Tag Archives: Playground Accessibility

Meet the Jr. Play Team: Champions of Inclusive Play

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At Landscape Structures, inclusion isn’t just a goal—it’s a promise. It’s a mindset that drives everything we do from design and development to the fun that happens on the playground. At the heart of this mission is a group of kids we call the Jr. Play Team, and we’re thrilled to introduce you to them!

This group of kids from the Twin Cities are helping us create a more inclusive world of play. They bring their lived experience and insight to help us build playgrounds that welcome everyone.

Designed by kids, for all kids

The Jr. Play Team is made up of children with a range of physical, cognitive and sensory disabilities. They bring invaluable feedback to our product development process. Through real-time play and honest conversation, they help us uncover what works, what needs improvement, and—most importantly—how play can feel more inclusive for every child.

“It’s not just about watching them play,” says Jill Moore, inclusive play specialist at Landscape Structures. “It’s about listening, observing, and learning from the kids and their caregivers. They show us what true inclusivity looks like in action.”

Playground testing, the Jr. Play Team way

Throughout 2024, the Jr. Play Team gathered to test prototype equipment, share their experiences and have a lot of fun. We invited the kids and their caregivers to engage with new designs while our team observed their movement, reactions and comfort levels.

Sometimes it was clear where the kids gravitated naturally. Other times, we watched closely as they struggled or hesitated, and we turned those moments into opportunities to do better.

Take our new product, Volo Aire™. During testing, some children who needed assistance climbing up to the second level loved lying on the net and feeling the movement of others around them. But when it was time to go, parents found it difficult to help them climb back down. The solution? Add slides at the second level, offering a fun and easy way out for anyone—regardless of ability. This thoughtful fix didn’t just support accessibility, it made the experience better for all kids while also providing a more comfortable and feasible option for the caregivers as well.

A president with a purpose: Meet John Buettner

In our latest video, you’ll meet John Buettner, president of the Jr. Play Team, as he shares what inclusion means to him. With wisdom and warmth beyond his years, John gives voice to the power of designing with—not just for—children with disabilities. Watch the video and see how the Jr. Play Team is shaping the future of play.

More than a team—a movement

The Jr. Play Team is more than just a group of play testers. They’re leaders, innovators and advocates for the kind of playgrounds we all want to see in our communities: welcoming, adventurous and truly inclusive.

Their ideas spark innovation. Their feedback helps shape our products. And their joy reminds us why we do what we do.

Know a kid who would love to help shape the future of play? We’re always looking to add to the Landscape Structures Jr. Play Team. If you know someone who’s passionate about inclusive play and making a difference, fill out this form and let the fun begin!

Guest Blog: Inspiring creative play among kids

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Venti_Blog

In 2016, we introduced Smart Play®: Venti™, a smartly designed playstructure that packs 20 exciting activities into its compact size. Today, we’re happy to have Tory Roff, concept designer at Landscape Structures, as our guest blogger discussing how he and the product development team created the newest addition to our Smart Play line of playstructures.

The idea for the Smart Play line of playstructures was more an ethos about playgrounds as a whole… about creating a cohesive play environment. The criteria for this playground solution was a small footprint and budget, but a desire to serve a large population. So, we started with a blank slate without any rules, and asked ourselves how to design an environment that invites a dynamic play experience.

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The design started with the Cargo Net and strategically set the height of it so there is room for play underneath, allowing it to work as a trampoline above and it also acts as a hub for the rest of the play space. We built out from there in respect to circuits and routes so there are different ways to engage the whole of the system. Graduated challenge is built into Smart Play: Venti so that kids with a higher skill level can find challenges and still have a way to invent from it.

We spent a lot of time in the model space—virtual and scale models—working out the dimensions of the structure to really understand how every piece could be doing more. In modular playgrounds, a fire pole is always a fire pole. But good design considers what programming is happening around the fire pole so that kids can create another route and link two events as a cohesive experience rather than a series of segmented happenings. And that’s what’s happening with Smart Play: Venti. The Cabin Climber is an interior club house and an exterior ladder. The pods on the Cargo Net are a way-finding option through the structure, but also a place to stop and hang out. The Belt Hammock is a space for lounging, but also an escape route—it’s not big, it’s not obvious, but it is there.

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I was able to talk with students at Birchview Elementary School while they played, and they talked about their friend, Michael, who uses a mobility device. They were excited that he can actually use this equipment, and how it’s his favorite on the playground. Because the design is less scripted, there’s less expectation of how a user actually engages it. Smart Play: Venti allows for more natural inclusion through the addition of many access points and a centralized hangout location, which was one of our primary goals during the design process.

There is enough variety of activities in the playstructure so that kids feel like they can fill in the blank however they want. As designers, we had ideas and hopes of how everything would play out. But you have to engage it from a place of humility and know that there isn’t such a thing as intended use. Kids are infinitely more creative than we are, so it’s important that we give them a platform to express that.