Playground Committee Meeting Stow City Center Project Planning June 27, 2019 Welcome!
• Welcome & Introductions • City Center Project Update • Project Overview, Timeline & Budget • Your Role Tonight (and Moving Forward) • Next Steps Agenda
Let’s Get Started! Our Playground
Current City Center Site
Concept Rendering The Future
Concept Rendering Play Trail/Playground
City Center Phase 1 will create a centralized community gathering space for all residents. • Amphitheater • Play Trail/Playground • Splash Pad Vision & Components
HOW DO WE PLAN? • What are our goals? • Location – what are the considerations? • Budgeting for the playground • Planning for specific age groups • Choosing play equipment • Incorporating the 7 elements of play Planning for a Playground
WHAT ARE OUR GOALS? You want to be very clear about what you are looking for before asking for a proposal – for instance, specific equipment you want or don’t want. Often, the best advice is to start with the end in mind. Developing a list of goals will help everyone involved – from the play equipment companies to the playground installer and the playground consultant – understand what you want. Goals for a Playground
Goals might include: • Ease of maintenance • Innovation • Design • Theme • Strengthening partnerships within the community As you develop goals, be sure to involve all stakeholders and seek out experts when needed. That might be a recreation expert, construction professional, or parents of children with disabilities. Goals for a Playground
You will want to assess the area for potential challenges. Things you should take into account include: • Ensuring you have enough room to extend the safety surfacing at least 6 feet around the play equipment for required use zones • Ensuring you have good drainage or determining if updates will need to be done. Installation experts recommend a slope of 1% to 4% (or one to four feet of fall for every 100 linear feet). • Assessing the topography. Determine if there are manmade or natural features that need to be incorporated into the playground or affect the playground. Location for a Playground
• Budget is more than just about money. • You want to make sure you get the most for your budget dollar and that probably means relying on a landscape architect, playground consultant or playground manufacturer to make recommendations. • It also means delivering the project on time and within budget. Budgeting for a Playground
• Check references. • Find out about reliability and on-time delivery. • Ask questions about the durability and safety record of the products being recommended. • Find out about warranties. • Understand how much it will cost to maintain over time. Tip: Consider designing on a Pay for Play concept . This means play elements come first instead of relying on what is left over in the budget. Budgeting for a Playground
• For a public park and playground, you need to know and plan for the community that will be visiting and using it – one size does NOT fit all. • Plan not only for current age ranges, but also future age ranges. • Plan so that it meets the needs as the neighborhood children grow up. This can be extremely important when planning for smaller, neighborhood playgrounds. • You also will want to have an idea of the number of children the play equipment needs to accommodate. Plan for Specific Age Groups
• Areas for 2 to 5-year-olds: • Offer activities that test motor skills, strength, agility and creative thinking, such as climbing over, under and around things, smaller steps and crawl spaces that promote exploring. • Encourage social skill development, areas where children can begin to interact with others. • Play equipment might include crawl tunnels, small slides, enclosed play spaces, activity panels for fine motor skills and decks of modest height, low platforms, ramps with pieces attached for grasping, tricycle paths and sand areas. Plan for Specific Age Groups
Areas for 5 to 12-year-olds: • This age group is ready for bigger challenges both physically and intellectually. • Children tend to want play equipment with higher platforms and slides, swings, climbers, larger slides, rope climbers, monkey bars and upper body equipment. Plan for Specific Age Groups
You need play equipment that is age appropriate, but there are a few other things to consider when deciding what to provide: • Do you want single or multiple user equipment? • How many children need to be accommodated? • How tall or what height are you comfortable with? • Do you want traditional post and deck play equipment, rope play equipment, music, boulders? Choosing Play Equipment
• Do you want swings and spinning opportunities? • What accessibility/inclusivity requirements do you have? • What types of surfacing will be needed? • Have you accounted for use zones? • Will the equipment provide the seven elements of play? Choosing Play Equipment
• Swinging • Climbing • Spinning • Brachiating • Balancing • Sensory Play • Sliding Seven Elements of Play
• Very basic playground activity • Helps with balance • Teaches a child to know where his or her body is in space • Practices fine motor skills (grasping the chain) • Practices gross motor skills (pumping the legs). Traditional , toddler and infant swings help develop locomotion, balancing, body coordination, as children develop the pumping motions and jump out of the swings or even pushing others in the swings. Saucer swings accommodate multiple kids at one time, are accessible and enables children with special needs to enjoy the swinging movement. Hammock swings have a smooth swaying motion that is soothing. This motion of swinging restores balance to the vestibular system, provides proprioceptive input and helps children with autism feel more in balance. Swinging
Concept Renderings Swinging
Swinging
• Helps important body functions develop and function properly. • Helps build gross and fine motor skills along with core strength, enhancing the vestibular system and body awareness. The Comet Spinner from Burke challenges children ages 5 to 12 to use their strength, balance and coordination. It can be used by one child or a group, sitting or standing either inside or outside. The children use their strength to move it. Mounted at an angle, it provides interaction with the force of gravity. Whereas the Eddie from Berliner is a very simple spinner. It has a body and stem made of stainless steel that is either straight or curved and accommodates one or two kids at a time. This is a great spinner for both small and bigger kids. Spinning
Spinning
• Helps build muscle strength, endurance and postural control. • Encourages pretend play and social interaction, develops proprioceptive systems and cognitive functions. • Children love to balance and even adults may appreciate a quick balancing exercise, too! Balancing
Balancing
Balancing
• Encourages cooperative play and social interaction • Encourages cooperation and following directions • Promotes leg/hip flexibility • Develops critical thinking skills • Promotes spacial awareness Sliding
Concept Component Sliding Component
Sliding Component
• Helps build gross and fine motor skills, enhancing the vestibular system, perceptual motor skills such as body awareness, spatial awareness and directional awareness and sharpening visual perception skills. • Helps make children aware of direction – up, down, left, right. It encourages problem- solving and predicting what’s going to happen . • For older kids, a rope structure can provide unlimited play opportunities – climbing up, down and side-to-side, increasing their confidence as they climb higher and higher! • Play Pod Walks and Pad Climbers help kids master balance and coordination skills as they climb. • And, don’t forget the challenges climbing rocks and boulders offer! Climbing
Concept Component Climbing Component
Climbing Component
Climbing Component
• Very basic playground activity • Helps with balance • Teaches a child to know where his or her body is in space • Practices fine motor skills (grasping the chain) • Practices gross motor skills (pumping the legs). Traditional , toddler and infant swings help develop locomotion, balancing, body coordination, as children develop the pumping motions and jump out of the swings or even pushing others in the swings. Saucer swings accommodate multiple kids at one time, are accessible and enables children with special needs to enjoy the swinging movement. Hammock swings have a smooth swaying motion that is soothing. This motion of swinging restores balance to the vestibular system, provides proprioceptive input and helps children with autism feel more in balance. Brachiating
Brachiating
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