From a cluttered, ageing playground to a nature-immersive environment built for discovery, stewardship, and care
Mansfield, Queensland
Brisbane Adventist College Early Learning
Mansfield, QLD
School
Design, Construction
Brisbane Adventist College Early Learning Centre engaged Wearthy to renovate an outdoor play space that hadn't been meaningfully updated in over seven years and no longer reflected the Centre's play-based, faith-informed philosophy. The brief called for a shift away from a cluttered, equipment-heavy playground toward something more open, natural, and true to the Centre's values.
The result is a 1,050m² nature-immersive environment built around loose parts, edible landscaping, sensory exploration, and imaginative play. Connected play zones flow across the site, including a multi-level play structure with a rope course and net bridge, a mud play area and water channel, and a terraced nature play zone with sandstone boulders, timber log rounds, and balancing beams. A sustainability zone with vegetable planter boxes, a potting bench, and native planting brings hands-on learning to life, while a purpose-built outdoor home for the Centre's resident turtle, Zinzi, ties the whole space together with a genuine story of stewardship and care.
See how the outdoor space evolved from a dated, equipment-heavy playground into a nature-immersive environment.
A custom-built centrepiece featuring a rope course and net bridge, offering children a range of physical challenges within one connected structure.
A previously under-utilised slope transformed into a layered play area with sandstone boulders, timber log rounds, and balancing beams, encouraging climbing, balance, and risk-taking in a natural setting.
A sensory-rich zone where water and mud play come together, inviting open-ended, imaginative exploration.
Vegetable planter boxes, a potting bench, and native planting give children hands-on experience with growing, tending, and caring for living things.
A purpose-built home for the Centre's resident turtle, previously kept in an indoor tank. This feature became a genuine throughline for the project, weaving themes of stewardship and care throughout the space.
At Brisbane Adventist College, we applied the Ecology of Play principles to move the space away from a cluttered, equipment-heavy playground toward an environment that supports children socially, physically, and academically — while staying true to the Centre's play-based, faith-informed values.
Spaces that allow children to simply be, without every moment managed or optimised.
Environments that support independent decision-making, even if choices lead to failure.
Spaces that whisper "what if?" instead of dictating "you must."
Send an enquiry to explore how we can design a bespoke play environment tailored to your school's unique needs.
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