Nature Playground

Assiniboine Park’s Nature Playground in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada is a beautiful spot for imaginative play

Open the red child-sized door just west of the Pavilion in Assiniboine Park and enter into a world of play. Adults need to duck to enter through that door into the Strueber Family Children’s Garden at one end of the Nature Playground at Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Nature Playground offers unique spaces and structures for jumping, running, climbing, and imagining, set in a beautiful garden.

Crawl tunnels made out of bent twigs in a nature playground — *Crawl tunnel*

Natural materials have been used wherever possible in construction of play structures and spaces.

Playground structure with slides and rope climbing area at Assiniboine Park In Winnipeg — *Climb and slide*

Wood stumps among garden space in a children's playground are meant for hopping — *Hop*

Red, yellow, and slide on a hill in a nature playground — *Run, roll, slide*

Garden walkway bordered by topiary musicians — *Row of topiary musician along garden walkway*

The garden spaces offer attractions for the adult as well. The topiary themes vary from year to year.

bench carved out of log at a nature playground in Winnipeg, Manitoba

There is a statue of Lieutenant Harry Colebourn and his bear “Winnie.” The bear later became the inspiration for A.A. Milne’s Winnie The Pooh. In the Pavilion building beside the Nature Playground, there is a gallery dedicated to Winnie The Pooh.

Fake tree stumps act as donation box at Assiniboine Park's Nature Playground

A fake tree stump at one end of the garden acts as a donation box. It says, “Thanks for helping our imaginations and gardens grow.” A group of children ran by me as I walked through the garden. They were planning moves in their imaginary world and made mention of someone hiding in the woods. The space does seem to foster imaginative play.

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