Swedish playground design goes far past swings and a slide. Many of these are built around a story or a piece of local history: a scrap-built rocket from the Mulle Meck books, a 1930s tram, a miniature flour mill. Some are staffed park playgrounds. All are free to walk into. Here's what we checked, from the wooden owl at Kristineberg to the giant Hasselblad camera in Upplands Väsby.
Bryggartäppan recreates a Södermalm workers' neighborhood from the late 1800s at child scale. Small wooden houses, among them a workshop, a smithy, stables and a factory building, give kids a whole village to run between and play inside.
Old fruit trees and lilac bushes frame the grounds. In summer there are outdoor pools for splashing and a café selling waffles, coffee and ice cream.
A themed playground built like a small shipyard, with a tugboat, a carpentry shop and a workshop with tools for pretend repairs. The design honors Anders Franzén, the naval archaeologist who found the wreck of the 1628 galleon Vasa in 1956.
The park also has a skate park, so older siblings have something to do while younger kids play.
The play area on Mariaberget follows a countryside theme by artist Tor Svae: small farmhouses, a barn, and wooden farm animals kids can climb on, plus a small artificial-grass pitch. A huge hollow ash tree stands by the Bastugatan entrance.
The park is named after author Ivar Lo-Johansson, who lived across the street, and looks out over Riddarfjärden and Gamla stan. In winter, the south slope is a sledding hill.
A themed playground on the corner of the Krubban block, built around the site's history: 1600s house gables, small red cottages, a windmill, horses and an old Esso gas station.
Kids climb, slide, dig in the sandpit, spin on a carousel shaped like a giant hand and play in a pale-blue bus modeled on Östermalm's classic bus line 31. It opened in December 2019.
Uggleparken is a themed playground in the grounds of Kristineberg Palace, opened in 2013 and designed by the Danish studio Monstrum. All the play equipment is hand-carved wood over a soft rubber surface.
Two 5.5-meter owls, the King and the Queen, have slides built inside. Around them, kids balance along giant ants, spin on mushrooms, swing in hammocks strung between flowers and clamber over huge beetles.
The playground in Tessinparken was rebuilt around the theme "The Little City", picked through a public consultation and modeled on the 1930 Stockholm Exhibition and the functionalist buildings around the park. Kids get functionalist-style playhouses, a construction crane, a tram, a slide, a sand play area and climbing frames.
A large swing area sits next to the park activity building, with mini-golf and a basketball court close by.
Humlegårdens parklek is the playground inside Humlegården, a central park that began as a royal garden where King Johan III grew fruit, spices and hops. A parklek is one of the city's staffed playgrounds, run by trained staff.
The park around it adds a skateboard ramp, open lawns, a statue of Carl Linnaeus and the National Library of Sweden.
The playground in Vasaparken is known for its orange-red hills of rubber asphalt, built in 2006 as part of a park upgrade that won the Siena Prize for landscape architecture. Kids climb and run over the mounds.
Beside it, an artificial-turf pitch hosts seven-a-side football and turns into an ice rink in winter, and a summer café sits in the park's old 1910 toilet house.
The western playground in Norra Stationsparken, a new park in Hagastaden, is built around tall crystal-shaped play towers linked by slides and climbing bridges. There is also a big climbing frame, a sandpit, a group swing and a small climbing wall.
An open lawn next to the playground has room to run around and spread out a picnic.
Lilla Kvarnholmen is a playground built as a small copy of Kvarnholmen from the days when its mills still ground flour, designed together with people who live here. Kids can "cook", play shop in a little Konsum store, climb aboard the boat Tre Kronor, and slide down a miniature of the old Tre Kronor mill.
Next to it sit an amphitheater and a south-facing boules court looking out over Svindersviken.
A theme playground built around Mulle Meck, the Swedish picture-book mechanic, by artist Tor Svae with the books' creators, from old scrap. Kids climb into Daisy Diesel's garage, Wilma von Winkelhock's observatory, a space rocket and a boat by a small pond, watched over by Mulle and his dog Buffa.
In summer a children's book library and café open inside the park.
A playground built as Valleby, the town from the LasseMajas Detektivbyrå books by Martin Widmark and Helena Willis. Kids play in miniature versions of the houses from the stories: the police station, the gold shop, a hot dog kiosk, the hotel, a lighthouse and the boat where the detective agency works.
Climbing nets, swings, a sandbox and a soccer field sit alongside, with an open lawn for picnics.
A themed playground in Vilundaparken built around the factories that once filled Väsby. Kids crawl inside a giant Hasselblad camera, slide out of a Volvo Amazon door handle, and play firefighter on the fire truck or mechanic in the car workshop. A play farm, a school and a Konsum shop round it out.
Artist and set designer Tor Svae, who made themed spaces at Junibacken, designed it.
Swedish playground design goes far past swings and a slide. Many of these are built around a story or a piece of local history: a scrap-built rocket from the Mulle Meck books, a 1930s tram, a miniature flour mill. Some are staffed park playgrounds. All are free to walk into. Here's what we checked, from the wooden owl at Kristineberg to the giant Hasselblad camera in Upplands Väsby.
Bryggartäppan recreates a Södermalm workers' neighborhood from the late 1800s at child scale. Small wooden houses, among them a workshop, a smithy, stables and a factory building, give kids a whole village to run between and play inside.
Old fruit trees and lilac bushes frame the grounds. In summer there are outdoor pools for splashing and a café selling waffles, coffee and ice cream.
A themed playground built like a small shipyard, with a tugboat, a carpentry shop and a workshop with tools for pretend repairs. The design honors Anders Franzén, the naval archaeologist who found the wreck of the 1628 galleon Vasa in 1956.
The park also has a skate park, so older siblings have something to do while younger kids play.
The play area on Mariaberget follows a countryside theme by artist Tor Svae: small farmhouses, a barn, and wooden farm animals kids can climb on, plus a small artificial-grass pitch. A huge hollow ash tree stands by the Bastugatan entrance.
The park is named after author Ivar Lo-Johansson, who lived across the street, and looks out over Riddarfjärden and Gamla stan. In winter, the south slope is a sledding hill.
A themed playground on the corner of the Krubban block, built around the site's history: 1600s house gables, small red cottages, a windmill, horses and an old Esso gas station.
Kids climb, slide, dig in the sandpit, spin on a carousel shaped like a giant hand and play in a pale-blue bus modeled on Östermalm's classic bus line 31. It opened in December 2019.
Uggleparken is a themed playground in the grounds of Kristineberg Palace, opened in 2013 and designed by the Danish studio Monstrum. All the play equipment is hand-carved wood over a soft rubber surface.
Two 5.5-meter owls, the King and the Queen, have slides built inside. Around them, kids balance along giant ants, spin on mushrooms, swing in hammocks strung between flowers and clamber over huge beetles.
The playground in Tessinparken was rebuilt around the theme "The Little City", picked through a public consultation and modeled on the 1930 Stockholm Exhibition and the functionalist buildings around the park. Kids get functionalist-style playhouses, a construction crane, a tram, a slide, a sand play area and climbing frames.
A large swing area sits next to the park activity building, with mini-golf and a basketball court close by.
Humlegårdens parklek is the playground inside Humlegården, a central park that began as a royal garden where King Johan III grew fruit, spices and hops. A parklek is one of the city's staffed playgrounds, run by trained staff.
The park around it adds a skateboard ramp, open lawns, a statue of Carl Linnaeus and the National Library of Sweden.
The playground in Vasaparken is known for its orange-red hills of rubber asphalt, built in 2006 as part of a park upgrade that won the Siena Prize for landscape architecture. Kids climb and run over the mounds.
Beside it, an artificial-turf pitch hosts seven-a-side football and turns into an ice rink in winter, and a summer café sits in the park's old 1910 toilet house.
The western playground in Norra Stationsparken, a new park in Hagastaden, is built around tall crystal-shaped play towers linked by slides and climbing bridges. There is also a big climbing frame, a sandpit, a group swing and a small climbing wall.
An open lawn next to the playground has room to run around and spread out a picnic.
Lilla Kvarnholmen is a playground built as a small copy of Kvarnholmen from the days when its mills still ground flour, designed together with people who live here. Kids can "cook", play shop in a little Konsum store, climb aboard the boat Tre Kronor, and slide down a miniature of the old Tre Kronor mill.
Next to it sit an amphitheater and a south-facing boules court looking out over Svindersviken.
A theme playground built around Mulle Meck, the Swedish picture-book mechanic, by artist Tor Svae with the books' creators, from old scrap. Kids climb into Daisy Diesel's garage, Wilma von Winkelhock's observatory, a space rocket and a boat by a small pond, watched over by Mulle and his dog Buffa.
In summer a children's book library and café open inside the park.
A playground built as Valleby, the town from the LasseMajas Detektivbyrå books by Martin Widmark and Helena Willis. Kids play in miniature versions of the houses from the stories: the police station, the gold shop, a hot dog kiosk, the hotel, a lighthouse and the boat where the detective agency works.
Climbing nets, swings, a sandbox and a soccer field sit alongside, with an open lawn for picnics.
A themed playground in Vilundaparken built around the factories that once filled Väsby. Kids crawl inside a giant Hasselblad camera, slide out of a Volvo Amazon door handle, and play firefighter on the fire truck or mechanic in the car workshop. A play farm, a school and a Konsum shop round it out.
Artist and set designer Tor Svae, who made themed spaces at Junibacken, designed it.
