Four-season natural playground planned in Moorhead

MOORHEAD, Minn. (Valley News Live) - Kids in search of a new place to play in a natural setting along the Red River in Fargo-Moorhead will soon have a brand new place to explore, run, jump and get immersed in nature.

The FM Rotary Foundation is working to build a natural 4-season playground at Riverfront Park in Moorhead. The playground will use boulders, trees, shrubs, logs, rocks and water to provide open-ended, physically challenging and unstructured play opportunities.

The group says many adults remember the joy of free, outdoor, natural, unstructured play from their own childhood, but this is a distinct contrast from children today.

“Unstructured play is critical to children’s cognitive, social and emotional development. It is advised that children have twice as much time for unstructured play compared to structured play,” they said.

For more information or to view a brief video about the project, visit the project website.

The goal is to raise $700,000 to build the natural playground and bike skills park. Online donations can be made via the Facebook donate button or here.

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