Jurassic Park? No, a dinosaur park and playground in the suburbs!
The Dinosaur Park in Truganina (west of Melbourne, Vic) is a fun attraction for local kids. Set within Stockland’s Grandview residential estate, it provides a place for children and adults in the local community to meet, interact, play and relax.
As well as inspiring young minds to engage in active outdoor play, the prehistoric theming acts as a tribute to an ancient dormant volcano in nearby Mt Atkinson Reserve.
Climbable dinosaur sculptures for exciting prehistoric play
A giant dinosaur head – the ferocious T-Rex – guards the entrance to the dinosaur park. Children can climb on the head (avoiding those fierce teeth!) or go up nearby ladders to get to the play slides. The head is reinforced with a steel substructure, making it more than strong enough to cope with young dinosaur-hunting explorers or budding palaeontologists.
At the bottom of the slides, the landing pads are shaped like giant dinosaur feet. There’s a fossil dig, dinosaur tail bones to walk on, and various prehistoric-themed play items like swings and seesaws. Children love seeing the dinosaur eggs with a baby dinosaur hatching.
The dinosaur park is in a natural setting within the residential estate. The play equipment has safe, soft-fall surrounds and the landscaping includes shaded areas and picnic tables.
Photos of the dinosaur park playground
Safe, strong playground sculptures
Contoured insets on the giant dinosaur head sculpture allow for safe climbing, with no sharp points or crevices to trap little hands. To cope with lots of curious children climbing on it, the giant dinosaur head sculpture was reinforced with an internal steel frame. You can see this in the construction drawings and photographs of work in progress below.
Safe, strong playground sculptures
Seeing the baby T-Rex bursting from a dinosaur egg delights young visitors to the Dinosaur Park. Although made specially for the purpose, the sculpture is now available as part of our prehistoric collection, as are hundreds of other dinosaur, egg and fossil sculptures. For example, see dinosaur eggs here.
The Dinosaur Park also includes a fossil dig, which is a creative way for children to play and learn. For more info, see fossil digs and sandpits.
The dinosaur park is popular with kids and adults
Stockland produced the following video to show what the residents of Grandview Estate in Truganina think about the dinosaur park.
Project scope
For this project, Natureworks supplied the following:
- Giant climbable T-Rex Dinosaur Head
- Set of Dinosaur Eggs with baby dinosaur hatching
- Dinosaur bones designed for kids to walk on
- Dinosaur feet for the landing areas of two main slides
- Delivery of all items to Truganina, Victoria
Project details
| Client | Bild Group (for their client, Stockland) |
| Project | Dinosaur Park for Grandview Estate |
| Audience | Local residents and visitors with children of all ages |
| Location | Altezze Drive, Truganina, VIC (see map) |
| Date | 2020 |
| Related products | Dinosaur Eggs, Fossil Dig, Dinosaur sculptures |
| Related catalogues | Child’s Play, Prehistoric Fossil Digs, Prehistoric Fossils, Bones & Eggs; Big Things |
| Similar projects | Dreamtime themed adventure playground, National Zoo AdventureLand, Jungle Adventure Play, Gumbuya Wildlife Park Critter Cave |
Playground sculptures enhance communities
Active outdoor play is good for children and local communities, so it’s great to see Stockland commissioning an imaginative dinosaur park play area for the Grandview Estate development.
At Natureworks, we want to encourage creative, nature-based play. To this end, we produce a wide range of child-friendly animal art, climb-on play equipment and nature-themed kids’ furniture. We have a number of Australian playground certified products, while many others can be designed and built to meet those specifications. We can advise on safety and practical considerations, or contribute to funding proposals for a community playground or visitor attraction.
The Natureworks team loves to create sustainable, engaging play spaces. To do this, we work with landscape architects, property developers, project managers, councils, childcare centres, schools and community groups.
If you need inspiration and ideas for successful playgrounds, we can provide a custom playground design service.
For information about nature-based playgrounds, or quotes for specific sculptures and playground products, call Natureworks now on 07 3289 7555 or email us at [email protected].
