Adam Bienenstock and Natural Play Grounds

Adam Bienenstock owns Bienenstock Design and Consulting Inc. and has worked for the last 3.5 years to set the stage that will transform the playground at Dundas Central Public School into a healthy, educational, environmental and barrier-free community resource. Adam is committed to a natural playground, not just because his children attend the school but because children need to move away from asphalt playgrounds and have moments in nature more often.

When he was a child the average roaming distance from home was 5 - 8 km. Now it is 150 m. Children today do not exercise much, spend around 52 hours a week in front of a computer screen and tend to be obese. Projections suggest that our children will have a shorter life span than us unless changes are made.

The new playground at Dundas Central School is expected to be built by the end of the summer of 2013. Along with improved drainage, it will have grass, logs, boulders and topographic change that will provide upper-body gross motor challenges to the children. A quote from his handout states, " The plans will transform this under-utilized barren space into an ecologically restored and historically significant natural stopover for flora and fauna. It will be a healthy classroom of the past and the future created by and for our community."

Adam estimates the cost of the project to be $300 000 but with in-kind support provided by his company and community volunteers providing sweat equity, supplies and equipment, just over $ 46 000 in cash will be needed and this is already in hand. Interested individuals or businesses can contact him at adam@naturalplaygrounds.ca. Below is a sample of the company's work.