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Sensory playground

I have been seriously thinking that we need a sensory playground in our area. If anyone has any recommendations or ideas how or what area of city officials I need to petition or talk to. Or where to start. Anyone ever do this or have one in your city?

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Permalink Reply by Diana Ashby Henry on May 27, 2011 at 12:28pm

A couple of thoughts:

I believe Dr Lucy Jane Miller's SPD Foundation has been instrumental in developing sensory playgrounds in the denver area. You may want to go to www.SPDfoundation.net to ask your question.

Also, you may want to google ZONTA playground near Toronto, Canada. That is a public park spearheaded by an OT and her woman's group.

Ingrid M. Kanics, OTR/L, (President, Kanics Inclusive Design Services, LLC) who partners with Landscape Structures INc. would also be a great resource.

Good luck. This is a great Idea which will bw a wonderful addition to your community!!!

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Permalink Reply by Ingrid M. Kanics on May 31, 2011 at 12:45pm

To follow up on Diana's response above

There is a lot of emphasis building in the creation of sensory playgrounds or sensory rich playground. A real leader in this field is Landscape Structure -

http://www.playlsi.com/EXPLORE-PRODUCTS/UNIVERSALLY-ACCESSIBLE-PLAY...

Actually, they are doing a contest with Shane's Inspiration right now that could help your community get $100,000 of playground equipment - for more on the contest go to

http://www.playlsi.com/Explore-Products/Universally-Accessible-Play...

Links to the other projects that Diana listed above

Zonta Playground - Mississauga, ONT

http://www.zontamississauga.org/zap.htm

Another great one in Canada is in Hamilton, ONT - this is the Pier 4 Park that includes water and sand play along with a full size tugboat

http://www.hamilton.ca/CityDepartments/PublicWorks/Parks/Amenities/...

A great to work with in Canada is ABC Recreation - on projects like this is

http://www.abcrecreation.com/home.html

In the US - I know that Lucy Jane Miller's organization the STAR center had just moved and they will be meeting with Landscape Structures and myself in June to design their playground for future research.

A great group that has some done some great sensory playgrounds in the Denver Area is Rocky Mountain Recreation

http://www.rmrec.com/Photo_Album.html

Pamela Wolfberg is doing research on her sensory playground that is located at her school the Autism Institute

http://autisminstitute.com/

Other great inclusive - sensory rich playgrounds include

Morgan's Wonderland - San Antonio, TX

www.morganswonderland.com

Preston's Hope - Beachwood, OH

www.prestonshope,com

J.T. Grommet's Island Park - Virginia Beach, VA

http://www.grommetisland.org/

Kids Together Park - Cary, NC

http://kidstogethercary.org/ThePark.htm

I'm sure there are more - they are just not coming to my mind at the moment -

If you would like any additional help feel free to contact me - I specialize in helping communities create inclusive play spaces (indoor and out) that are sensory rich and support visitors of all abilities. I've been doing such work with Children's Museums and playground areas for about 10 years and this past year just started my own company.

If you are interested in attending a symposium on this topic I host one each year called Play For All an Inclusive Play Symposium

http://www.playlsi.com/Explore-Products/Universally-Accessible-Play...

Most of all have fun creating a great place for your community!

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Permalink Reply by Diana Ashby Henry on May 31, 2011 at 2:12pm

Thanks Ingrid for all this great information. You are the best!

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Permalink Reply by Amy Assante on May 31, 2011 at 2:45pm

Thank you this is also great info and thank you for all the time you took to get all these links

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Permalink Reply by Ingrid M. Kanics on May 31, 2011 at 3:06pm

My pleasure - I was about 3/4 through my response when I lost the whole thing getting a link so I apologize for any typo/grammar errors -

The key thing is to be sure that you have a nice balance of all the senses for children - also look at creating spaces that support play for smaller groups of 1-2 children and 3-4 children at a time. A lot of times children with autism will migrate to these areas while they watch other children playing - these are good places to put tactile, visual and sound play.

Keep Playing!!

Ingrid

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Permalink Reply by corinne lashley on June 2, 2011 at 11:18am

The city of Concord California built a playground for special needs children. Not specifically sensory.

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Permalink Reply by April Kauth on June 13, 2011 at 12:50pm

Patch Reef Park on Yamato Road Boca Raton Fl recently completed a Sensory rich playgound. Not sure who the design team was. However it is AMAZING

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Permalink Reply by Martianne Stanger on August 29, 2011 at 9:06pm

Not so much a sensory playground, but I love Weezie's Garden and so does my sensory kid. I'd put it in my backyard if I could (http://www.masshort.org/Weezie-s-Garden-for-Children) also, Kids at Play playground in Marhsfield, MA is great (http://www.patriotledger.com/features/x863069667/Eco-friendly-Marsh...) maybe the folks who spearheaded that could help you out... (http://marshfieldkidsatplay.com/_