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Mind-Bending Playground Designs by Monstrum

Posted: 02 May 2012 07:00 AM PDT

Here are some playgrounds that will make you want to be a kid again, or at least make you wish there wasn't a social stigma against grown adults gleefully frolicking around a children's play area sans one's children. Designed by Monstrum, a Danish firm founded by Ole B. Nielsen and Christian Jensen, these playscapes are by far the most remarkable I've ever seen. Located all across Europe, their stunningly imaginative features range from the fantastical (a spider web netscape strung up below a giant spider) to the dreamlike (a blue-and-red-striped playscape seemingly designed by Dr. Seuss) and also to the slightly creepy (the bendy playhouse pictured above looks a bit haunted and/or hungry).

They're practically art installations just as much as they are play areas, and Monstrum is certainly very enthusiastic about them. "MONSTRUM believes that playground design should be a reflection of the world surrounding us,” says their official website. "We see the world as a place full of colour. We meet boys that like pink and girls that likes trees, so why only play on a monkey frame and a sandbox, when you can play in a moon crater or a submarine or a giant spider or an enormous snail or a Trojan horse or a rocket or an ant or a princess castle. The fantasy is infinite."

Check out more of their magnificent designs below.