Play Environments - Wheatland Township Community Park

I observed at the Wheatland Township Community Park for a half hour on March 20. There were about ten children at the park, four younger and six older. I do not know exact ages, but the younger seemed to be three-five and the older were about eight. Two of the younger children were playing in the sand area, but they were not using the two digging tools. They were simply sitting in the sand and using their hands and some cups (provided by a mother) to dig and build a city. An older sibling came over and showed his brother how to use the digger, but the little brother remained uninterested in using it. The two other young children, who I don't think knew each other before meeting at the park that day, were playing by the dinosaur and the castle in the structure. They were creating an elaborate story of a princess and a prince who lived in the castle and "loved each other really a lot" so the prince was trying to save the princess from the dragon. The older children were not engaging in imaginative play, but simply using the equipment. They really loved the zip line, where they created a competition of who could go back and forth the most. The swings were pretty much ignored, except for one of the younger ones left the sand and was pushed in the swing. Another younger child even went and played on the bike rack, jumping back and forth over it.