Author: Jill Moore
We’ve officially reached back to school season! While in my school days I always thought getting new office supplies was the pinnacle of excitement for the new school year, from my current career I think it’s way more exciting to see schools gear up for the new wave of kids with a new inclusive playground. As more and more people and communities push for an inclusive play space, the school playground is an obvious choice to make inviting for everyone of every ability! It’s important to understand the value of play for all when it comes to learning and development.
Sure, it makes for successful recess, but more importantly the playground helps children develop motor coordination, social and cognitive skills, build physical strength, and even facilitates healthy neural pathways. According to a study conducted in Naperville, IL by Dr. John Ratey, exercise is found to facilitate cognitive function and growth, so having play and exercise time before a trickier class has been found to improve test scores. This is obviously something everyone should be able to reap the benefit of, regardless of ability level.
Additionally, children of all abilities need to develop their motor skills so that instead of focusing on trying to balance to stay in their seat, they can pay attention in class. With play hosting so many benefits in itself, it’s critical to ensure equitable access to the play experience. However revamping a school playground can be a challenging endeavor, as it can be costly and school budgets are strained enough as is. Some of the most successful inclusive playground projects we’ve seen at school have been driven by a variety of factors.
While grants can be incredibly helpful, the most impactful projects I’ve seen during my time in the industry have been driven by the kids. Including kids involved in STEM projects such as Lego League, or robotics clubs, or even class projects has proven to make for a successful in gaining both passion and funding opportunities to improve the school playground. Another successful practice is including special education teachers, as well as occupational and physical therapists. These people are critical to include in your project as they’ll be able to speak to what disabilities they see and work with every day, and what sort of play experiences are needed when it’s time to design the space.
Whether it’s fundraising for an entirely new playground, or adding a wheelchair accessible spinner or swing to an existing playground, the kids are tremendous advocates. I’ve seen some classes give kids a group project to design an inclusive playground of their own. This sparks excitement and passion for adding something big or small that ultimately makes the play space more inclusive for every ability. Even something such as adding rubber surfacing vs. wood chips on a play space can make it more functional for disabilities!
Every school deserves a fantastic playground and I think for a playground to be fantastic, it needs to be inclusive of everyone. Inclusion looks different for every school and community, which is why it’s so important to work with parents, therapists, educators and most importantly the kids!