Nature Play’s New Era

When Superstorm Sandy arrived in Brooklyn on October 29, 2012, the winds caused widespread destruction in Prospect Park. The storm felled over 500 trees throughout the park, including towering, century-old heritage trees. This devastation was turned into innovation when a handful of these downed trees found new life as the Donald and Barbara Zucker Natural Exploration Area. The Alliance’s team of architects and landscape designers created the park’s first natural play area in the park, where tree trunks, boulders and other elements of nature took center stage and imaginations ran wild. The Exploration Area, designed to inspire creativity and play, was an instantly beloved destination for families in the park.

After more than a decade of community love, Zucker will be closing in the coming months as the Alliance begins reconstruction of the surrounding Vale landscapes. Due to the incredible response to this nature play area, the Vale will include a new Natural Exploration Area when it opens to the public in 2028. 

“The Zucker Natural Exploration Area was always intended as a temporary installation, and to evolve and change over time as branches and logs eroded and children manipulated the play elements,” said Prospect Park Alliance Vice President of Capital and Landscape Management Christian Zimmerman. 

Informed by robust community feedback, the design of the Vale’s new Natural Exploration Area is inspired by the guiding vision of Zucker. “The essence of what makes Zucker Natural Exploration Area so special is kids’ ability to create their own play experience and enjoy truly unprescribed play. The new play area maintains a lot of the soul of that original Zucker design,” shares Prospect Park Alliance Landscape Architect Jillian Pagano.

Texture and sensory activity are core to the new play area’s design, which features natural materials that can be found in the park or ones reminiscent of the park’s natural areas, including the signature upside-down tree currently found at the Zucker Natural Exploration Area, an engineered wood fiber “mulch,” a sand area, boulders set into the landscape, wood decking and a water play area featuring a hand pump, as well as ADA accessible play elements to ensure opportunities for all children. The play area will feature a central tree to provide a large canopy of shade once fully grown, and a miniature pollinator meadow with native plantings to offer kids the chance to get to know pollinator insects up close. 

“The new Natural Exploration Area will honor the legacy of the Zucker Natural Exploration Area, but is designed for longevity to enable countless families to enjoy for generations to come,” shares Jillian.

When the Zucker Natural Exploration Area closes in early 2026, visit our Things to Do with Kids webpage to explore the park’s seven playgrounds and in the summer months, Splash Pad, the park’s largest water play area.