Modular Playgrounds Help Kids in Refugee Camps Play and Heal

When photographer Alexander Meininger became a father, he watched his children play and learned how important playgrounds are for kids. After seeing children displaced by war in Ukraine, he started thinking about refugee children who had lost their homes and schools.

Meininger created Playrise, a nonprofit that builds modular playgrounds for children in war zones and refugee camps. Working with architecture studio OMMX, our team designed play structures from simple wood pieces that snap together easily. Kids can customize them with monkey bars, hammocks, basketball hoops, and climbing ropes.

The designers talked directly with Sudanese, Palestinian, and Eritrean child refugees to learn what they wanted. Children's drawings and ideas shaped the final designs. In Aysaita, Ethiopia, a refugee camp with 10,000 children under age 10 and no playgrounds, families reported that kids helped build the sample structures themselves.

The playgrounds use timber instead of metal so they stay cool in desert heat. All parts fit together with standard tools and can be taken apart and moved. The structures keep little fingers safe and work on different ground types, from sand to concrete.

Playrise will deploy their first full playground in Ethiopia within the next month. Refugee camps in Cairo and other locations will follow. Play helps children heal from trauma, build friendships, and create the connections that keep communities strong.

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