Hitting the streets of Baltimore

The 2019 NRPA Annual Conference is just five days away, and we’re excited to get to Baltimore to connect, learn and discover with all of you. If you’re planning to attend the Conference, mark your calendar to join us throughout the week.

DISCOVER.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, we’ll be in the Exhibit Hall in booths 3003 and 2806. In the Landscape Structures booth, you’ll find lots of playground inspiration, fun products and opportunities to recharge. Our friends at Aquatix will be nearby ready to talk all things splash play, inclusive spray play and more.

Eutaw_Orioles

CONNECT.
Tuesday evening, we’ll be at Eutaw Street – Oriole Park at Camden Yards celebrating the work our customers are doing to shape the lives of children.

Aquatix_Inclusive

LEARN.
Join us for our education session, Spray Play for All: Designing Inclusive Splash Parks, on Thursday, Sept. 26, at 11 a.m. You’ll hear from our experts, John McConkey and Bill Hachmeister, as well as Ingrid Kanics, president of Kanics Inclusive Design Services, and Rickie Yeager, the development director with the City of Parkersburg, W.V.

Get more details about the NRPA Annual Conference including keynote speakers, workshops and more. And be sure to stop by our booths to connect with us!

 

Continuous education from Landscape Structures and Aquatix

Are you beginning to plan your continuing education for 2019? We can help! We are an authorized provider of continuing education credits from the International Association for Continuous Education and Training (IACET) and the Landscape Architecture Continuing Education System™ (LA CES). That means we can help keep your parks and recreation department and landscape architects up-to-date on their requirements.

Even better, we have a team of expert speakers that are available to present on valuable playground and aquatics information during a local conference, in your office or during a customer visit to our headquarters in Minnesota. From inclusive play and spray play to designing safe splash play and fitness-focused environments to evidence-based landscape and playground design, there are sessions that will meet a wide variety of needs.

Learn more about playground-related CEUs, and check out the new aqua play sessions available from Aquatix.

Generate discussion about the importance of play

Are you looking for resources on trends affecting the playground industry? We can help! We’ve created whitepapers to help generate discussion about the importance of play in early childhood development, outdoor play during school hours, and balancing safety and challenge, and serve as a reference during future playground projects. Get details below about each of our whitepapers, and request a download today.

Decline in children’s play time shown in new study

Shaped by Play: The Formative Role of Play and Playgrounds
Child’s play, we are learning, is not just fun and games. Children’s play behavior appears to be essential preparation for a successful adult life. We partnered with the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development to understand how behavior on school and community playgrounds contributes to whole-child development. This meta-study aggregates and analyzes key findings from some of the most influential studies on children and play.

Playgrounds are a place where children can learn and grow through exploration and social interactionLearn about the importance of balancing safety and challenge for kids ages 5 to 12.

Balancing Safety & Challenge in Playground Design
Playgrounds are a place where children can learn and grow through exploration and social interaction. However, that development can’t take place without age and developmentally appropriate challenges. Parental concern along with standards that have decreased design freedom are contributors to the lack of challenging opportunities in today’s play equipment. Finding a balance between challenge and safety is important to childhood development, and society can help determine a healthy median.

Both outdoor physical activity and indoor classroom time are important for kids’ growth and development.

The Importance of Outdoor Play & Physical Activity During School Hours
Both outdoor physical activity and indoor classroom time are important for kids’ growth and development. School provides students with the education they need to have a successful career, and physical activity gives them a chance to stay healthy. Unfortunately, not all kids get their daily 60 minutes outside. School is a place where kids can supplement the lack of physical activity they get at home, and help kids become smarter, healthier and stronger.

Find more playground education resources including continuing education sessions and infographics at playlsi.com.