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The Jungle Gym

The Jungle Gym, the largest community-built playground of its kind in the world, is open for fun!

The Jungle Gym was the result of three months of community volunteer effort, resources and donations. Over 6,000 volunteers worked together to accomplish this monumental achievement for Middle Tennessee. You've got to see it to believe it! Transforming the artist's rendering to the actual Jungle Gym was a labor of love by the community, and it's something to be very proud of!

The 66,000-square-foot playground is able to accommodate more than 1,000 children at a time. The centerpiece of the rambling exploration zone is the "Tree of Life", a 35-foot tall tree and "tree house" structure. Other features include a concrete sculpture garden (featuring a giant snake tunnel, bat cave, and hippo figures), cargo netting, a Jungle Village and much more.

The Jungle Gym was designed by world-renowned playground architect, Robert Leathers, with the input of local children during "Design Days" in October 1996. Leathers and Associates, based in Ithaca, N.Y., has created more than 1,200 playgrounds throughout the world using this same community-based approach. In total, more than 40,000 volunteer hours were contributed to complete the Jungle Gym.