A jungle in the middle of a residential area – that is Natuurspeelplaats De Gouden Wereld. Whereas at first the playground on Goudenweg in Daalhof, west Maastricht, was only available to the nearby school, for some time now it has been public. And it shows, as the crowds are growing.

Ravaging
"Children want to romp around in nature," says volunteer Daan Koene on a picnic bench near the nature playground. He started the playground 2 years ago and now he sees it growing. Koene: "You notice now that people from other schools are also coming, that they have heard of us."

Dog poo
According to the volunteers, playgrounds seem to become more and more 'sterile' these days, but not so in the nature playground: "The children sometimes come back with some scratches. The advantage here is that you don't get your children back covered in dog poo, because the whole garden is fenced off."

Extra day
From September this year, the intention is for the playground to open an extra day. Now the nature playground is only open on Wednesday afternoons, after the summer, the wish is that the playground will also be open on Saturdays.

Read the original article in Dutch