Natural Play Space Design Kurri Kurri

The Discovery Garden: A Natural Play Space Designed for Curious Minds

Kurri Early Childhood Centre wanted more than a standard playground. They wanted a space where children could explore, create and learn through play.

The brief focused on natural materials and hands-on experiences. Children needed room to get curious, experiment and interact with their surroundings. The centre also needed a space that educators could manage every day. It had to be safe, practical and easy to maintain.

Because this was an early learning centre, the space needed to meet several needs. It had to keep young children engaged through exciting, interactive play. It also needed to be safe and easy for educators to maintain. The brief called for multiple play features within one connected space, making the most of every corner of the yard.

That’s exactly the kind of project our in-house landscape design and landscape construction team is built for, and it’s part of why school and early learning landscaping is one of our dedicated service areas. We call this one the Discovery Garden, and it’s since gone on to represent JRL at industry awards level.

Client Goals for This Natural Play Space Design Kurri Kurri Project

Underneath the open brief, a clear set of goals shaped the design:

• Outdoor space that encouraged imaginative play, not just physical play
• Natural materials throughout, so children could touch, dig, and interact with real textures rather than only plastic equipment
• A low-maintenance space the centre’s educators could manage day to day without specialist upkeep
• A safe environment appropriate for very young children
• An interactive, exciting space that held children’s attention and curiosity
• Multiple play elements packed into one cohesive area to maximise the use of the site
• Retaining the centre’s existing sandpit and turf area rather than starting from a blank slate

The Challenge

Building a Natural Play Space Around an Operating Early Learning Centre

Every project has its own conditions to work around. This one meant building a construction site inside a space that still had to function as a childcare centre every single day.

We isolated the construction area completely, so the centre could keep operating safely throughout the build. Access ran through the back of the property, and all materials and machinery were stored there too, well away from the children’s day to day spaces.

The existing sandpit and turf area needed to stay in place, so we protected those zones with ground protection for the length of the project rather than disturbing them during earthworks and access.

None of this changed the finished brief. It just meant sequencing the build carefully around a live site, something our team is used to managing on school and childcare projects.

Our Natural Play Space Design Kurri Kurri Solutions

Once the site was secured and prepared, our design and construction team built out the Discovery Garden. The completed works included:

• A grade sandstone log edging, 35 linear metres of 1000mm x 300mm x 300mm logs laid on a compacted sub-base with mortar joints between each log
• 39 concrete organic-shaped stepping stones set on a mortar base, alongside 8 hardwood log steppers set in concrete at varying heights between 250mm and 550mm
• A squared Tri Tramp mini play unit from Kaebel Leisure, fixed onto three hardwood logs
• A dedicated mud pit, finished with sandy loam over a 7.2m² area
• A custom hardwood mud kitchen built from spotted gum decking, including a round sink and hardwood splashback, sized for little hands
• A sensory path running 4.8m long by up to 1.2m wide, combining split hardwood logs, river gravel pushed into concrete, recycled brick paving, and a recycled wire reel feature, finished with Zoysia turf alongside
• A coloured concrete car track, 17.4m long, complete with a dotted centre line for imaginative ride-on play
• 10mm pine bark mulch spread over 70m² of garden beds
• A native and sensory planting palette of 96 plants across 200mm pots, 140mm pots, and tube stock, supplied by Glendale Select Plants

That’s the full scope of this natural play space design Kurri Kurri build, all delivered by the same in-house design and construction team.

Because the same team designed and built this project, every material choice, from the sandstone edging to the sensory path materials, was worked through with a single point of contact rather than split across separate design and construction businesses.

Natural Play Space Design Kurri Kurri: Project Impact

A Space Built for Everyday Discovery

The Discovery Garden turned an existing early learning yard into a space with a genuinely different play experience in every corner: a mud kitchen for imaginative play, a sensory path for texture and movement, a car track for ride-on games, and natural log and stone steppers that ask kids to balance and problem-solve rather than just run in a straight line.

The result gives Kurri Early Childhood Centre’s educators a low-maintenance space that still delivers the kind of rich, natural play experience the brief was built around, without adding to their day to day workload.

Ready to Create a Natural Play Space for Your Centre?

Every project like this starts the same way: a brief built around what the children need, and a site that has to keep running while the work happens around it.

Because our team designs and builds every project in-house, you’re never stuck managing the gap between a designer and a separate construction crew. We carry every project from that first conversation through to the final plant going into the ground, including the scheduling and site management that school and early learning projects need.

If you’re picturing something similar for your centre or school, we’d love to hear about it.