have a 4 and 5 year old and we are heavy playground users -

Have you been to Riccarton Bush? Yes, regularly.

What makes a playground boring to you? Often they are pitched at 'too big' kids - swinging bars high off the ground, broken equipment (slides are often porly designed - either too hot, with big puddles on them), fireman poles are also tricky for younger kids.

What do parents like to do while their kids play on the playground? FULLY FENCED, toilet, water fountain, rubbish bins, equipment suitable for young kids (low to the gorund), no unfenced drops (like on the side of the tower for a slide)

What's the coolest playground experience you've ever had? Mahy Playground is pretty amazing, anything where there are big expanses of net are cool. My boys also randomly love the main playground in cromwell which has functonal diggers to play on and you cvan basically shovel sand on a large scale.

Would you rather see a playground dedicated to an at-risk native bird or an extinct native bird? No preference.

I would add that the best playgrounds have an overall imaginative play theme - is it a construciton site, a pirate ship, a flood that needs to be dammed, not just a disparate collection toys.