Numerous psychologists have studied symbolic play in childhood. Jean Piaget, who devoted part of his career to the study of development at this stage of life, stated that symbolic play is one of the most evolved forms of play. Through it, children between the ages of 2 and 4 begin to understand, represent, create and remember images or events that are not present in the immediate reality. Lev Vygotsky, a leading theorist of developmental psychology, claimed in his research that symbolic play, together with the capacity for language, allows children to create their own world and explore the possibilities of reality. Freud asserted that, among other things, it is through this type of play that children learn to understand and process reality.
The games developed by Amusement Logic often provide ideal settings for symbolic play, an activity that is so important for children’s growth and development and, of course, for their fun. The shapes and figurative representations of the company’s designs encourage and provide the pretext for this complex play activity. The new dry game presented here is no exception. It is a structure representing a large turtle: Turtle Net.
In addition to the psychomotor skills that the little ones exercise by hanging, balancing, sliding or crawling to overcome obstacles, they will imagine themselves embarked on a symbolic and legendary journey on the shell of a giant turtle. Turtle Net is an ideal space for physical exercise, fun and, above all, fantasy, understood as the “highest degree of imagination; imagination insofar as it invents or produces”, as the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy teaches us.
Turtle Net simulates the shell of a large fairy-tale turtle by means of a structure made up of painted stainless-steel bars. These bars are arranged in a geodesic shape based on triangles that rise in a vault. Some of these strategically selected triangles are covered with nets to walk on. A vertical sliding bar, combined with slanted nets inside the vault, allow children to use their dexterity and access the top of the Turtle Net.
Finally, the plastic casings protecting the bolted knots between the steel bars, the cushioned floor with coloured silhouettes evoking the body of the fantastic turtle and a height of up to 2 metres, guarantee the safety of the attraction. With a capacity of up to 25 children, Turtle Net is a perfect environment for symbolic play, as well as fun, interaction and socialisation.
