Photo Credit: Landscape Structures
The staggering amount of information about the importance of outdoor play, combined with the alarming rise in childhood obesity, has recently given playgrounds the spotlight as places to keep kids active.
Playgrounds on which children are forced to stand in line and wait for a turn on the swings, slide and merry-go-round are designs of the past. Those areas then evolved into a continuous carousel of play with prescribed entry and exit points, as well as integrated access points for children in wheelchairs.
“It is important to design all-inclusive playgrounds so that kids of different abilities are able to play together,” says Brad Work, representative for Anderson Recreational Design in southern Ohio. “We don’t want to exclude anyone when we design a playground.”