10 minute read
Enhanced Play
Enhanced P AL Y
Improving children’s experiences at the playground through collaboration
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By Tina L. Stanton-Chapman, Ph.D., and D. Michael Malone, Ph.D.
Play is critical to children’s learning and development. It helps children build their confidence and develop many important skills, including cognition, language and social skills. Unstructured play, defined as play that isn’t organized by an adult, offers additional skill-building opportunities — such as time alone to explore an environment; time to develop peer relationships and to work on physical, language, social-emotional and cognitive skills; and the ability to just play as the child wants to play without having to follow an adult’s specific direction. The playground environment represents an unstructured setting that offers many play benefits for children.
Play helps children build their confidence and develop many important skills, including cognition, language and social skills.
Design Principles
Playground managers are well-aware that playgrounds are an integral component to any community. Playgrounds provide caregivers a means to bond with their children. They create a place where parents can connect and interact with others. These spaces help form a sense of community within a neighborhood. When playground managers wish to design a community playground, there are several principles to keep in mind:
1The playground design should follow the principles of universal design. This means the playground is appropriate for all individuals regardless of age, gender, race/ ethnicity, culture and ability. Families with infants and toddlers — and grandparents or caregivers with disabilities who take children to the playground — will be able to participate in play with their children.
2The play value of the playground equipment. This principle is assessed by asking questions, such as: (a) How many children can play on each piece of play equipment at one time? (b) Can the play equipment be used in multiple ways (e.g., sliding, climbing)? and (c) Will children get easily bored with the play equipment?
3The playground map or location helps playground managers consider where to place the new play equipment. This also applies to the context of existing equipment, bathrooms, parking areas, water fountains and shade space (if trees with adequate shade are not available).
4Caregivers must feel that the playground is safe for their children.
5Playground managers should conduct a needs assessment with the local community to make sure the playground design connects with the local community. This applies to play equipment and inclusion needs. The design also reflects the community’s history and culture. By considering the higher needs of the community, playground managers can ensure that the playground design and selected play equipment are compatible with the local culture and customs.
Multiple forms of knowledge are required in the design and development of playgrounds, as such development has multiple aspects, involves multiple individual and professional practices, and requires diverse discourse. Grasping the full complexity of communities, schools, children and families is beyond the capacity of any single disciplinary perspective. Thus, the convergence of knowledge of multiple stakeholders, professionals representing different disciplines and community members is crucial for developing innovative playgrounds that allow children to develop, build their confidence, make friends and play as equals.
The design and development of playgrounds requires: a. Knowledge of how children develop, socially interact with adults and other children, and interact and play with objects and their environment b. Knowledge of the creative engineering design process for outdoor play equipment c. Knowledge of environmental and aesthetic characteristics of the land set aside for the playground build d. Knowledge of the laws, rules and safety regulations of playground design and installation e. Knowledge of the community needs, responsibilities and resources
These knowledge requirements involve engagement of groups of diverse professionals from different authorities and companies, as well as various stakeholders and communities. Every playground design involves a number of individuals, all of whom have specific involvement and tasks.
Interprofessional Collaborative Approach
An interprofessional collaborative approach refers to the cooperation and discussion among professions and community members. No one member of the team is expected to have in-depth knowledge of all aspects of the playground. Collectively, the team presumably has the needed breadth and depth of knowledge to move forward. Interprofessional collaboration is indirectly fostered among the members of the group by arranging time for participants to meet face to face, guiding them through
the development of positive professional relationships, establishing procedures for working together, and teaching them about the intricacies of designing and building playgrounds (e.g., laws, procedural safeguards, building permits). The ability of these professionals to work together as a unified team is essential to creating a space promoting children’s peer relationships, social skills and emotional regulation, cognitive and motor skills, error and risk reduction, and equipment choice supporting children of all abilities.
Close interprofessional collaboration and specialization among playground managers, community leaders (e.g., mayors, trustees, board members), families in the community, child specialists (education, psychology), engineers, landscape architects, construction workers (e.g., playground equipment installers), and other professionals who may provide needed input (e.g., occupational therapists, physical therapists, medical doctors) are necessary given the complexity of designing and building a quality playground. The consequences of not utilizing a collaborative approach include separate goals as opposed to shared goals, isolated decision making, less-effective coordination and communication, and overall confusion between community members.
The journey toward successful interpersonal collaborative partnerships involves multiple factors. The first factor is commitment from all team members. Team members are available, attend meetings, are consistent with the feedback and suggestions offered, and go above and beyond what is expected of them. Commitment also may take the form of monetary donations and the amount of effort an individual does within the group. The success of the interprofessional collaboration is dependent on the level of commitment each of its team members contribute to the group.
The second factor is communication. Team members have open and honest conversations in a medium that is comfortable with all individuals. Team members also must
Multiple forms of knowledge are required in the design and development of playgrounds, as such development has multiple aspects, involves multiple individual and professional practices, and requires diverse discourse.
acknowledge that each profession has its own way of communicating, its own vocabulary, and acronyms that will not be understood by other team members. A shared terminology handbook can be created, so that all team members can learn the different terms. This creates a shared language between the team members of different professions, reduces communication barriers, and creates more effective communication between the parties. An example is the acronym “ADA” (Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990). For playground equipment installers, playground managers, families who have a child with a disability and child specialists, ADA is a meaningful acronym. For the remaining team members, ADA is a Civil Rights law that must be written out, defined and explained, so all team members know what is meant when someone brings up ADA during a meeting.
The third factor is strong leadership from key decisionmakers. Once an interprofessional team is formed for a playground project, those individuals, who will be making decisions throughout the project, must step up and take leadership roles. Typical decision-makers on a playground project include the playground manager, community leaders (e.g., mayor, trustees, board members), select members of the community, child specialists, landscape architects and engineers.
Roles and responsibilities these individuals must assume include arranging, planning and holding meetings; taking meeting minutes; developing and maintaining a budget; obtaining all necessary construction permits, contracts, agreements, work orders, cost estimates, construction schedules, bidding documents and drawings; and needs assessments. These individuals must assume the needed responsibilities, so all required tasks are completed in a timely manner.
The fourth factor is understanding the culture of each agency. Individual team members must make a conscious effort to learn the attitudes, policies and procedures of each representing discipline within the team. This is best described as cultural competence. Cultural competence allows team members to successfully interact and communicate with people from different professions. With cultural competence, the team — when designing and creating and building a playground — can create more
Playground managers should keep in mind that interprofessional collaboration takes time.
ideas, increase their creativity, be more willing to hear the viewpoints of others, and be open to more ideas.
The fifth factor is preplanning. Preplanning is when each individual team member considers the skills they bring to the team, so they can communicate this expertise when it is needed. When the team meets as a group, preplanning is a time when a clear vision of the playground design and build is developed. This clear vision then allows the group to develop its identity, team roles and responsibilities, and areas of need.
The sixth factor is providing adequate resources. Team leaders not only serve the interprofessional team that they lead, but also the community where the future playground will be built. For this reason, it is important that both groups feel that team leaders hear them when they make requests for resources that will help them achieve their goals. The request for additional resources or help is the prime opportunity for compassionate leadership. Ensure team members and community members know it is acceptable to speak up when adequate resources are not available and provide the proper channels to express concerns. When tough decisions must be made (e.g., not enough money to purchase specific play equipment), team leaders should have appropriate conversations about the decision-making process, explain the rationale behind the decisions, and emphasize how allocated resources support the overall project goals and priorities.
The seventh factor is minimizing “turf” issues. Given the number of decision-makers on the interprofessional team, there is potential for a turf war. Turf wars occur because situations involve egos, emotions and an individual’s sense of identity. A playground design and build must be approached like a staircase with each step providing a series of choices with different functions and parts. For example, one step of the staircase may be playground surfacing. Another step may be construction permits. Each decision-maker has different areas of expertise. Therefore, each step of the playground design and build should be assigned to the individual with the closest alignment of expertise (e.g., construction/playground equipment installer decision-maker in charge of construction permits; child specialist decision-maker in charge of playground equipment selection). If a step does not have a logical choice for a decision-maker, then negotiations should take place between decision-makers with unassigned tasks. For example, if the steps explore shade structures and analyze needs assessment data were unassigned tasks, the decisionmakers who did not have a task responsibility would negotiate which task they would prefer to do. If all decisionmakers were assigned a task and there are tasks that need to be assigned to someone, then a few decision-makers will be asked to take on an additional task.
Time, Patience, Perseverance
These guiding factors create an environment in which interprofessional collaboration can thrive. Playground managers should keep in mind that interprofessional collaboration takes time. When new teams form, they must remember that collaboration takes time, patience and perseverance, which is supported by their leadership and their ability to think long term. They also must realize that the relationships that team members form do matter. It is critical that playground managers work diligently to build the relationships between the team members. Hosting social events at the onset of the team creation will help to establish stronger bonds between members. They must then encourage “pockets” of team members to organize and meet on their own time once bonds begin to form. Reinforcing these bonds whenever possible is crucial for interprofessional collaboration success. When playground managers bring the right skills to the table, adopt the right mindset and incorporate the appropriate interprofessional collaborative factors into the mix, the magic of a quality playground design and build can happen.
Tina L. Stanton-Chapman, Ph.D., is a Professor of Early Childhood Education and Human Development at University of Cincinnati. D. Michael Malone, Ph.D., is a Professor of Early Childhood Education and Human Development at University of Cincinnati.
