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Photo Credit: Anthill Creations Facebook Page
Brightly coloured caterpillars, octopi, and elephants have begun to appear on empty lots in and around more than a dozen Indian cities, much to the delight of local youngsters. Anthill Creations' climbers, jungle gyms, and swings are low-cost, ecological play places made from old tyres and industrial waste such as scrap metal and ropes. For roughly $2,500, a new playground can be created in just five days, which is a quarter of the cost of a regular playground.
Pooja Rai, the project's CEO and a qualified architect, was inspired to start Anthill Creations in 2014 after seeing children at an orphanage play with broken pipes and flip-flops—far from a luxury, she concluded, play is a human right. Reusing some of India's 100 million tyres thrown each year benefits the environment by reducing air pollution caused by tyre burning. Before being repurposed in the 300 playgrounds Anthill has developed across India, each tyre is meticulously cleaned, examined, and painted.
Photo Credit: Anthill Creations Facebook Page
Rai hopes to collaborate with governments, corporate funders, and Anthill's staff of roughly 30 active volunteers to make cities more child-friendly by transforming vacant areas into fun community places. "Children come up with hundreds of various games to explore their creativity, and each time they play, they come up with something new," Rai explains.
Anthill Creations is a not for profit organisation which aims to bring back play for all age groups by building sustainable playscapes, using contextual designs and localized resources and encouraging community participation.