Category Archives: playgrounds

Avoid the bid process with cooperative purchasing contracts

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Purchasing commercial playground equipment through the bid process can add extra work and delays in developing and installing your new play space. The bid process also sometimes forces you to settle for less than expected if you’re forced to accept the low-bid, lower-quality alternative to your specifications. That’s why we offer our customers the option to purchase our park and playground equipment using national cooperative purchasing contracts.

We have a variety of purchasing contracts from which to choose including HGACBuy, TCPN, NPCA for cities, school districts and other municipal entities. All of these contracts are nationwide government-procurement services that establish competitively priced contracts for goods and services with the assurance that all contracts have been awarded through a competitive, public bidding process that is compliant with your state bidding statutes. Following are just a few of the benefits of using cooperative bidding contracts:

  1. You can avoid the bid process, and expenses incurred, while meeting state or local purchasing guidelines.
  2. You save money through product discounts; the contracts establish and verify best pricing offered nationally by a supplier.
  3. You keep complete control of the quality, design and manufacturer of your next playground purchase.

Any tax-based agency or non-profit 501c3 is eligible to use cooperative purchasing contracts. Contact your local playground consultant to learn more, and get set-up to replace the traditional in-house bid process with the easy-to-use, no-cost services provided by cooperative purchasing contracts.

Create inspiring play spaces together

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If you’re working on an upcoming playground project, be sure to check out our 2013 Design Book for inspiration. The book features seven playgrounds from across the country that incorporate a theme, learning opportunities for visitors and truly innovative design.

Sunset Park, Las Vegas, Nev.
Clark County Nevada, Parks & Recreation Department

We have decades of custom design experience, and can help you create a playground design that best fits your community’s personality. Our team of custom designers and artists has created everything from boats and ships to aliens and UFOs, as well as unique designs without themes that become playable art.

Indian Creek Playground, Berwyn Heights, Md.
The Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation

Whatever your idea, we’ll help you bring it to life on the playground. Kids’ imaginations with soar with a custom and theme playground design. Get your creative juices flowing… browse our 2013 Design Book, or request that a copy be mailed to you here.

Designing beyond the boundaries at ASLA 2012

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Next weekend, we will be in Phoenix, Ariz., for the 2012 American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Annual Meeting & Expo. More than 5,000 landscape architects are expected to descend on the city, and we’re excited to meet new landscape architects as well as reconnect with others.

ASLA Annual Meeting & Expo: Phoenix, Ariz.

We are exhibiting in booth 921, and invite attendees to stop by. Our custom design team, with experience that ranges from building large-scale parade floats to sculpting highly detailed items for the Smithsonian, will be on-site to talk about how we use design sessions to uncover customers’ needs in order to create a personalized playground design. Visitors can also put their artistic and design abilities to use to create their own personalized takeaway. Stop in and say hi; we’ll have coffee, chocolate and apples to celebrate the Green Apple Day of Service.

In addition to our exhibit space, we’re proud to support the landscape architecture profession by sponsoring the opening general session on Saturday morning. The session will feature Charles Fishman, an award-winning investigative journalist, who will speak about the history and future of water. He’ll also discuss his travels around the globe—from Las Vegas to New Delhi—to uncover how the world of water is changing and how it will affect society.

That same night, the ASLA/Landscape Structures Gala: Boots, Bandanas and Bolos will close-out the annual meeting. The event is at Corona Ranch and Rodeo Grounds, and is sure to be a great time. Our employees and playground consultants that are attending have their cowboy boots ready, and are looking forward to the Mariachi band, fajita buffet dinner, carnival games, and music and dancing.

Collaborating to bring awareness to Sensory Processing Disorder

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We recently began collaborating with the Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) Foundation and its sister organization, the STAR (Sensory Therapies and Research) Center, to help bring more awareness to the disorder, and help share the important work that the Foundation does to treat adults and children affected by SPD. Our collaboration has led to the creation of a sensory playground at STAR Center, which is helping move SPD therapy outdoors.

Playgrounds are an important part of children’s lives. They provide opportunities to play, learn and socialize. Because of this, the inclusive playground at STAR Center will be used as a therapy tool and this “natural” setting will be incorporated into children’s daily lives.

The STAR Center also focuses on parent education to help them understand SPD and intervention principles. Parents are coached to prepare for their child’s sensory needs, and families receive help to facilitate a “sensory lifestyle” for the whole family.

We’re excited about this new collaboration with the SPD Foundation and STAR Center, and look forward to learning more about how therapy in natural settings—especially playgrounds—helps treat children touched by the disorder.

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.

Officially under way

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Region 1 Winner: City of Gig Harbor, Wash.

The design process for the inclusive playground at the Gig Harbor Maritime PlayZone is officially under way. Representatives from Landscape Structures and Shane’s Inspiration attended a design event, which was scheduled to brainstorm concepts for the playground. The new play space will be inclusive for children and adults of all abilities. Committee Chair Stephanie Payne said the group has now started its fundraising process and hopes to raise $100,000. After speaking at local Rotary clubs and organizations, she said, the group will start branching out to regional businesses and individual families for donations. The playground committee is expecting to see the conceptual design in eight to 12 weeks, with the complete design coming four weeks after that.

Children of all abilities should play together on the playground.

Sunday Night is Football Night

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If you’re a football fan, you probably watch Sunday Night Football each weekend. What you might not pay attention to is the halftime show. However, last night, the halftime show featured Shane’s Inspiration and Landscape Structures playground equipment at Westside Park in L.A. The organization will be featured as part of Toyota’s Halftime Hand Off program, which aids organizations that use sports as a vehicle for change.

Jungle Wall at Westside Park

The Halftime Hand Off program profiles four organizations on the Toyota Facebook page each week, and asks fans to vote for the charity they feel is most deserving of support. The organization receiving the most votes each week receives a $10,000 donation from Toyota and is featured during the following week’s halftime show segment.

In addition to being featured on NBC’s Sunday Night Football and the $10,000 donation, NBC will create a 2-minute video on Shane’s Inspiration’s behalf that will be posted on YouTube and Facebook.

Congratulations to Shane’s Inspiration!

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.

Playing together

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Many children with special needs have difficulty adjusting to unstructured time, such as time on the playground. But after reading the Together We Play™ essays and speaking with parents and caregivers of these children, we know that the playground is an important place for children to be welcomed.

I recently came across a blog, Thin Places—Faith, Family and Disability, that discussed this topic. The author has a daughter, Penny, with Down syndrome. Penny started kindergarten this year and really enjoys it, but she sometimes has trouble sitting still and using her words. Penny’s teacher, however, is working closely with the author to ensure that Penny has friends.

“On Monday, though, Penny’s teacher took it to a new level. ‘The hardest time for Penny is on the playground,’ she said. ‘I think it’s because it’s such an unstructured time.’ So she’s decided to create a game time for Penny and a smaller group of friends. Usually the teacher would use that time to prepare for the second half of the day. But instead, she’s outside, making sure there’s a place for our daughter.

I spoke with a friend last night who has a daughter with Down syndrome who is also in elementary school. My friend was in tears because some kids had yelled at her daughter on the playground: ‘You don’t belong here!’ We talked for a long time about the difficulties of being a child with special needs, and the difficulty of being a parent of a child with special needs. She talked about the purpose of inclusive education, and she said, ‘I know that for my daughter to fit in means putting a square peg in a round hole. But I thought that inclusion was intended to make that round hole bigger.’ My daughter will not become a circle, but I’m grateful that the circle is becoming large enough for our daughter to fit in.”

Inclusive education is exactly what Shane’s Inspiration’s programming is all about. Their playground programming helps break down the barriers of bias toward children with disabilities through education. Check out what Shane’s Inspiration might be able to offer to your community.

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!