Nature's Playground

Our spectacular natural adventure play area is brimming with imaginative, sensory play. Its bespoke design and joyful handcrafted details makes for a play experience like no other.

Covering nearly 500m², Nature's Playground is located behind the Core Building in our Outdoor Gardens and is created with nature and adventure at its heart.

Water play is a key sensory element of the playground, so we recommend that you come prepared for your child(ren) to get wet.

Explore the playground

Play area with giant tree climbing tower

Majestic nine-metre-tall Tree of Life

Interactive babbling brook

Family playing with water play at the Eden Project's outdoor playground

Giant water course

Accessible swing

Snaking slides

Boy tipping gravel from a bucket into a shoot

Gravel play

Sit-on diggers

Children balancing on wooden logs in the woods

Woodland adventure

Little girl shouting with joy under water play rain drops

Showers of sensory fun

Boy and girl playing with water coming down a bamboo gutter into a pool

Why play... in nature?

Demonstrating and inspiring positive action for the planet at the very heart of Eden’s mission – play is one way to achieve this.

Through play, children make sense of the world and learn how to thrive within it – physically, emotionally and mentally.

Playing amongst nature helps connect us to its wonders, provoking lifelong curiosity and greater understanding. Research shows that when playing outdoors, children are up to five times more active than playing indoors and use five times as many words.

Two children on swing with giant tree climbing frame sculpture in the background

About our playground's design

Eden commissioned Touchwood to design and build Nature’s Playground. Touchwood are a bespoke playground design company – and specialists in play – who use regenerative and sustainable methods. Sensory play, imaginative play, physical play and inclusivity are considered in every build.

For Nature’s Playground, Touchwood sourced UK Douglas fir, European robinia, UK oak ‘stag-wood’, UK larch, locally quarried stone, recycled rubber grass matting, ‘no-dig’ ground anchor screws, living willow and oak sleepers (from sustainably managed forests).

Children climbing on play equipment in the woods

Boy and girl looking out of a willow den

Mother and child building sculpture out of sticks and leaves sat in the woods

Mother crouching down with young child smiling in outdoor playground

Children lying in a net in a wooded play area

Boy balancing on wooden beam in the woods with the help of his dad

Aerial view of a giant 'Tree of Life' climbing tower for children

FAQs

Children walking the route of a labyrinth inside a willow chamber

Other play spaces at Eden

Play is woven into the fabric of Eden with interactive spaces designed for kids (and grown ups!) throughout the gardens.

Explore play at Eden

Boy examining a leaf with a magnifying glass

Our educational mission

We offer learning opportunities from preschool to degree level and beyond to connect people of all ages with the natural world.

Find out more

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By joining as a Member or making a donation, you’ll help to support our transformational projects in the UK and around the world.

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Nature's Playground

Explore the playground

Why play... in nature?

About our playground's design