A well-maintained and interactive playground is vital for your students, as it keeps them active and breathing fresh air during the day. The playground is significant for building strength and practicing social skills. But how can we make sure the playground is accessible and fun for everyone? As you update or build your playground area, here are some considerations to ensure you consider all your students.
Have a Variety of Play Choices
Beyond the traditional playground equipment such as swings, slides, and structures with stairs, consider options that would be easily accessible to students with mobility issues. This can include:
Balance bars
Crawl tunnels
Obstacle course
Tactile items and elements
Rocking equipment
Sandbox
Spinning equipment
Swing accessibility
Consider what may work for your situation and student population. Some equipment requires more mobility to use than others, but featuring various playground equipment will keep a variety of students engaged and active. Some specific thoughts:
Accessibility: Can interactive equipment like drinking fountains be reached, and are there ramps to help students get to higher places?
Visual impairments: Can students that are blind or visually impaired navigate the playground? Are signage and equipment accessible to those who may be colorblind?
Socializing: Will provided equipment help facilitate social interactions, especially assisting children with disabilities to play with others?
Seating: Are areas near benches accessible to wheelchair users so they can sit with their friends?
Technology: Will assistive technologies be at risk anywhere? For example, will a slide with static electricity interfere with prosthetics or pacemakers?
Consider the Surface of Your Playground
The playground surface is important to determining your playground’s accessibility, safety, and appeal. You have various options, but surfaces usually fall into two categories: unitary and loose-fill. Unitary surfacing materials are mats or tiles bound in place, then cured to form a single shock-absorbing surface. Loose-fill surfacing materials are many small materials poured onto a surface. Below are a few surfaces to consider:
Rubber mats: Rubber is generally considered a great choice for many playgrounds as a unitary surface. It’s usually a durable material that survives all sorts of weather conditions and use. That makes it pretty low-maintenance. It’s great at absorbing impacts, so it’s considered a safe material for play. It’s usually made from recycled tires and can come in various colors and patterns. Depending on the quality of the materials, this can be pretty expensive but can be worth it over time with lower maintenance costs.
Wood fibers chips: An organic material, wood fiber is one of the most environmentally-friendly choices. Ignoring installation or preparation costs, chips can be one of the cheapest choices for your surface. However, being a loose-fill material, it is pretty easy to move during playtime. As such, you must have enough chips to cover the entire surface and rake regularly to redistribute chips and remove hazardous materials. It may also be a bit tough to navigate for students with mobility issues with the uneven surface.
Rubber mulch: A combination of the previous two materials, wet pour rubber is made from recycled rubber. It often is designed to look like natural wood chips but is poured together to make one solid surface. It is porous enough to allow water to pass through but smooth enough not to cause mobility issues. One issue is to ensure your mulch is non-staining and not treated with harmful chemicals, such as copper.
There are also other possible playground surfaces, such as synthetic grass and pea gravel, but these often require much more accommodations to comply with ASTM F1292, which tests for head injury criterion (HIC) and the hardness of a surface (GMAX) and sometimes used as a standard for insurance. For most instances, the surfaces mentioned above are your best bet. You’ll want to consider your budget and requirements to make the best decisions. Your surface vendor will recommend the best options for your situation.
Be Intentional about Placement and Spacing
When you’re constructing your playground, you’ll want to consider the usual, such as shading and drainage. To accommodate all students, you’ll have to consider maneuverability even more so. Is there enough space between playground equipment to move around? Are there any plants or obstacles to remove to add open space? Additionally, consider visibility as an important priority for your playground. Is there a clear view to survey all the equipment so children can see where they want to play and allow a supervisor to monitor all students throughout the playground?
Sometimes you’ll want to consider NOT adding things to your playground. Are the more active areas separate from less active areas? For example, if you have students with an autism spectrum disorder or visual or audio impairment, they may need a quieter area to spend some time. In these cases, having an area away from the noisier playground will help them stay calm in a soothing environment or have a place to talk and be easy to hear one another.
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In the end, if you’re doing your best to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA - Section 240 and 1008), the American Society for Testing and Material (ATM F1487-11 and F1292-09), and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC - Public Playground Safety Handbook), you’ll be in a good spot. Assuming you’re in Wisconsin, you’ll also want to check Wisconsin Legislature for additional guidance. These lists are designed to make safe and accessible playgrounds for all students and will cover more in-depth topics and information.
Children will be in a good place at this important time in their development if they can play with peers and grow social skills. Paying attention to the details to ensure all your students can play will show how much you care about them to your parents and community. Providing for students is what education is all about, whether that’s time spent in the classroom or outside during recess.
Check out Our Vendor Partners!
Kompan
KOMPAN is a world leader in playground and outdoor sport & fitness solutions. All of our solutions are backed by extensive research, user tested, and manufactured with the highest quality materials. Our universally designed solutions motivate play and movement for users of all ages and abilities.
Romtec
It is the Mission of Romtec, Inc. to provide the highest quality parks & recreation and public utility buildings to public and private organizations in all 50 states. We believe that every American park and recreation site is a special resource and that our customers deserve the most attractive and durable buildings to meet their unique project needs.
SafetyFirst Playground Maintenance
SafetyFirst Playground Maintenance is a family owned and operated company founded in 2010. Since then, our operation has been providing communities with safer, more enjoyable playgrounds throughout the Midwest. SafetyFirst services include, surfacing, playground relocation, maintenance/repairs, inclusion, and problem specific solutions.