New playground welcomes all, supports recovery

Last week, we celebrated the grand opening of Sullivan Playground at University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital. The playground is named for Minnesota Vikings Center John Sullivan, who pledged $150,000 to create the play space. Vikings teammate Chad Greenway, through his Lead the Way Foundation, and the Minnesota Vikings football organization also committed $25,000 each to bring the project to fruition.

Sullivan Playground is a safe and accessible playground for patients and their siblings to play while they’re visiting the hospital. The playground features a large concrete elephant, a concrete manta ray bench, a Permalene® giraffe panel, nature-inspired roofs and PebbleFlex® safety surfacing with custom graphics including John’s signature. Even more than the unique visual aspects, the playground’s design features take into account the patients who will use the equipment.

The Rollerslide was customized to accommodate children with IVs.

Following are just a few of the inclusive components incorporated into Sullivan Playground:

• Because some children at Amplatz must be hooked up to IVs constantly, the playground features a custom Rollerslide that allows kids to climb up and slide down without getting tangled in the equipment. This is the first commercial outdoor slide ever made to accommodate children with IVs.
• Swaying benches provide a place for parents and children to relax and take in the fresh air.
• A climbing net gives patients’ siblings a place to blow off steam while they develop their large motor skills.
• A Talk Tube located in the elephant’s trunk allows kids on the ground to communicate with friends on the structure’s upper deck.
• A shade structure provides protection for kids whose treatments make them sensitive to the sun.
• Children using walkers or wheelchairs can navigate the playground with ease on this cushioned, porous surface.

The grand opening celebration included a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring a special patient and his family. Immediately following the ceremony patients and families were able to test out the new playground.

Thornton Creek Elementary School celebrates new inclusive playground

The grand prize recipient of the School Grounds. Playgrounds. Common Ground.® contest, Thornton Creek Elementary School in Novi, Mich., celebrated the completion of their new inclusive playground with a grand opening on Thursday, May 23. The school received $50,000 in inclusive playground equipment from the Landscape Structures- and NAESP Foundation-sponsored contest, plus a playground committee spearheaded some major fundraising efforts in order to design a truly inclusive playground for students.

Thornton Creek Elementary School playground committee

Thornton Creek Elementary School’s new playground features an inclusive design that focuses on bringing children of all abilities together to learn, play and grow. A PlayBooster® playstructure was included in the design along with inclusive and sensory-focused freestanding components like the Cozy Dome®, OmniSpin® spinner, Oodle® Swing and We-saw™. Thornton Creek Elementary School’s new playground will welcome children of all abilities as well as serve as an outdoor classroom to help students develop their social, problem solving and gross motor skills.

Thornton Creek Elementary School’s new inclusive playground

The grand opening included a ribbon-cutting ceremony with all of the students. Classrooms that raised the top fundraising dollars were honored and allowed the “first play” opportunity on the new playground followed by other classrooms throughout the morning. Congratulations to the entire school community for providing a place where kids of all abilities can play together!

Welcoming all abilities, generations with a new take on the seesaw

Nearly 14 percent of children have one or more special needs ranging from autism to cerebral palsy. These kids often have troubles socializing and even playing, which is why it’s important to address various abilities on the playground. Additionally, we’re seeing an increased number of caregivers who are injured military service members and part of an aging population. Their needs are also important to consider so that entire families can come to the playground for fun and recreation.

The above reasons are why we’ve expanded our inclusive play product offerings. The new We-saw™ is a seesaw that was specifically designed to accommodate people of all abilities. It is a multi-person seesaw that is accessible, promotes social inclusion and offers a multi-generational solution. The We-saw provides a truly inclusive play experience by accommodates multiple users, and the We-saw’s walk-in seating allows for easy access and transfer for those with mobility issues. Everyone that climbs aboard the We-saw will experience a fun, user-controlled ride.

We are committed to providing play experiences for children of all abilities. With our design philosophy, which addresses the environment, the play experience and variability, and other inclusive play product innovations like the OmniSpin® spinner and Oodle® Swing, we bring children with and without disabilities together to play, learn and grow on the playground.

Stimulate your senses on the playground with Pulse™

Our inclusive playgrounds bring children and families of all abilities together for play. In addition to providing access to the playground, we are focused on offering sensory play experiences. That’s why we introduced Pulse™, a multisensory way to add lights, sounds, touch and more movement to the playground.

Pulse, with its three interactive games, brings children of all abilities together for visual, auditory and tactile stimulation. The games are easy to understand, encourage social interaction, teach the value of sportsmanship, and help develop physical coordination and spatial awareness.

Pulse Tennis

Pulse Tennis is great for two to eight players ages 5 to 12. With flashing lights and realistic tennis sounds, kids will be encouraged to run, lunge and stretch to send the light back to their opponent.

Pulse Table Tennis

Pulse Table Tennis welcomes two to four players ages 2 to 12. Kids develop hand-eye coordination and concentration as they watch for the light to bounce back to them. Table tennis, installed at a wheelchair-accessible height, is great for therapeutic settings.

Pulse Tempo

Pulse Tempo rewards kids for their movement with five unique sound and light shows. Designed for up to six players ages 2 to 12, Pulse Tempo helps advance kids’ motor skills.

Watch Pulse in action below, then go to playlsi.com to hear what kids have to say about the new multisensory play experience.

Celebrating National Sensory Awareness Month with a Playground Grand Opening

October is National Sensory Awareness Month. The month helps raise awareness about sensory processing disorders (SPD) as well as funds to support research, education and advocacy. Sensory processing disorder, a condition that exists when sensory signals don’t get organized into appropriate responses, affects 5 to 10 percent of all children.

To kick off National Sensory Awareness Month, we celebrated the grand opening of the STAR (Sensory Therapies and Research) Center’s state-of-the-art sensory playground. The event welcomed nearly 300 people from Greenwood Village, Colo., and surrounding communities. Many of the children and families in attendance were clients of the STAR Center, who were excited to see the playground in action.

Mobius® Climber

While creating the design for the STAR Center’s playground, which will be used as a therapy tool to treat children with SPD, our designers took into account the different sensory needs of the children who will use the equipment. A variety of components included offer something for all kids experiencing sensory processing disorders:

• The Mobius® Climber provides tactile, proprioceptive and vestibular stimulation.
• OmniSpin® spinners, in addition to vestibular stimulation, encourage cooperative play to maximize social interaction.
• The Cozy Dome® offers a quiet space for over-stimulated kids to calm down and re-center themselves, or engage in imaginative play.
• Social imaginative play from the Sensory Play Center® lets children integrate previous sensory knowledge with new experiences to expand their understanding of the world.
• Children survey their world from the high vista of the PlayBooster® Tree House, inspiring them to stretch their horizons.

Time Inn, when kids choose to go in, it is their quiet time and nobody can ask them to come out for any reason.

The STAR Center and its sister organization, the Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation, offer services and programs for professionals parents, and anyone interested in knowing more about the sensory challenges that affect children. Learn more here.

School in Novi, Mich., awarded $50,000 in inclusive playground equipment

We’re proud to announce that Thornton Creek Elementary School in Novi, Mich., was named the grand prize winner of the School Grounds. Playgrounds. Common Ground.™ essay contest! The school was awarded $50,000 in inclusive playground equipment from Landscape Structures to help them expand the inclusivity of the school environment to the playground.

Thornton Creek Elementary School has a mission to share the responsibility of creating a safe and positive environment that promotes self-esteem, mutual respect and optimum student learning, and each member of the school community is taught and understands that everyone learns at different rates, times and through different strategies. Because Thornton Creek takes students’ learning opportunities from the classroom to the playground, they realized that it, too, needed to be more inclusive to welcome the diverse population.

Runners-up were awarded $15,000 each in inclusive playground equipment from Landscape Structures. Runners-up included:

• Utsalady Elementary School in Camano Island, Wash.
• Lone Dell Elementary in Arnold, Mo.
• Clyde F. Brown Elementary School in Millis, Mass.
• James Whiteside Elementary in Richmond, British Columbia

The school playground contest was sponsored by Landscape Structures in partnership with the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) Foundation in an effort to bring inclusive playground environments to schools across North America. The NAESP Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, a professional organization serving elementary and middle school principals and other education leaders throughout the U.S., Canada and overseas.

Miracle League of North Alabama celebrates complex opening

Last month, the Miracle League of North Alabama, located in Huntsville, celebrated the grand opening of its baseball complex at Braham Spring Park. The accessible baseball field is now ready for the 165 kids and adults with special needs who are signed up to play baseball this fall, plus the complex includes a truly inclusive playground and a one-of-a-kind concrete statue of Homer, the Miracle League’s mascot.

Miracle League logo in PebbleFlex® surfacing.

The grand opening event welcomed nearly 200 people from Huntsville and surrounding communities. People in attendance learned about the history of The Miracle League Association, the national organization that designs and constructs custom baseball fields for children with mental and/or physical challenges, from Executive Director Diane Alford. Additionally, the mayor of Huntsville, named and dedicated the field Johnny Franklin Field, after Johnny Franklin, North Alabama’s league director, the league developer for the national office and the driving force behind the project in Huntsville.

Inclusive PlayBooster® Vibe™ play structure with PebbleFlex safety surfacing.

We’re proud to say that we were involved in each main component of the baseball complex. The accessible baseball field was created using PebbleFlex® safety surfacing, which features custom color blends and graphics including the Miracle League logo. The inclusive playground features a PlayBooster® Vibe™ playstructure, and uses a variety of multi-sensory playground components like the Rollerslide, Cozy Dome®, OmniSpin® spinner and Oodle Swing®.

The Miracle League mascot, Homer, constructed of concrete.

Unique to the Miracle League of North Alabama’s complex is the concrete statue of Homer. The statue, constructed of Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete (GFRC), is completely custom designed and was hand-painted by Landscape Structures’ artists. Homer is positioned behind home plate, and provides a distinctive photo opportunity for visitors to the baseball complex.

Collaborating to bring awareness to Sensory Processing Disorder

We recently began collaborating with the Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) Foundation and its sister organization, the STAR (Sensory Therapies and Research) Center, to help bring more awareness to the disorder, and help share the important work that the Foundation does to treat adults and children affected by SPD. Our collaboration has led to the creation of a sensory playground at STAR Center, which is helping move SPD therapy outdoors.

Playgrounds are an important part of children’s lives. They provide opportunities to play, learn and socialize. Because of this, the inclusive playground at STAR Center will be used as a therapy tool and this “natural” setting will be incorporated into children’s daily lives.

The STAR Center also focuses on parent education to help them understand SPD and intervention principles. Parents are coached to prepare for their child’s sensory needs, and families receive help to facilitate a “sensory lifestyle” for the whole family.

We’re excited about this new collaboration with the SPD Foundation and STAR Center, and look forward to learning more about how therapy in natural settings—especially playgrounds—helps treat children touched by the disorder.

Steve King Honored for Commitment to Inclusive Playground Design

Steve King was honored with the Visionary Leadership Award from Shane’s Inspiration, a nonprofit organization specializing in the design and educational programming of inclusive playgrounds, at their annual gala on April 21. King, the cofounder of Landscape Structures Inc., the Delano, Minn.-based commercial playground equipment manufacturer, was recognized for his commitment to providing inclusive playground equipment for children of all abilities as well as his philanthropic support of Shane’s Inspiration’s abilities awareness programs.

King, an American Society of Landscape Architecture Fellow, created a new type of play environment as his final project at Iowa State. After observing children at nearby playgrounds and the child development department on campus, he put together a concept that combined traditional playground equipment such as slides and climbers into an endless stream of connected activities, which he later termed “continuous play.”

Since that concept was introduced, King has continued to build upon it. He has committed his entire life to creating play spaces for children of all abilities. King was chairman of a task group of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) that worked with the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) to update the ASTM F1487 Specification, a voluntary safety and accessibility standard for public playground equipment designed for children ages 2 to 12. His task group had the added responsibility of developing playground accessibility standards to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

In addition to his commitment to providing truly inclusive playground equipment, King was honored for his continued support of Shane’s Inspiration. King and his wife and cofounder of Landscape Structures, Barbara (1946-2008), met Catherine Curry-Williams and Tiffany Harris, cofounders of Shane’s Inspiration, more than 10 years ago. Since then, Shane’s Inspiration and Landscape Structures have partnered to design and install more than 30 inclusive playgrounds throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Dreams becoming reality

Region 3 Winner: The Princess Alexa Foundation, Keller, Texas

The plans for Alexa’s Playground are coming along nicely. The playground designs are complete, and we are waiting to see the final layout with the colors. The grounds of Keller Sports Park have been leveled, and soon the space will be surveyed to determine accurate placement of the inclusive playground equipment. As we get closer to completion, we’re getting even more excited to see this dream of Alexa’s become a reality.

In addition to finalizing the playground designs and site plans, the Princess Alexa Foundation is working to secure funding. Recently, we were chosen as one of the beneficiaries of a local charity golf tournament. We are also working on a couple of grant proposals, and hope to connect with a local businessman who is influential within the community.