As many of you are aware, I am always looking for ideas for our playgrounds. As discussed previously, playgrounds are central to our clinical model for working with children at BehaviorSpan. When you are trying to create something unique and don’t have an unlimited budget, you look for ideas. One unexpected opportunity I ran across last year was a creator named TreeNet Willy. He ended up helping us create a unique play structure for our Denver Center playground that I could never have imagined beforehand. If you haven’t heard of TreeNet Willy, you’re welcome.
I learned of TreeNet Will while visiting a climbing gym in Colorado Springs called CityROCK. CityROCK is owned by a friend of mine, Lara. Lara knows I have a passion for building playgrounds for my Autism Centers, so she invited me to see their children’s area. I was not prepared for what she showed me. First off, for the climbers out there, CityROCK was the greatest climbing gym I have visited (and I’ve been to many). Lara has built CityROCK with a vision, and every detail of the space reflects it. They have an underground cave for children to explore that feels like being in a real cave.
Their children’s area, called “The Aerie” was unlike anything I have seen. It has multiple levels and rooms, with slides connecting areas, swings, and climbing holds. Mostly, it has layers upon layers of beautiful climbing nets. These nets were shaped into all kinds of different obstacles and areas for children to explore. I spent over an hour exploring the different areas and envying them. Of course, I had to ask Lara about the unique netting that defined the space. “TreeNet Willy made it,” she answered. Who?
TreeNet Willy weaves tree nets from paracord, creating imaginative, intricate designs and structures. He flies all over the world to create tree nets on demand: Thailand, Belize, the Dominican Republic, California, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and many more. The projects page on his website is a journey worth taking. If I’m honest, Willy puts spiders to shame.
Lara gave me Willy’s contact information. I figured he would be too busy or too expensive, but I reached out anyway. When I explained that I wanted to have him help us build a structure for the playground in our Autism center, he was in. Over the next 6 months we worked together to plan the structure. The beautiful structure was built by Garret Brown Designs. They were flexible, creative, and do high quality work. When it came time to weave the netting, I let him run free (one doesn’t stand in the way of an artist). The result surpassed my hopes. He used the primary colors from our logo to balance stark contrasts with blends of color when looking through the layers. The children in our center love climbing the TreeNet, and it’s the most popular item in our center. Children’s eyes light up when they first see it. Best of all, it’s incredibly safe. We have children ages18 months to 6 years old, and they are all able to use it safely (with supervision for the younger ones, of course). Willy did great work for us, but he was also sympathetic to our cause. I could tell he took a particular pride in this project.
If you have a children’s (or adults) center, consider reaching out to TreeNet Willy.
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