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Freed Park, Spring Branch
Mountain Park
“Children in today’s metropolitan Houston have long been a forgotten minority. The vacant lots, their one-time sanctuaries, are gone and with them are gone the challenges, the adventures, and the opportunities to explore, to experiment and to create their own play world.
To give the children of Houston back some of these experiences the Mountain Park Foundation has created a 6.5 acre discovery playground near the intersection of Loop 610 and I-59 at 5000 Westpark. Here children, supervised by a staff trained to facilitate physical, social, intellectual and emotional development, can build a world of their imagination with hammers, nails, saws, drills, shovels, paint, and “interesting junk.” They can play in sand, climb ropes, slide down a mountain, sing, dance, and act out their fantasies.” ~Robert Hager, January 1981
Like many US cities, Houston has a recent history of adventure playgrounds. Play advocates worked passionately to compensate for children's loss of play opportunities, as they watched the city expand rapidly and without consideration of young people from the 1980s to the present.
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Below is a booklet commissioned by The Park People and authored by Robert Hager and Neal Sarahan in support of Mountain Park and other adventure playgrounds in the city. We hope it will inspire more adventure playgrounds! Children deserve them.​