By Sara Velasco and Brady Blacher
@redlineproject
Two North Side city parks are in the process of obtaining a Nature Play Space to bring immersive outdoor adventures to communities.
Nature Play Spaces are nature-centric areas created by the Chicago Park District with the hope of giving the community an area to connect with nature. Community members of all ages work collaboratively to upkeep the area and make it an adventurous area that everyone can enjoy.
Rutherford Sayre Park, located in the Monteclare neighborhood, and Shabbona Park, in the Dunning neighborhood, are located only 1.7 miles away from each other on the Northwest Side.
In 2020, an intense storm ripped the roof off of Shabbona Park’s fieldhouse, leaving it with a collapsed roof and many fallen trees. These trees gave Shabonna’s Supervisor, Laura LeVitus, an idea: These trees could be used for a nature play space. So she requested one for her park. However, the request was denied because to obtain a nature play space, there must be proof of active community involvement. A set of committee members took responsibility for moving the project forward.
Each park should have a Park Advisory Council that consists of community members in charge of advocating for their designated park, ensuring that their park utilizes its resources in the best possible way.
Shabbona has a playground that is designated for younger children. However, right next to Shabbona is a middle school, so the playground is crowded with students after school, making it difficult for young children to enjoy the playground comfortably. Community members believed that the older students should be given an area of their own. The desire to provide these students with a place to call their own pushed the community to move this project forward.
“We need a space for teenagers to just lounge around and just spend time on their phones,” LeVetius said. “You know, typical teenager activities.”
Shabonna is currently in the process of fundraising for its nature play space, which is estimated to cost $25,000. They have planned interactive community events like a family Valentine’s Day Dance and an Easter celebration. With all of these events, they hope to raise enough funds to get this project started.
Meanwhile, Rutherford Sayre Park is also taking small steps to achieve a similar goal. This park is in the 29th Ward, overseen by Ald. Chris Taliaferro. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Sayre hoped to get approved for a nature play space. However, the project started in 2025 after the alderman released a survey to the residents of the 29th Ward. The survey asked residents what they would like the participatory budget to be spent on, and the number one response was a nature play space.
Rutherford Sayre Park Supervisor Kim Gapinski said that having the alderman’s support in this project is a huge financial help. Gapinski said that this nature play area will ensure active community involvement because children who live in the community will get an opinion on what design elements are incorporated into the area.
“Not every child is into sports or art, some just love to explore the outdoors,” Gapinski said. “That’s why spaces like this are beneficial.”
Sayre’s Nature Play Area is estimated to cost anywhere from $15,000 to $25,000. Since they are still in this project’s early design stages, they still don’t have a set design of all the features they hope to incorporate. As the project develops, they will not only have a design but also an accurate estimated cost for their vision.
This nature play area also helps Sayre with another proposal in the works. Two Galewood residents have submitted a proposal for Rutherford Sayre Park to be the first Accredited Arboretum in the Chicago Park District. This title would only continue to uplift Sayre’s community involvement and their active desire to showcase the geographical beauties their park has to offer.
Ashley Wayne, one of Sayre’s physical instructors, shares her excitement for the project. When she’s not at work, she spends much time at Shabbona Park, where her four-year-old daughter takes tumbling classes. Wayne is actively involved in the park district community, so projects like these benefit her daughter and many other local families.
Chicago prides itself on incorporating nature within its urban landscape. It is evident in its motto, “Urbs in Horto”, which translates to “City in a Garden”. Despite this, the city built traditional playgrounds in its urban parks for children to play in. In 2010, the Chicago Park District introduced its Nature Oasis Program, which aimed to educate and immerse children into a natural environment by providing outdoor experiences and education.
In August 2014, a decommissioned zoo in Indian Boundary Park was transformed into a Nature Play Center — a project born out of input from the community and $570,000 from the Chicago Park District. This Nature Play Center is a center for nature programs, education and discovery for residents and their children.
This project was a success, and the Chicago Park District wanted to use the success of Indian Boundary Park’s Nature Play Center into a formula that other branches could replicate. In 2018, the Chicago Park District released the Nature Play Space reference manual, which formalized the application, funding, construction and maintenance of Nature Play Spaces.
Timeline: History of the Nature Play Space program in Chicago
Welles Park, located in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood, wasted no time. On June 16, 2018, the park opened its own Nature Play Space, using funding from winning the national “Meet Me at The Park” campaign the previous year.
Since 2018, the Chicago Park District has constructed 14 other Nature Play Spaces. Some of these, such as Horner Park’s Nature Play Space, have used funding from the 33rd Ward Participatory Budget. Others have used grant funding, such as the Nature Play Space Capital Grant Program.
The Nature Play Spaces vary by size. The smallest, the Nature Play Space located at Park №293, has an area of 0.5 acres. The largest at Walking Stick Woods contains many scattered play spaces throughout the 12-acre wooded park.
“Projects like these have definitely been a long time coming,” Gapinski said.