Granted, some playground sculptures shown here may impress a child with their unapologetic weirdness - but most are so tasteless and ugly that it's bordering on insanity.

A multitude of such bizarre apparitions still exists in the former Communist countries - proving that kids would play in just about any environment. A few statues illustrate the elements of Slavic fairy tales, others make do with miserable (decapitated, or worse) animals and evil-looking, nightmarish characters.


(photo by Olga Shvetz)

Dr. Aibolit (his name loosely translates as "Dr. Ouch!") in Moscow Children Hospital:


(image credit: cherski)

Somebody wrote "cadaver-eating orcs" over this endearing Teletubby character (in Moscow) -



Some heinous crime scene, in a village close to Odessa:



Impaled Baba Yaga, who seems to strangely enjoy the experience:





Decapitated monkeys (their bodies are attached to another attraction) -




Poor puppy, nailed to the tree (Rostov-na-Donu):



What's worse, Little Red Riding Hood, ruthlessly bound (though not gagged) -



One half of hippopotamus:



Cow / baths hybrids, spotted in Eilat, Israel:



These Lovecraft-ian snails invade a playground near St. Petersburg:



In light of all the above, the "mosquito slide", found in Germany, looks positively normal:


(image credit: Valentin Laube)

What do you do when the only available material is some plumbing and pipes lying around? Use them to make a modernist slide (with birds standing guard around it)




(photos by Detsky Dvor)

Playground above is actually quite cool, kudos to the inventive artists. Just as the trapped mouse below is also pretty neat (again Eilat, Israel) -




We'll make an intermission now, while you draw a breath to plunge deeper into a maniacal urban art territory:

Again, the locations of these playgrounds are mostly in Russia and Ukraine:
- St. Petersburg
- Komsomolsk-na-Amure
- Astana, Kazakhstan
- Khmelnitzky, Ukraine
- Lvov, Ukraine

LOTS of imagination required

This is a ship, got it? -


(photo by Katryuk Dvoeglazova)

That thing does NOT rotate:



Get a (never-ending) exercise:



Giant vegetable thing (St. Petersburg) -





Mysterious little monsters in Stary Oskol, Belgorod region:




(photos by NordProd)





At least this little guy is recognizable as "Cheburashka":





This must be a hedgehog:



This lovely lady even got some make-up:


(photo by Aleksis1978)


If it's monsters you seek, then monsters we got!
Here is a stunningly bizarre group of sculptures (supposedly for kids) in the middle of Starokonstantinov. I like this one... can see myself playing there.








(photos by Archiverba)

See more pictures of this "zoo" here


Let's increase the "freaky factor" again... (I wonder if any impressionable parent would "blow a fuse" at this point) -



Certainly a "perfect" sculpture to beautify any kid's playground:


(Kid's playground in Rostov-na-Donu)

And we finish with a stunning rendition of a character that will haunt you for days (just keep looking at it) -



Sources: Detsky Dvor, English Russia, Exler