In UK airports, one is faced with many crowded and massively uncomfortable chairs, designed specifically to prevent people from lying down on them when faced with an extended wait in the airport.

In Frankfurt airport, as well as comfortable chairs, one is also presented with:

at strategic locations, for just such times.

I’ve never seen a children’s play area in a UK airport. In Frankfurt you have a 3-story spaceship (with ballpen in the bottom):

I think this all comes down to the way that customers are seen. UK airports seem to have been designed as if the passengers are an inconvenience (“Don’t you know we’re trying to run an airport?!”), whereas their needs are designed-in much better in Germany.