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon16-17 o’clock7–10They play in the outdoor recreational facilities of the community accompanied by their parents, or take their younger brothers and sisters (aged 3–6 years old) out to play, and their playing time is usually from 7 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoonThere is no certain rule11–14Children of this age group mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselvesThere is no certain ruleThere are few people15–17Children of this age group mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselvesThere is no certain ruleThere are few peopleThere are three main trends for children aged 0–6 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 0–6 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community accompanied by grandparents. Their playing time is usually from 8 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon.(2)
Children of this age group are usually in large numbers in the afternoon (16-17)(3)
The most popular recreational facilities for children in this age group are slides (18 people), swings (12 people), and adventure facilities (9 people).There are three main trends for children aged 7–10 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 7–10 principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community accompanied by their parents or take their younger brothers and sisters (aged 3–6) out for play. Their playing time is usually from 7 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon.(2)
Children of this age group appear in relatively scattered periods, and there is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics.(3)
The most popular recreational facilities for children of this age group are swings (5 people).There are three main trends for children aged 11–14 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 11–14 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves.(2)
Children of this age group appear in relatively scattered periods, and there is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics.(3)
The number of children in this age group is relatively small, and only one person appears in Jinxiu City Community within 4 days. The recreational facility chosen is swing.There are three main trends for children aged 15–17 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 15–17 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves.(2)
Children of 15–17 years old appear in relatively scattered periods, and there is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics.(3)
The number of children in this age group is relatively small. The recreational facilities selected include slides (1 person), swings (2 persons), and space walkers (1 person), and one child chose to sit on a bench to rest.


### 4.2.2. Fuli Taoyuan

There are 14 kinds of activities in Fuli Taoyuan Community, as shown in Appendix 03. The trend of activities and number of people of all ages in this community are summarized in Table3:Table 3
Ranking of age and activity frequency.
AgeTrend of activitiesTrend of number of people0–6They play in the outdoor recreational facilities of the community accompanied by their grandparents, and their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the afternoon15–17 o’clock7–10Children of this age group appear in relatively scattered time periods. There is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics. Their playing time is usually from 9 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon17-18 o’clock11–14Children of this age group mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselvesThere are no children of this age group.15–17Children of this age group mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselves7–9 in the morning and 17–19 in the afternoonThere are three main trends for children aged 0–6 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 0–6 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community accompanied by grandparents. Their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the afternoon.(2)
Children of this age group are usually in large numbers in the afternoon (15–17).(3)
The most popular recreational facilities for children of this age group are slides (18 persons) and rocking chairs (18 persons).There are three main trends for children aged 7–10 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children of this age group appear in relatively scattered time periods. There is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics. Their playing time is usually from 9 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon.(2)
The period with the largest number of people in this age group is 17-18 o’clock in the afternoon of the first day.(3)
The most popular recreational facilities for children of this age group are slides (7 people) and old slideways (9 people).The trend of children aged 11–14 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days principally includes the following two points:(1)
Children aged 11–14 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves.(2)
No children of this age group appear within 4 days.There are four main trends for children aged 15–17 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 15–17 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves. Their playing time is usually from 7 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon.(2)
Children aged 15–17 years old principally appear at 7–9 o’clock in the morning or 17–19 o’clock in the evening.(3)
The number of children in this age group is relatively small.(4)
Children of this age group choose children’s recreational facilities such as slides (3 persons). Apart from that, one child sits on a bench to rest, and 4 children stand and chat.


### 4.2.3. Taoyuan Mingjun

Slides and rocking chairs are the most popular activities in Taoyuan Mingjun Community. The trend of activities and number of people of all ages in the community are summarized in Table4:Table 4
Trend of activities and number of people of all ages in the community.
AgeTrend of activitiesTrend of number of people0–6They play in the outdoor recreational facilities of the community accompanied by their grandparents, and their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the afternoon9–11 o’clock16–18 o’clock7–10They play in the outdoor recreational facilities of the community accompanied by their parents, or take their younger brothers and sisters (aged 3–6 years old) out to play, and their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock at night16 o’clock in the afternoon19-20 o’clock11–14They mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselves, and their playing time is usually from 10 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock at nightThere is no certain ruleThere are few people15–17Children of this age group mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselvesThere is no certain ruleThere are few people, only 2 peopleThere are three main trends for children aged 0–6 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 0–6 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community accompanied by grandparents. Their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the evening.(2)
There is a large number of children of this age group all day long, principally at 9–11 am and 16–18 pm.(3)
The most popular recreational facilities for children of this age group are slides (48 people), followed by rocking chairs (23 people); on account of the large area in the community, 25 children are running around in four days.There are three main trends for children aged 7–10 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 7–10 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community accompanied by their parents or take their younger brothers and sisters (aged 3–6 years) out to play. Their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the evening.(2)
Children of this age group principally appear at 16 o’clock in the afternoon and 19-20 o’clock in the evening.(3)
The most popular recreational facility for children of this age group is the slide (13 people).There are three main trends for children aged 11–14 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 11–14 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves. Their playing time is usually from 10 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the evening.(2)
Children of this age group appear in relatively scattered periods, and there is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics.(3)
The number of children in this age group is relatively small, with a total of 5 in 4 days, of which only 1 chose the existing recreational facility in the venue-the space walker.There are four main trends for children aged 15–17 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 15–17 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves.(2)
Children of 15–17 ears old appear in relatively scattered periods, and there is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics.(3)
The number of children in this age group is relatively small, appearing only at 17 o’clock in the afternoon of the first day and at 13 o’clock in the afternoon of the second day.(4)
There are two children in this age group, one of whom chose the space walker, and the other is playing with his younger brother (8 years old) in a toy truck.


## 4.2.1. Jinxiu City

Swings and slides are the most popular activities in Jinxiu City Community. The trend of activities and number of people of all ages in this community are summarized in Table2:Table 2
Ranking of age and activity frequency in Jinxiu city.
AgeTrend of activitiesTrend of number of people0–6They play in the outdoor recreational facilities of the community accompanied by their grandparents, and their playing time is usually from 8 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon16-17 o’clock7–10They play in the outdoor recreational facilities of the community accompanied by their parents, or take their younger brothers and sisters (aged 3–6 years old) out to play, and their playing time is usually from 7 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoonThere is no certain rule11–14Children of this age group mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselvesThere is no certain ruleThere are few people15–17Children of this age group mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselvesThere is no certain ruleThere are few peopleThere are three main trends for children aged 0–6 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 0–6 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community accompanied by grandparents. Their playing time is usually from 8 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon.(2)
Children of this age group are usually in large numbers in the afternoon (16-17)(3)
The most popular recreational facilities for children in this age group are slides (18 people), swings (12 people), and adventure facilities (9 people).There are three main trends for children aged 7–10 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 7–10 principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community accompanied by their parents or take their younger brothers and sisters (aged 3–6) out for play. Their playing time is usually from 7 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon.(2)
Children of this age group appear in relatively scattered periods, and there is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics.(3)
The most popular recreational facilities for children of this age group are swings (5 people).There are three main trends for children aged 11–14 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 11–14 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves.(2)
Children of this age group appear in relatively scattered periods, and there is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics.(3)
The number of children in this age group is relatively small, and only one person appears in Jinxiu City Community within 4 days. The recreational facility chosen is swing.There are three main trends for children aged 15–17 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 15–17 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves.(2)
Children of 15–17 years old appear in relatively scattered periods, and there is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics.(3)
The number of children in this age group is relatively small. The recreational facilities selected include slides (1 person), swings (2 persons), and space walkers (1 person), and one child chose to sit on a bench to rest.


## 4.2.2. Fuli Taoyuan

There are 14 kinds of activities in Fuli Taoyuan Community, as shown in Appendix 03. The trend of activities and number of people of all ages in this community are summarized in Table3:Table 3
Ranking of age and activity frequency.
AgeTrend of activitiesTrend of number of people0–6They play in the outdoor recreational facilities of the community accompanied by their grandparents, and their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the afternoon15–17 o’clock7–10Children of this age group appear in relatively scattered time periods. There is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics. Their playing time is usually from 9 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon17-18 o’clock11–14Children of this age group mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselvesThere are no children of this age group.15–17Children of this age group mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselves7–9 in the morning and 17–19 in the afternoonThere are three main trends for children aged 0–6 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 0–6 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community accompanied by grandparents. Their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the afternoon.(2)
Children of this age group are usually in large numbers in the afternoon (15–17).(3)
The most popular recreational facilities for children of this age group are slides (18 persons) and rocking chairs (18 persons).There are three main trends for children aged 7–10 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children of this age group appear in relatively scattered time periods. There is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics. Their playing time is usually from 9 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon.(2)
The period with the largest number of people in this age group is 17-18 o’clock in the afternoon of the first day.(3)
The most popular recreational facilities for children of this age group are slides (7 people) and old slideways (9 people).The trend of children aged 11–14 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days principally includes the following two points:(1)
Children aged 11–14 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves.(2)
No children of this age group appear within 4 days.There are four main trends for children aged 15–17 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 15–17 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves. Their playing time is usually from 7 o’clock in the morning to 18 o’clock in the afternoon.(2)
Children aged 15–17 years old principally appear at 7–9 o’clock in the morning or 17–19 o’clock in the evening.(3)
The number of children in this age group is relatively small.(4)
Children of this age group choose children’s recreational facilities such as slides (3 persons). Apart from that, one child sits on a bench to rest, and 4 children stand and chat.


## 4.2.3. Taoyuan Mingjun

Slides and rocking chairs are the most popular activities in Taoyuan Mingjun Community. The trend of activities and number of people of all ages in the community are summarized in Table4:Table 4
Trend of activities and number of people of all ages in the community.
AgeTrend of activitiesTrend of number of people0–6They play in the outdoor recreational facilities of the community accompanied by their grandparents, and their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the afternoon9–11 o’clock16–18 o’clock7–10They play in the outdoor recreational facilities of the community accompanied by their parents, or take their younger brothers and sisters (aged 3–6 years old) out to play, and their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock at night16 o’clock in the afternoon19-20 o’clock11–14They mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselves, and their playing time is usually from 10 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock at nightThere is no certain ruleThere are few people15–17Children of this age group mainly come to the outdoor recreational facilities of the community to play by themselvesThere is no certain ruleThere are few people, only 2 peopleThere are three main trends for children aged 0–6 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 0–6 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community accompanied by grandparents. Their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the evening.(2)
There is a large number of children of this age group all day long, principally at 9–11 am and 16–18 pm.(3)
The most popular recreational facilities for children of this age group are slides (48 people), followed by rocking chairs (23 people); on account of the large area in the community, 25 children are running around in four days.There are three main trends for children aged 7–10 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 7–10 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community accompanied by their parents or take their younger brothers and sisters (aged 3–6 years) out to play. Their playing time is usually from 6 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the evening.(2)
Children of this age group principally appear at 16 o’clock in the afternoon and 19-20 o’clock in the evening.(3)
The most popular recreational facility for children of this age group is the slide (13 people).There are three main trends for children aged 11–14 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 11–14 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves. Their playing time is usually from 10 o’clock in the morning to 20 o’clock in the evening.(2)
Children of this age group appear in relatively scattered periods, and there is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics.(3)
The number of children in this age group is relatively small, with a total of 5 in 4 days, of which only 1 chose the existing recreational facility in the venue-the space walker.There are four main trends for children aged 15–17 years old to use recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community in four days:(1)
Children aged 15–17 years old principally play with outdoor recreational facilities in the community for fun by themselves.(2)
Children of 15–17 ears old appear in relatively scattered periods, and there is no certain rule in the 4-day statistics.(3)
The number of children in this age group is relatively small, appearing only at 17 o’clock in the afternoon of the first day and at 13 o’clock in the afternoon of the second day.(4)
There are two children in this age group, one of whom chose the space walker, and the other is playing with his younger brother (8 years old) in a toy truck.


## 4.3. Analysis

### 4.3.1. Main Behaviors of Children in the Community

(1)
All the behaviors of the three communities include playing recreational equipment, playing adventure facilities, playing climbing equipment, playing fitness equipment, sitting in the baby chair, walking around, running around, stopping to watch, playing with scooters, picking up things, playing mobile phones, chatting, sleeping, playing with mud, lying down, skating, riding bicycles, playing toy guns, playing with scooters, playing footballs, playing toy trucks, blowing bubbles, playing horseplay, and sitting.(2)
The main behaviors of the three communities are as follows: slide (29.2%), rocking chair (11.8%).(3)
The action of sitting in the baby chair principally takes place from 7: 00 to 9: 00 and from 16: 00 to 18: 00, because the action principally takes place on children aged 0-1 year, principally accompanied by grandparents. Older people usually choose the periods with more appropriate temperature, such as 7:00 to 9:00 and 16:00 to 18:00.(4)
The action of playing mobile phones principally happens to children of 15–17 years old, because children of this age have the capability to wear mobile phone.(5)
Some actions only take place in a specific period of time. For instance, skating only takes place in Taoyuan Mingjun Community at 16 o’clock on the fourth day.


### 4.3.2. On the Design and Use of Children’s Facilities in the Community

(1)
Lack of recreational facilities of the right age. Upon research, it is discovered that the users of different age groups in each square take on different usage trends and usage levels during the day. However, by comparing three different community squares, the four different age groups present the same usage level. The survey reveals that children aged 0–6 years old years are the most frequent users of recreational facilities in the three squares; the frequency of children between 7 and 10 years old using recreational facilities in three squares is comparatively general; children between 11 and 14 years old hardly use recreational facilities in the three squares; children aged 15–17 years old use the recreational facilities in the three squares less frequently. Thus, it can be seen that there are fewer recreational facilities suitable for children aged 7–10 years old, and there is a lack of recreational facilities suitable for children aged 11–14 years old and 15–17 years old.(2)
The recreational facilities of the right age are single. According to investigation, children play in all three communities but use recreational facilities other than the community. For instance, there are one person playing a bicycle in Jinxiu City Community, one person playing an airplane model in Fuli Taoyuan Community, four persons playing toy trucks in Taoyuan Mingjun Community, 12 persons playing mud in tree pits, 10 persons playing with scooters, 6 persons playing bicycles, etc. Imagination is an internal activity. Children’s imagination is creative, and they are good at reconstructing the real world in their minds through association, adhesion, and exaggeration, while games are the main place for children’s imagination, which plays an irreplaceable role in the development of children’s imagination [18]. The forms of recreational facilities in the three communities are too single, and no design suitable for children has been carried out from children’s point of view, which makes some children lose interest in the existing recreational facilities and turn to play with mud and adopt other forms to meet the development of their creativity.(3)
There exist potential safety hazards. Through questionnaire survey and on-the-spot investigation, there are rusting and aging recreational facilities in the three communities. The slides in Taoyuan Mingjun Community have potential safety hazards, which is a great risk for children in their growing period. Besides, there is an artificial river beside the children’s pleasure ground in Jinxiu City Community, and there is no safety barrier to block children from the river. For the younger children without adult care, there exists a certain safety risk.(4)
Lack of auxiliary design for pleasure grounds. As the lights in Taoyuan Mingjun Community are brighter at night than those in Jinxiu City Community and Fuli Taoyuan Community, children use the facilities more frequently at night (19–20 o’clock). The children who use recreational facilities in this community at night are principally 0–6 years old and 7–10 years old. In contrast, in this period of time, almost no children use the outdoor recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community and Fuli Taoyuan Community. Thus, for outdoor children’s entertainment venues, there is a great influence on the soundness of lighting facilities.(5)
Lack of targeted design. In Fuli Taoyuan Community, a total of 16 children from 0–6 years old and 7–12 years old choose the abandoned slideway, which is randomly left aside by the community property company as their entertainment equipment. Although it is an abandoned slideway, it can become a place for children to play. Instead, few children go to play some recreational facilities built beside. This fully reflects the irrationality of recreational facilities in most children’s pleasure grounds in our country. In the meanwhile, it inspires designers today that the design of recreational facilities should proceed from the position of children and combined with children’s psychological conditions.


## 4.3.1. Main Behaviors of Children in the Community

(1)
All the behaviors of the three communities include playing recreational equipment, playing adventure facilities, playing climbing equipment, playing fitness equipment, sitting in the baby chair, walking around, running around, stopping to watch, playing with scooters, picking up things, playing mobile phones, chatting, sleeping, playing with mud, lying down, skating, riding bicycles, playing toy guns, playing with scooters, playing footballs, playing toy trucks, blowing bubbles, playing horseplay, and sitting.(2)
The main behaviors of the three communities are as follows: slide (29.2%), rocking chair (11.8%).(3)
The action of sitting in the baby chair principally takes place from 7: 00 to 9: 00 and from 16: 00 to 18: 00, because the action principally takes place on children aged 0-1 year, principally accompanied by grandparents. Older people usually choose the periods with more appropriate temperature, such as 7:00 to 9:00 and 16:00 to 18:00.(4)
The action of playing mobile phones principally happens to children of 15–17 years old, because children of this age have the capability to wear mobile phone.(5)
Some actions only take place in a specific period of time. For instance, skating only takes place in Taoyuan Mingjun Community at 16 o’clock on the fourth day.


## 4.3.2. On the Design and Use of Children’s Facilities in the Community

(1)
Lack of recreational facilities of the right age. Upon research, it is discovered that the users of different age groups in each square take on different usage trends and usage levels during the day. However, by comparing three different community squares, the four different age groups present the same usage level. The survey reveals that children aged 0–6 years old years are the most frequent users of recreational facilities in the three squares; the frequency of children between 7 and 10 years old using recreational facilities in three squares is comparatively general; children between 11 and 14 years old hardly use recreational facilities in the three squares; children aged 15–17 years old use the recreational facilities in the three squares less frequently. Thus, it can be seen that there are fewer recreational facilities suitable for children aged 7–10 years old, and there is a lack of recreational facilities suitable for children aged 11–14 years old and 15–17 years old.(2)
The recreational facilities of the right age are single. According to investigation, children play in all three communities but use recreational facilities other than the community. For instance, there are one person playing a bicycle in Jinxiu City Community, one person playing an airplane model in Fuli Taoyuan Community, four persons playing toy trucks in Taoyuan Mingjun Community, 12 persons playing mud in tree pits, 10 persons playing with scooters, 6 persons playing bicycles, etc. Imagination is an internal activity. Children’s imagination is creative, and they are good at reconstructing the real world in their minds through association, adhesion, and exaggeration, while games are the main place for children’s imagination, which plays an irreplaceable role in the development of children’s imagination [18]. The forms of recreational facilities in the three communities are too single, and no design suitable for children has been carried out from children’s point of view, which makes some children lose interest in the existing recreational facilities and turn to play with mud and adopt other forms to meet the development of their creativity.(3)
There exist potential safety hazards. Through questionnaire survey and on-the-spot investigation, there are rusting and aging recreational facilities in the three communities. The slides in Taoyuan Mingjun Community have potential safety hazards, which is a great risk for children in their growing period. Besides, there is an artificial river beside the children’s pleasure ground in Jinxiu City Community, and there is no safety barrier to block children from the river. For the younger children without adult care, there exists a certain safety risk.(4)
Lack of auxiliary design for pleasure grounds. As the lights in Taoyuan Mingjun Community are brighter at night than those in Jinxiu City Community and Fuli Taoyuan Community, children use the facilities more frequently at night (19–20 o’clock). The children who use recreational facilities in this community at night are principally 0–6 years old and 7–10 years old. In contrast, in this period of time, almost no children use the outdoor recreational facilities in Jinxiu City Community and Fuli Taoyuan Community. Thus, for outdoor children’s entertainment venues, there is a great influence on the soundness of lighting facilities.(5)
Lack of targeted design. In Fuli Taoyuan Community, a total of 16 children from 0–6 years old and 7–12 years old choose the abandoned slideway, which is randomly left aside by the community property company as their entertainment equipment. Although it is an abandoned slideway, it can become a place for children to play. Instead, few children go to play some recreational facilities built beside. This fully reflects the irrationality of recreational facilities in most children’s pleasure grounds in our country. In the meanwhile, it inspires designers today that the design of recreational facilities should proceed from the position of children and combined with children’s psychological conditions.


## 5. Discussion

### 5.1. Discussion on the Design of Children’s Pleasure Grounds in New Residential Areas in China

There exist the following disadvantages for children’s outdoor recreational facilities in Shandong Province, China:Based on the on-the-spot investigation of children’s recreational facilities in three large residential areas in Tai’an City, Shandong Province, some common problems in children’s outdoor pleasure grounds in Shandong Province are found.(1)
There is a lack of recreational facilities suitable for children aged 11–14 years old and 15–17 years old. Compared with children aged 0–6 years old, children of these two age groups seldom appear in outdoor recreational places in residential areas. They will usually choose places of more interest for recreational activities, such as hide-and-seek in rockeries or playing in squares with larger space.(2)
The facilities around the pleasure grounds are not sound. As there is lack of lighting equipment such as street lamps, few children come to play after dark. Children lack entertainment places and mostly go out with their parents or stay at home directly.(3)
Recreational facilities tend to be designed for adults in a mechanized and single form. Upon investigation, despite the fact that the recreational facilities in the three large residential areas are not exactly the same, the form of facilities is dull and single. At first glance, slides, swings, seesaws, fitness equipment, etc. are mostly some basic facilities in the early days of the children’s pleasure grounds.(4)
The design of recreational facilities does not take children as the starting point and foothold. Upon observation, despite the fact that some children choose to carry out outdoor activities in the outdoor entertainment venues in the community, they do not use the existing recreational facilities in the venues but choose to play with mud, play football or do other entertainment activities. Entertainment equipment lacks innovation and is not indeed suitable for children of all ages, which will also restrict the development of children’s physical and mental health to a certain extent.(5)
Most of the existing recreational facilities are aged and rusty, and some even have potential safety hazards. The three communities surveyed have been put into use for a certain number of years. Most of the recreational facilities in the communities have rusted after exposure to the wind and sun; some facilities are even loosened by reason of lack of professional maintenance, which seriously threatens the life safety of children. When conducting a questionnaire survey in Taoyuan Mingjun Community, over 70% of the residents reported that loosening of slides in the community is too obvious, but there are still no professionals to do repairs. Besides, some abandoned facilities are directly placed in pleasure grounds, and no one cares about them. It is imminent to do maintenance of recreational facilities in pleasure grounds in the community.Foreign children’s outdoor recreational facilities have the following advantages:(1)
Color: in respect of color, foreign recreational facilities have abandoned the color matching scheme of high brightness, high purity, and high contrast, which reduces the purity and lightness of color. This does not merely make it easier for children to blend into all styles of environment but gives people a softer feeling [19].(2)
Quality: with respect to materials, it is highly recommended to design foreign children’s recreational facilities according to local conditions and following the principle of waste utilization. In foreign countries, quite a number of recreational facilities are made of waste materials, reassembled and installed. For instance, swings are made of waste wood boards, climbing slopes are made by taking advantage of undulating terrain, etc. Compared with domestic recreational facilities made of plastic materials, these facilities are more cordial and interesting and help children identify external things [19].(3)
Ground treatment: the ground of pleasure grounds in residential areas in China is usually made of cement, rubber, or sand. The ground treatment methods for pleasure grounds in some residential areas abroad are highly distinctive: digging a foundation pit 50∼100 cm deep on the ground of a given area; in the well-excavated foundation pit, the recreational facilities will be embedded and fixed one by one based on the design requirements; then, the backfill of the foundation pit is not done with plain soil, but with clean and impurity-free sand or sawdust. This kind of ground filled with sand or sawdust boasts certain elasticity and cushioning by reason of its loose material, which can protect children from getting injured by falling [20].(4)
Design of facilities: in the design of recreational facilities, there are more innovative forms, which can enable children to carry out more abundant activities and more diverse forms of sports, such as climbing, sliding, hanging, rotating, swinging, running and jumping, and balanced walking, thereby enhancing the use experience of children [21].


## 5.1. Discussion on the Design of Children’s Pleasure Grounds in New Residential Areas in China

There exist the following disadvantages for children’s outdoor recreational facilities in Shandong Province, China:Based on the on-the-spot investigation of children’s recreational facilities in three large residential areas in Tai’an City, Shandong Province, some common problems in children’s outdoor pleasure grounds in Shandong Province are found.(1)
There is a lack of recreational facilities suitable for children aged 11–14 years old and 15–17 years old. Compared with children aged 0–6 years old, children of these two age groups seldom appear in outdoor recreational places in residential areas. They will usually choose places of more interest for recreational activities, such as hide-and-seek in rockeries or playing in squares with larger space.(2)
The facilities around the pleasure grounds are not sound. As there is lack of lighting equipment such as street lamps, few children come to play after dark. Children lack entertainment places and mostly go out with their parents or stay at home directly.(3)
Recreational facilities tend to be designed for adults in a mechanized and single form. Upon investigation, despite the fact that the recreational facilities in the three large residential areas are not exactly the same, the form of facilities is dull and single. At first glance, slides, swings, seesaws, fitness equipment, etc. are mostly some basic facilities in the early days of the children’s pleasure grounds.(4)
The design of recreational facilities does not take children as the starting point and foothold. Upon observation, despite the fact that some children choose to carry out outdoor activities in the outdoor entertainment venues in the community, they do not use the existing recreational facilities in the venues but choose to play with mud, play football or do other entertainment activities. Entertainment equipment lacks innovation and is not indeed suitable for children of all ages, which will also restrict the development of children’s physical and mental health to a certain extent.(5)
Most of the existing recreational facilities are aged and rusty, and some even have potential safety hazards. The three communities surveyed have been put into use for a certain number of years. Most of the recreational facilities in the communities have rusted after exposure to the wind and sun; some facilities are even loosened by reason of lack of professional maintenance, which seriously threatens the life safety of children. When conducting a questionnaire survey in Taoyuan Mingjun Community, over 70% of the residents reported that loosening of slides in the community is too obvious, but there are still no professionals to do repairs. Besides, some abandoned facilities are directly placed in pleasure grounds, and no one cares about them. It is imminent to do maintenance of recreational facilities in pleasure grounds in the community.Foreign children’s outdoor recreational facilities have the following advantages:(1)
Color: in respect of color, foreign recreational facilities have abandoned the color matching scheme of high brightness, high purity, and high contrast, which reduces the purity and lightness of color. This does not merely make it easier for children to blend into all styles of environment but gives people a softer feeling [19].(2)
Quality: with respect to materials, it is highly recommended to design foreign children’s recreational facilities according to local conditions and following the principle of waste utilization. In foreign countries, quite a number of recreational facilities are made of waste materials, reassembled and installed. For instance, swings are made of waste wood boards, climbing slopes are made by taking advantage of undulating terrain, etc. Compared with domestic recreational facilities made of plastic materials, these facilities are more cordial and interesting and help children identify external things [19].(3)
Ground treatment: the ground of pleasure grounds in residential areas in China is usually made of cement, rubber, or sand. The ground treatment methods for pleasure grounds in some residential areas abroad are highly distinctive: digging a foundation pit 50∼100 cm deep on the ground of a given area; in the well-excavated foundation pit, the recreational facilities will be embedded and fixed one by one based on the design requirements; then, the backfill of the foundation pit is not done with plain soil, but with clean and impurity-free sand or sawdust. This kind of ground filled with sand or sawdust boasts certain elasticity and cushioning by reason of its loose material, which can protect children from getting injured by falling [20].(4)
Design of facilities: in the design of recreational facilities, there are more innovative forms, which can enable children to carry out more abundant activities and more diverse forms of sports, such as climbing, sliding, hanging, rotating, swinging, running and jumping, and balanced walking, thereby enhancing the use experience of children [21].


## 6. Summary

### 6.1. Design Framework of Residential Areas for Outdoor Entertainment in Shandong Province, China

Fueled by the rapid development of China’s new urbanization construction and the full opening of the “two children” policy, people put a higher premium on the construction of children’s pleasure grounds. However, there exist quite a number of deficiencies in children’s outdoor recreational facilities in China. By comparing children’s outdoor recreation venues and facilities at home and abroad, this paper holds that children’s facilities need to be enhanced in the following aspects:(1)
The color design of children’s outdoor venues in China needs to be enhanced. Through investigation, it is discovered that the color of outdoor entertainment venues in the three communities is too single. Fitness facilities are principally yellow and blue, and recreational facilities such as slides and swings do not contain rich colors. Various, a scholar of toy facilities, reveals that 2%∼42% of children’s outdoor activities occur in public activity areas, i.e., pleasure grounds, parks, or kindergartens. These places are densely populated with children’s outdoor recreational facilities. These facilities occupy a large part of children’s entertainment time, and the color of these facilities is one of the reasons to attract children. Thus, the color design of these facilities is of vital importance, and they affect children’s perception of the objective world and their growth [22]. Foreign entertainment venues generally attach importance to the application of color in recreational facilities. For instance, Zurich Children’s Pleasure Ground in Switzerland, where large and small pools are decorated with colorful colors, attracts a large number of children to play here; in the Pod Pleasure Ground in Canberra, Australia, the colors used in the venue are ingeniously combined with the color of the Earth to create a feeling of playing in nature for children.(2)
Domestic outdoor children’s recreational facilities need more exquisite materials. There are also differences in the materials of outdoor children’s recreational facilities at home and abroad. There are a variety of outdoor children’s amusement equipment, and the materials used are also quite extensive. The main materials are as follows: stainless steel, wood, GRC, glass fiber reinforced plastics, rope net, plastic (principally used for ground materials, such as micro-terrain, colored ground), PVC canvas, etc. Through on-the-spot investigation, the outdoor recreational facilities in the three residential areas, namely, Jinxiu City, Fuli Taoyuan and Taoyuan Mingjun, are principally made of plastic and metal materials. Although there are certain advantages, the choice of material types is relatively single. It is allowed to introduce some different materials based on local conditions, such as wood materials; wood is used as the main material in the Jacobson event venue in Lexington, Kentucky, USA, and the texture of wood gives children a natural affinity. Connection of wood, spatial transition, and other treatments are simple and meticulous, bringing rich experience to children in sensitive period of perception [23].(3)
Domestic designers should set out from the children themselves, abandon the original design concept of facilities in children’s pleasure grounds, and design recreational facilities for children of all ages. Restricted by children’s age, designers should take into account children’s age, safety, self-protection awareness, interest, and other factors in the design so as to ensure that children can play safely and happily [24]. Designers can create more novel entertainment equipment while perfecting the traditional classic facilities and arouse children’s interest; or they can try to add some modern technologies, such as 3D technology.(4)
Maintenance of children’s recreational facilities should be strengthened. During the use of children’s pleasure grounds, the key is to ensure the safety of children when using the facilities. As some residential properties ignore the built pleasure grounds, a lot of facilities are exposed to the sun and wind, resulting in rusting, and some have great potential safety hazards. Thus, it is essential to establish and perfect the inspection of outdoor children’s entertainment venues in residential areas, which can form a supervision form of household supervision-punishment by relevant departments and truly implement the protection of children’s outdoor entertainment safety in place. Moreover, the location of children’s pleasure grounds should not merely consider the beauty of the environment, but the safety factors.(5)
The surrounding facilities should be perfected. When designing the lighting system, some green energy-saving devices can be used for lighting in the concept of green environmental protection, which not merely meets the requirements of children for lighting when playing at night, but can achieve energy conservation and environmental protection and reduce the cost of the property community. When designing and using the lights of children’s pleasure ground, not merely the type and quantity of lamps should be considered, but the illuminance and brightness of the lights should be strictly controlled, achieving harmonious design and color coordination of the lights. Reasonable and skillful lighting design can make the children’s pleasure grounds more vibrant with a great atmosphere and create a paradise full of beauty and imagination for children [17].


### 6.2. Restrictive Factors

Due to time constraints, the on-the-spot investigation lasts only 2 weeks, which may result in incomplete records of all children’s activities and may have some impact on the analysis of children’s activities. Second, only 60 questionnaires have been made, and the responses of invited testers are somewhat subjective, which may affect the analysis of results.


## 6.1. Design Framework of Residential Areas for Outdoor Entertainment in Shandong Province, China

Fueled by the rapid development of China’s new urbanization construction and the full opening of the “two children” policy, people put a higher premium on the construction of children’s pleasure grounds. However, there exist quite a number of deficiencies in children’s outdoor recreational facilities in China. By comparing children’s outdoor recreation venues and facilities at home and abroad, this paper holds that children’s facilities need to be enhanced in the following aspects:(1)
The color design of children’s outdoor venues in China needs to be enhanced. Through investigation, it is discovered that the color of outdoor entertainment venues in the three communities is too single. Fitness facilities are principally yellow and blue, and recreational facilities such as slides and swings do not contain rich colors. Various, a scholar of toy facilities, reveals that 2%∼42% of children’s outdoor activities occur in public activity areas, i.e., pleasure grounds, parks, or kindergartens. These places are densely populated with children’s outdoor recreational facilities. These facilities occupy a large part of children’s entertainment time, and the color of these facilities is one of the reasons to attract children. Thus, the color design of these facilities is of vital importance, and they affect children’s perception of the objective world and their growth [22]. Foreign entertainment venues generally attach importance to the application of color in recreational facilities. For instance, Zurich Children’s Pleasure Ground in Switzerland, where large and small pools are decorated with colorful colors, attracts a large number of children to play here; in the Pod Pleasure Ground in Canberra, Australia, the colors used in the venue are ingeniously combined with the color of the Earth to create a feeling of playing in nature for children.(2)
Domestic outdoor children’s recreational facilities need more exquisite materials. There are also differences in the materials of outdoor children’s recreational facilities at home and abroad. There are a variety of outdoor children’s amusement equipment, and the materials used are also quite extensive. The main materials are as follows: stainless steel, wood, GRC, glass fiber reinforced plastics, rope net, plastic (principally used for ground materials, such as micro-terrain, colored ground), PVC canvas, etc. Through on-the-spot investigation, the outdoor recreational facilities in the three residential areas, namely, Jinxiu City, Fuli Taoyuan and Taoyuan Mingjun, are principally made of plastic and metal materials. Although there are certain advantages, the choice of material types is relatively single. It is allowed to introduce some different materials based on local conditions, such as wood materials; wood is used as the main material in the Jacobson event venue in Lexington, Kentucky, USA, and the texture of wood gives children a natural affinity. Connection of wood, spatial transition, and other treatments are simple and meticulous, bringing rich experience to children in sensitive period of perception [23].(3)
Domestic designers should set out from the children themselves, abandon the original design concept of facilities in children’s pleasure grounds, and design recreational facilities for children of all ages. Restricted by children’s age, designers should take into account children’s age, safety, self-protection awareness, interest, and other factors in the design so as to ensure that children can play safely and happily [24]. Designers can create more novel entertainment equipment while perfecting the traditional classic facilities and arouse children’s interest; or they can try to add some modern technologies, such as 3D technology.(4)
Maintenance of children’s recreational facilities should be strengthened. During the use of children’s pleasure grounds, the key is to ensure the safety of children when using the facilities. As some residential properties ignore the built pleasure grounds, a lot of facilities are exposed to the sun and wind, resulting in rusting, and some have great potential safety hazards. Thus, it is essential to establish and perfect the inspection of outdoor children’s entertainment venues in residential areas, which can form a supervision form of household supervision-punishment by relevant departments and truly implement the protection of children’s outdoor entertainment safety in place. Moreover, the location of children’s pleasure grounds should not merely consider the beauty of the environment, but the safety factors.(5)
The surrounding facilities should be perfected. When designing the lighting system, some green energy-saving devices can be used for lighting in the concept of green environmental protection, which not merely meets the requirements of children for lighting when playing at night, but can achieve energy conservation and environmental protection and reduce the cost of the property community. When designing and using the lights of children’s pleasure ground, not merely the type and quantity of lamps should be considered, but the illuminance and brightness of the lights should be strictly controlled, achieving harmonious design and color coordination of the lights. Reasonable and skillful lighting design can make the children’s pleasure grounds more vibrant with a great atmosphere and create a paradise full of beauty and imagination for children [17].


## 6.2. Restrictive Factors

Due to time constraints, the on-the-spot investigation lasts only 2 weeks, which may result in incomplete records of all children’s activities and may have some impact on the analysis of children’s activities. Second, only 60 questionnaires have been made, and the responses of invited testers are somewhat subjective, which may affect the analysis of results.



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*Source: 6557468-2022-03-31.xml*