72 Children Helped Design This Playground

Community consultation is one of the most cited phrases in playground planning. It is also one of the most inconsistently applied. When it is done well, and when the people who will use a space are genuinely heard before a single piece of equipment is selected, the outcome is different.

Eileen Cammack Reserve in South Penrith is a clear example of what that difference looks like.

The Project

Delivered for Penrith City Council and funded through the NSW Government’s Western Sydney Infrastructure Grants program, the Eileen Cammack Reserve play space upgrade was designed to serve a broad community. The brief was shaped not by catalogue selection or budget defaults, but by the input of 72 local children who took part in formal community consultation.

That consultation ran for three weeks in May and June 2024. The feedback gathered was consistent across respondents: the space needed to work for children of different ages, different abilities, and different confidence levels. That direction became the foundation of the design.

From Voices to Design

When community feedback is specific, it leads to better decisions. The layout and equipment selection at Eileen Cammack Reserve reflect that directly.

The playground brings together a mix of equipment that supports broad play experiences:

• A combination of Connect active play elements that encourage climbing, movement, and progression
• Lower level play features such as the Hospital and the Panel grid that cater to different confidence levels
• A Quartz climber introduces a more challenging play element, keeping movement flowing through the main unit

Shade sails have been installed across key areas of the playground, a practical decision that extends usability throughout the day and supports longer visits from families, schools, and the wider community. A combination of mulch and rubber softfall grounds the space with a natural feel while meeting safety requirements.

The result is a play space with strong play value across a range of skill levels and will remain relevant as children grow.

Why Consultation Changes the Outcome

Playgrounds designed without community input are often adequate. They meet standards, they accommodate movement, they tick the required boxes. But adequacy is not the same as relevance.

When children are asked what they need from a space, and that feedback genuinely informs what gets built, the play space that follows is more likely to be used, more likely to be returned to, and more likely to serve the community it was designed for over the long term. Children recognise spaces that reflect them, and that recognition drives engagement.

A Standard Worth Setting

At Moduplay, we work with councils, government departments, and design teams across Australia on projects of this kind. What distinguishes the best outcomes is not budget or scale, it is process. The projects that perform best over time are the ones that begin with the right questions and direct those questions to the right people.

Eileen Cammack Reserve is now open in South Penrith. It is a well-considered, community-led play space, and a strong model for how public play infrastructure should be planned and delivered.