Hand-drawn for play: the story behind our Connect artwork panels

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A Theme for Every Adventure

Children are drawn to different stories, places and possibilities. One might steer a ship across the ocean, while another searches for wildlife in the bush, explores a distant planet or ventures through a tropical rainforest.

Each panel collection creates a different world for children to discover through play.

• Coast panels feature beach life, shells, surfboards and coastal wildlife above the waterline.
• Reef panels move below the surface, with coral, tropical fish, turtles, scuba divers and underwater details.
• Rainforest panels feature Australian tropical plants, birds, butterflies, frogs, snakes and dense vegetation.
• Bush and Flora panels bring familiar Australian animals, birds, plants and insects into the playground.
• Urban panels move beyond a standard cityscape, using Space, astronaut and shopfront artwork to support imaginative play.
• Outback panels explore Australian wildlife, red earth landscapes and familiar farm scenes.

From the first brief to the finished panel

The collection started with a series of detailed creative briefs.

Each brief considered the environment being represented, the equipment colour scheme, the characters children might recognise and how the artwork could support interaction.

Some themes began with a clear direction. Coast needed to sit above the water, while Reef needed to feel more tropical and take children below the surface.

Others needed more interpretation. Urban could have become a standard cityscape, but the brief developed into more playful ideas including astronauts, rockets, planets, bakeries and shopfronts.

The artist then took those ideas further through research, sketches and illustration.

This was not a process of placing generic graphics onto a playground panel. The composition, scale and clear areas were developed around the panel itself and how it would be used.

Designed to be part of the play

The panels do more than decorate the playground.

Clear sections help maintain visibility through the structure and allow light to move through the unit. They also create places for children to look through the panel and interact with the artwork from either side.

Some designs use clear stars, windows or bubbles. Others include peer-through openings within binoculars, diving masks or illustrated scenes.

The height and size of these openings need to work for children, including younger users. That means interaction is considered while the artwork is still being developed, rather than added after the illustration is complete.

The Connect structure provides the climbing, movement and physical challenge. The panels help establish the setting and give children new stories to create while they play.

Clear areas and peer-through details allow children to look through the artwork and become part of the scene.

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Project Feature

Thistle Place Park: drawing from the local environment

One of the clearest examples of this process can be seen at Thistle Place Park, completed for Urban Play.

The project was originally developed under the working name Palmview. Its artwork began with research into plants and animals found across the Sunshine Coast.

The artist researched the plants, bark, flowers, leaves, birds and animals before beginning the first pencil studies.

Those studies were developed into individual colour illustrations and then arranged across five panels. Each panel contributes another part of the local story as children climb and move through the tower.

Designed for Connect

Available formats vary by artwork and playground configuration. Our team will confirm which panel options are available for your selected Connect unit.

Using established artwork gives project teams another way to introduce a strong theme without moving immediately into a fully custom playground design.

The same theme can also be used across different areas of a playground, helping the project feel connected without repeating one identical panel throughout.

Choose from the collection or create something specific

There are several ways to introduce artwork into a Connect playground.

A Configured playground can use an established panel from the Connect Artwork Panel Collection.

A Custom or Bespoke playground can take the artwork further with project-specific illustrations, local flora and fauna, community stories, recognised landmarks or a theme created for the site.

Thistle Place Park shows what is possible when the artwork is developed around a particular location. The right pathway depends on your site, budget, brief and the level of project-specific detail required

Have a local story to tell?

Talk to our team about using local wildlife, plants, landmarks or community stories within a Configured, Custom or Bespoke playground design.

The adventure is only beginning

The first completed themes are only the beginning of the Connect Artwork Panel Collection.

More environments, interests and imaginative worlds can be added as the collection continues to grow.

Whether you begin with an existing artwork or create something specific to your site, the result is the same: a playground with a clear identity, a stronger connection to its setting and more details for children to discover.