DESIGN DETAIL: INCLUSIVE PLAY AREAS

The playground is one of the most high-use and high-demand amenities on site. As the only non-school-affiliated playground in town, parents can bring their young children to play during school hours. Updating this playground was one of the most common requests reported during the community engagement process.

Through survey responses and conversations at Forge Pond Park, the following playground-related community preferences emerged:

• More shade

• Materials and features that won't get hot, like tunnels and metal slides

• Fenced in

• Rubber surface instead of wood chips

• Inclusive play equipment

• "Natural" play structures—specifically boulders for climbing

• Proximity to amenities for older age groups to allow parents to keep sightlines on all children

Elements depicted in this conceptual playground redesign include these considerations, creating a variety of safe, pleasant, engaging play experiences by:

• planting vegetation to shelter areas from sun and wind

• using materials that will remain pleasant to use in all seasons

• making supervision easier by fencing or buffering the main play area with vegetation

• surfacing with poured-in-place rubber, which is the safest option, meets ADA requirements, and is most durable, requiring less ongoing maintenance and investment despite significant upfront costs¹

• creating sensory play environments that go beyond ADArequirements to enhance social, physical, and emotional development for all children

• incorporating playful features in the terrain that encourage organic interactions with the space

• keeping proximity to the other main recreational facilities older children may use, like the basketball courts and skate park

Play Mounds

Using soil from site improvement work, mounds approximately 3 feet tall can be constructed and seeded with fescue to create more built-in play structures and topographic interest between the parking lot and pump track area.

Pump Track/Skatepark

Children, teens, and adults can use a pump track-style skatepark which is built for continuous, smooth rolling. Paved pump tracks can be ridden by skateboarders, in-line skaters, bikers, and footpowered scooterers.

Inclusive Playground

The cost of a prefabricated inclusive play structure ranges between $36,000 and $100,000.¹ Inclusive Play has several models on their website. Natural play elements, like boulders, can supplement the play structure.

What is an inclusive playground?

A universally designed, sensory-rich environment that enables children to develop physically, socially and emotionally.¹ Well-designed playgrounds that go beyond current ADA standards, which require that playgrounds be accessible for those who use a wheelchair or other mobility aid, to include elements designed for children with Down syndrome, sensory disorders, and visual or hearing impairments.

Recommendations

Establish a Playground Planning Committee that includes a range of community representatives, including people with and parents of people with different disabilities such as visual impairment, hearing impairment, autism/SPD, mobility impairment, and cognitive disabilities.²

Develop a comprehensive maintenance and inspection plan before playground construction to determine which community members should be trained to perform routine inspections and to identify a National Program for Playground Safety-certified inspector for periodic assessments.