Category Archives: Inclusive playgrounds

Children are our inspiration

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The City of Gig Harbor, Wash., is the region one winner of the Together We Play™ essay contest. Their essay explains their inspiration behind submitting an essay–providing a place where all of their children can play together. Read the excerpt below to truly understand what inspired these moms.

“Our children are our inspiration. We are a group of mothers who have bonded together over the past 10 years–working hard to make our community a better place for our special needs children and for those to come in the future. In this case, we are members of the ‘Committee for an Inclusive Playground in the City of Gig Harbor.’ Each of us has a unique story–traumatic and often sad–and our children have many different diagnoses including muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, autism, developmental delays, chromosome abnormalities and epilepsy. Yet, each family also has a typically developing child, and that has inspired us to create an inclusive playground.”

Children of all abilities should play together on the playground.

Imagine…

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We read so many great essays when deciding the winners of the Together We Play™ contest, and want to share with you excerpts from the winning submissions. Here is part of what drew us in to learn more about the Sensory Garden Playground Initiative at the Wheaton Park District in Wheaton, Ill.

Imagine the sounds of happy children running, climbing, swinging and digging, while parents chat nearby. Imagine the relaxing atmosphere of unstructured play which encourages problem-solving and socialization among peers. Imagine entire families enjoying recreation together.

Now imagine the nightmare a park can be for families of children with sensory processing problems–too much noise, too much contact, no place to withdraw safely. Imagine the panic of parents when a child on sensory overload runs away, or the embarrassment when their child becomes overwhelmed and bites or hits another child. Imagine a family’s frustration at not being able to enjoy a park atmosphere because the facility isn’t safe and welcoming for a child with special emotional needs.

We imagined all this and more.

Then we saw a safely fenced play area with room for children to spread out, surrounded by a fitness trail for adults. We saw surfacing where wheeled devices move easily and equipment is designed to engage sight, hearing, smell, movement and touch. We saw places where a child can withdraw easily and safely, so that each one can learn to regulate his or her own sensory input. We saw a welcoming place where whole families can relax and engage and enjoy their time together.

We saw the need for a multi-community effort to build a world-class facility, and we are ready and willing to lead in making it a reality.

The final countdown

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Next week, we will unveil the winners of the Together We Play™ essay contest. The GRAND PRIZE winner, which will win $100,000 in inclusive playground equipment from Landscape Structures and $50,000 in playground design, project development and educational program services from Shane’s Inspiration. Additionally, we will award five RUNNER UP winners with $10,000 in inclusive play equipment from Landscape Structures and $50,000 in playground design, project development and educational program services from Shane’s Inspiration.

We’re excited to be so close to the final announcement! It has been great to read all of the essay submissions, and hard to whittle all of them down to only six. But as we reach out to each of the communities, we’re sure that they’re all very deserving.

There will be one RUNNER UP winner from each of the five regions outlined in the map below. The GRAND PRIZE winner will also come out of one of these regions. So… which region do you think will be awarded the $100,000 in inclusive playground equipment and playground programming?!

An amusement park for all

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How often do you struggle to find family-friendly outings that offer fun activities…and also cater to everyone’s varying abilities? Families and vacationers near San Antonio, Texas, don’t have to look far. Morgan’s Wonderland, the world first ultra-accessible family fun park, provides a place where all ages and abilities can come together and play in a fun and safe environment.

Featured in the September 2011 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, the article discusses how Morgan’s Wonderland started. Morgan Hartman’s parents dreamed of a place where everyone could play together, and so they held public forums so that other parents, inclusion advocates, therapists and more could discuss and brainstorm ideas for the project.

In 2010, the inclusive theme park opened it doors and offers play experiences including Landscape Structures playground equipment; a Sensory Village that mimics a city streetscape where visitors can buy groceries, go for a simulated drive through San Antonio and be on a newscast; an accessible carousel; a music garden and much more!

Accessible, but not inclusive

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Many communities, schools and recreation centers strive to make playgrounds accessible for all. However, just because a playground is deemed accessible doesn’t mean that it’s inclusive. Rotary Miracle Playground in Dothan, Ala., recently experienced this. While their new playground was accessible, parents of children with disabilities felt the playground was unsafe because typically developing children didn’t know how to interact with those who had different abilities.

Education is vital to influencing inclusive play, which is why Dothan Leisure Services reached out to Shane’s Inspiration, a California-based national organization whose goal is to foster compassion through inclusive play. Leisure Services held their first “My Play Club” event on Saturday, Aug. 20, in which they invited children of all abilities to come and play together. Children with disabilities were paired up with typically developing “buddies,” and they played together on the playground, got their faces painted, and created arts and crafts.

According to the Dothan Eagle, Marnie Norris, director of programs at Shane’s Inspiration, said social barriers between children often disappear after interacting with each other. They begin to understand the differences, and any preconceived ideas or fears often disappear. Learn more about Shane’s Inspiration programming, and visit us on Facebook to see more photos of Dothan’s first “My Play Club.”

Play for all–free from physical and social boundaries

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As we go through the internal judging process, I am so overwhelmed. The amount of time, energy and emotion that have gone into these essays is incredible! I can’t believe all of the communities that want to come together through play. Not just any play, but play for all–free from physical and social boundaries. Communities have put together organizations to not only bring inclusive play to their community, but also educate the population on the differences of individuals’ abilities and how to embrace them.

It is eye-opening to see the hundreds of varying definitions of the word “community” in the essays. For some, community is a large metropolis of hundreds of thousands of people. Other communities are made up of small towns that draw from several other small towns. And many remote and rural locations have yet another definition as community. One thing rings true among all of these communities, and that is their desire to bring inclusion and play to the lives of ALL in that “community.”

Everyone that submitted an essay wants to bring play to all children in their community. Some want to dedicate the playground to someone special, others want to build it in memory of someone. Many essays focus on providing inclusive playgrounds not only so all kids can play together, but also parents/guardians and grandparents can play with the kids in their lives. I have been reminded many times over of all the military moms and dads, who so courageously fight for our continued freedom, and then come home to their families with different abilities. Many now use mobility devices and can’t easily play side-by-side with their children on the playground.

Each of the essays submitted are so deserving of an inclusive playground. Our team of judges sure have a tough job ahead of them. Check back with us in the next few weeks to get their thoughts about reviewing the essays.