Natural playscape a cheaper alternative to monkey bars.

Trees, rocks, logs, and bushes make for a great playground. An elementary school in Vancouver, Canada, installed a lovely garden of playtime delights for under $9,000. The children seem to enjoy it as well:

As the garden has grown over the last two years, its play value has increased. Kids play hide and seek inside mature native shrubs, dig holes to compost their recess snacks and use the boulders and logs to play games. One of the wonderful things that has been observed in the garden is that kids of all ages play together and often choose to play in this space rather than on nearby equipment.

Open-world videogames rarely have swings and slides, but rather, trees, rocks, and bushes. Perhaps these games tap into the joy of traversing a natural space, as this playscape certainly does.