Category Archives: Inclusive Play

Collaborating to improve playgrounds citywide

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Work is underway at playgrounds all around Washington, D.C. The more than 30 playground renovations are part of an initiative of the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) known as Play DC. Washington D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray has allocated $35 million to the playground improvement project.

Rosedale Recreation Center (1701 Gales Street NE)

Rosedale Recreation Center (1701 Gales Street NE)

The first of the completed playgrounds, located at Rosedale Recreation Center, celebrated its grand opening in late May. The playground offers a fully inclusive play experience for children and families, and it was designed to mimic many of the monuments located near the National Mall. Façades of the White House, U.S. Capitol, Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument give the playground a truly signature look.

Palisades Recreation Center (5200 Sherrier Place NW)

Palisades Recreation Center (5200 Sherrier Place NW)

Another amazing project that’s part of Play DC is at the Palisades Recreation Center. The playground offers a Native American-themed play structure that pays tribute to the Potomac River settlement. And keeping in mind the whole community, planners included the HealthBeat® Outdoor Fitness System for ages 13+. “We opened that playground on July 4,” said Bridget Stesney, chief operating officer at DPR, “and it has been packed every day since!”

Noyes Recreation Center (Franklin Street NE & 10th Street NE)

Noyes Recreation Center (Franklin Street NE & 10th Street NE)

In July, DPR celebrated playground grand openings at Noyes Recreation Center and Fort Stanton Recreation Center on July 19 and 20, respectively. The Noyes playground was inspired by nature and includes lots of climbing rocks, while two play structures at Fort Stanton offer a fort theme for lots of imaginative play.

Fort Stanton Recreation Center (1812 Erie Street SE)

Fort Stanton Recreation Center (1812 Erie Street SE)

DPR is hosting grand openings regularly—the next one is happening Monday, Aug. 12, at the Raymond Recreation Center. And when they’re not celebrating grand openings, they’re celebrating ground breakings. The entire DPR team is excited to be able to renovate the playgrounds citywide, and hope that they will become spaces where all generations can come together to be active, have fun and play.

Congratulations Iola Kiwanis!

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Iola Kiwanis club in Iola, Kan., is the winner of the Make a Difference Through Play contest! They won $25,000 in playground equipment from Landscape Structures for their essay submission describing why their community needs a new playground.

Kids in Iola, Kan., will benefit from the inclusive playground the Iola Kiwanis intends to build with the $25,000 award.

The City of Iola is situated along the Neosho River in Southeast Kansas. With a population of nearly 5,700 residents, Iola is the largest town in a tri-county area. The City’s main recreation space, Riverside Park, is home to many amenities including a pool, athletic fields and a playground. The $25,000 award will allow the opportunity to create a playground that will accommodate children and families with special needs. The Iola Kiwanis club is collaborating with other local organizations—M.O.M., Iola Pride Committee, Iola Wal-Mart volunteers and many more—and plans to install a safe and inclusive play environment that will welcome all abilities.

The Iola Kiwanis club will complete their inclusive playground project on or around Kiwanis One Day, April 5, 2014. One Day is Kiwanis International’s signature day of service during which many clubs participate in service projects benefitting their local communities.

Bringing new, rolling shapes to the playground

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We are excited to showcase one of our newest playground designs—the Hillscape Adventure! The treaded boardwalk-like climber mimics a hillside landscape and fits naturally into surrounding environments. This design can be ordered as is, customized to fit your site or budget needs, or use it as a starting point and create a design that’s completely unique.

The Hillscape Adventures offers a rolling design and climbing challenge for kids ages 5 to 12.

The Hillscape Adventure offers a never-before-seen shape in playground design. Its wavy form and wood-grain textured boards are eye-catching to park visitors, and delivers a truly innovative play experience for kids ages 5 to 12. In addition to providing a unique climbing challenge, kids’ tactile, visual, proprioceptive and vestibular senses are engaged as they play. Even more, the Hillscape Adventure encourages imaginative, unscripted play. This flowing climber is available as a component within a playground structure or can be installed as a freestanding playground climber to accommodate a variety of space and budget requirements.

Learn more about the Hillscape Adventure and all of our design capabilities, then contact your local playground consultant to get started on your next playground design.

Thornton Creek Elementary School celebrates new inclusive playground

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The grand prize recipient of the School Grounds. Playgrounds. Common Ground.® contest, Thornton Creek Elementary School in Novi, Mich., celebrated the completion of their new inclusive playground with a grand opening on Thursday, May 23. The school received $50,000 in inclusive playground equipment from the Landscape Structures- and NAESP Foundation-sponsored contest, plus a playground committee spearheaded some major fundraising efforts in order to design a truly inclusive playground for students.

Thornton Creek's playground committee worked tirelessly to raise additional funds.

Thornton Creek Elementary School playground committee

Thornton Creek Elementary School’s new playground features an inclusive design that focuses on bringing children of all abilities together to learn, play and grow. A PlayBooster® playstructure was included in the design along with inclusive and sensory-focused freestanding components like the Cozy Dome®, OmniSpin® spinner, Oodle® Swing and We-saw™. Thornton Creek Elementary School’s new playground will welcome children of all abilities as well as serve as an outdoor classroom to help students develop their social, problem solving and gross motor skills.

The We-saw™ is just one of the inclusive playground components at Thornton Creek's new inclusive playground.

Thornton Creek Elementary School’s new inclusive playground

The grand opening included a ribbon-cutting ceremony with all of the students. Classrooms that raised the top fundraising dollars were honored and allowed the “first play” opportunity on the new playground followed by other classrooms throughout the morning. Congratulations to the entire school community for providing a place where kids of all abilities can play together!

Welcoming all abilities, generations with a new take on the seesaw

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Nearly 14 percent of children have one or more special needs ranging from autism to cerebral palsy. These kids often have troubles socializing and even playing, which is why it’s important to address various abilities on the playground. Additionally, we’re seeing an increased number of caregivers who are injured military service members and part of an aging population. Their needs are also important to consider so that entire families can come to the playground for fun and recreation.

The above reasons are why we’ve expanded our inclusive play product offerings. The new We-saw™ is a seesaw that was specifically designed to accommodate people of all abilities. It is a multi-person seesaw that is accessible, promotes social inclusion and offers a multi-generational solution. The We-saw provides a truly inclusive play experience by accommodates multiple users, and the We-saw’s walk-in seating allows for easy access and transfer for those with mobility issues. Everyone that climbs aboard the We-saw will experience a fun, user-controlled ride.

We-saw

We are committed to providing play experiences for children of all abilities. With our design philosophy, which addresses the environment, the play experience and variability, and other inclusive play product innovations like the OmniSpin® spinner and Oodle® Swing, we bring children with and without disabilities together to play, learn and grow on the playground.

Stimulate your senses on the playground with Pulse™

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Our inclusive playgrounds bring children and families of all abilities together for play. In addition to providing access to the playground, we are focused on offering sensory play experiences. That’s why we introduced Pulse™, a multisensory way to add lights, sounds, touch and more movement to the playground.

Pulse, with its three interactive games, brings children of all abilities together for visual, auditory and tactile stimulation. The games are easy to understand, encourage social interaction, teach the value of sportsmanship, and help develop physical coordination and spatial awareness.

Pulse Tennis

Pulse Tennis

Pulse Tennis is great for two to eight players ages 5 to 12. With flashing lights and realistic tennis sounds, kids will be encouraged to run, lunge and stretch to send the light back to their opponent.

Pulse Table Tennis

Pulse Table Tennis

Pulse Table Tennis welcomes two to four players ages 2 to 12. Kids develop hand-eye coordination and concentration as they watch for the light to bounce back to them. Table tennis, installed at a wheelchair-accessible height, is great for therapeutic settings.

Pulse Tempo

Pulse Tempo

Pulse Tempo rewards kids for their movement with five unique sound and light shows. Designed for up to six players ages 2 to 12, Pulse Tempo helps advance kids’ motor skills.

Watch Pulse in action below, then go to playlsi.com to hear what kids have to say about the new multisensory play experience.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/-t4DMeZptFM]

Designing to meet ALL children’s needs

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This week (Dec. 3-7) marks Inclusive Schools Week, which celebrates the progress that schools have made in providing supportive and quality education to increasingly diverse student populations. This week, educators, students and parents are encouraged to discuss how to continually ensure the inclusion of all children regardless of ability, gender, socio-economic status, cultural heritage, language preference and other factors.

JT's Grommet Island Beach Park & Playground for Every "Body"

JT’s Grommet Island Beach Park & Playground for Every “Body,” Virginia Beach, Va.

At Landscape Structures, we’re using Inclusive Schools Week to educate playground planners on the importance of creating truly inclusive play spaces. In addition to thinking about accessibility on the playground, planners need to consider children with sensory deficits and other developmental issues to ensure inclusion.

Creating an inclusive playground may sound like a daunting task for your school or community, but by following simple design criteria you can create a play space that welcomes children of all abilities. We use a design philosophy that addresses the environment, the play experience and variability. The combination of these elements allows every child to choose how they want to engage in the playground. Our design philosophy is influenced by the Seven Principles of Universal Design to help us increase the usability, safety, health and social participation of our play environments.

Morgan's Wonderland

Morgan’s Wonderland, San Antonio, Texas

Browse our Playspace Design brochure to learn more about our design philosophy, and then go here to get more information about our commitment to inclusive play.

Steve King Honored for Commitment to Inclusive Playground Design

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Steve King was honored with the Visionary Leadership Award from Shane’s Inspiration, a nonprofit organization specializing in the design and educational programming of inclusive playgrounds, at their annual gala on April 21. King, the cofounder of Landscape Structures Inc., the Delano, Minn.-based commercial playground equipment manufacturer, was recognized for his commitment to providing inclusive playground equipment for children of all abilities as well as his philanthropic support of Shane’s Inspiration’s abilities awareness programs.

King, an American Society of Landscape Architecture Fellow, created a new type of play environment as his final project at Iowa State. After observing children at nearby playgrounds and the child development department on campus, he put together a concept that combined traditional playground equipment such as slides and climbers into an endless stream of connected activities, which he later termed “continuous play.”

Since that concept was introduced, King has continued to build upon it. He has committed his entire life to creating play spaces for children of all abilities. King was chairman of a task group of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) that worked with the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) to update the ASTM F1487 Specification, a voluntary safety and accessibility standard for public playground equipment designed for children ages 2 to 12. His task group had the added responsibility of developing playground accessibility standards to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Steve King honored with award from Shane's Inspiration

In addition to his commitment to providing truly inclusive playground equipment, King was honored for his continued support of Shane’s Inspiration. King and his wife and cofounder of Landscape Structures, Barbara (1946-2008), met Catherine Curry-Williams and Tiffany Harris, cofounders of Shane’s Inspiration, more than 10 years ago. Since then, Shane’s Inspiration and Landscape Structures have partnered to design and install more than 30 inclusive playgrounds throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Dreams becoming reality

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Region 3 Winner: The Princess Alexa Foundation, Keller, Texas

The plans for Alexa’s Playground are coming along nicely. The playground designs are complete, and we are waiting to see the final layout with the colors. The grounds of Keller Sports Park have been leveled, and soon the space will be surveyed to determine accurate placement of the inclusive playground equipment. As we get closer to completion, we’re getting even more excited to see this dream of Alexa’s become a reality.

In addition to finalizing the playground designs and site plans, the Princess Alexa Foundation is working to secure funding. Recently, we were chosen as one of the beneficiaries of a local charity golf tournament. We are also working on a couple of grant proposals, and hope to connect with a local businessman who is influential within the community.