Miniature Imagination Playground construction system, designed by Rockwell Group, early 2000s, manufactured by Imagination Playground, about 2021, USA

Construction system consisting of a variety of blue foam parts, including wheels, triangular blocks, hoses and glass balls.

Imagination Playground began purely as a research project by David Rockwell, founder of the Rockwell Group. As father to two small children who enjoyed using playgrounds, he wanted to investigate how he could help Lower Manhattan post-9/11, asking himself: "Is there a way to approach a playground for kids where they can build, imagine and fantasise?"

Over five years, the Rockwell Group studied playgrounds and identified a need for more open-ended activities. Through working with early childhood specialists, toy designer Cas Holman (b. 1974) and the NYC parks department, a set of “loose parts”, known as the Imagination Playground, was developed, becoming a key feature, and driving concept of the playground.

What started as a playground project in New York, grew into a broad study on the positive impact of play and is now part of an initiative to bring play to children in developing nations. To date, the UNICEF P.L.A.Y. Project, in partnership with Disney, has brought the blocks to more than 13,000 children in Bangladesh and Haiti. The large sized blocks help to encourage social interaction and collaboration as children work together to build their imagined structures.

The person responsible for the physical design of the blocks was Cas Holman, an American toy designer, founder and principal designer at independent toy company Heroes Will Rise. As of 2022, she is also a full-time faculty member at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in the Industrial Design Department. Originally based in Brooklyn, New York City Holman now develops prototypes across five acres known as ‘Camp Fun’ in Hope, Rhode Island.

Heroes Will Rise focuses on designing toys that foster creativity and invention – stemming from the belief that imagination is essential to childhood. Their toys are designed to be gender neutral and encourage unstructured, exploratory play. Identifying as part of the LGBTQI community, Cas channels her experiences into her designs, creating toys that encourage ‘figuring out and imagining what doesn’t exist’.

Holman was brought onto the design team for the Rockwell Group to help re-imagine the archetypal playground and playground furniture.

The Imagination Playground construction system is available in several sizes, with this being the smallest.

The cross-linked polyurethane foam the products are made from is soft, lightweight, waterproof and recyclable. It is non-toxic, resistant to sun, heat, mould, mildew, corrosion and micro-organisms.

B.33:1-2022