Playground Guide - 2017 - 10

Sensory Development Playgrounds
for Parks, Schools
By Angela Grego

he right kind of playground design goes beyond simply
providing a place for kids to play outdoors. It creates a
hands-on, interactive learning experience with colors,
shapes, functions and textures. To adults, it may look like just
colorful equipment that helps kids let out pent-up energy. However, a child's perspective is much different. Not only is it colorful, but it also is a wonderful land of active and imaginary play.
No matter what your role is in playground design, it's important to remember how colors, textures and shapes are all
part of early learning education. You have a key role to ensure
that active play areas accommodate children with disabilities
like autism. In these scenarios, it's important to include pieces
where a function meets a purpose to help them further their
cognitive, motor and sensory development.

How to Target Sensory Development
in the Playground Environment
Textures - Consider adding elevated sand pits so children can
stand and play with sand to avoid getting sand in their shorts
and shoes. Sand can be shaped and molded with water, which
is a great learning experience for kids. Other examples of textures on the playground include:
* Square panels with marbles embedded for children to rub
and roll their hands on
* Grips for different equipment such as monkey bars, climbing bars
* Text/numbers grooved into panels or walls
* Shape cutouts in different panels that represent a bigger picture of the entire park like the solar system as part of a rocket
ship theme

Shapes - Consider adding pieces of equipment that have
cutouts, so children can explore whether or not they turn or
create a secondary function. An example of a secondary function would be turning a gear that is hooked up to a kaleidoscope. This would allow one child to turn a crank while other
kids look in to see the different colors and patterns.
Colors - Younger children and toddlers react most to
bright colors (http://sciencing.com/do-bright-colors-appealkids-5476948.html) because they are still developing their color perception. While most playgrounds feature basic primary
colors, more advanced equipment might also include secondary colors to distinguish a level of difficulty meant for older
children. By tailoring your playground equipment, surfaces
and other interactive pieces with these bright colors, it is easier
to keep children engaged in playtime.
More Sensory Development Tools - Other types of sensory
development that are important in park environments are proprioception (position) and vestibular (balance) senses. When
children explore their sense of position (proprioception), they
are determining how far away and how much force they need to
use to accomplish a movement. Types of equipment that challenge this sense are monkey bars, teeter-totters, pulling bars and
swings. These activities stretch, push or pull on muscles or joints.
Other types of playground equipment are designed to help
a child detect minor concepts of physics and gravity through
movement and balance. Ideal pieces of vestibular playground
equipment include spinners, balancing pods and balance
beams. These each challenge children with their balance by
spinning and rocking back and forth.
Another key component of an effective playground to nurture active learning in a play environment is the surface. The
right playground surface, whether it is sand, poured rubber or
artificial grass, needs to be equipped for heavy foot traffic and
provide adequate support beneath key pieces of equipment
without the dangers of a hard ground.
Playground design is more than selecting the equipment,
the surfacing and putting it all together. It all serves a function
under a theme for children's development. Always be sure to
create a hands-on, interactive learning experience for early education and sensory development for those with disabilities.
The child's imagination will take it from there.
Angela Grego is the Owner of SYNLawn® Kansas City DBA Summit Flooring &
Turf. (agrego@synlawn.com).

Parks & Recreation

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http://www.sciencing.com/do-bright-colors-appeal

Playground Guide - 2017

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