Photo Credit: Centerville-Washington Park District
What is one of the most satisfying achievements for a park and rec professional? How about bringing joy and excitement to the community you serve? It’s even better when a project also improves the health and wellness of the community for years to come! The Centerville-Washington Park District (CWPD) in Ohio achieved this goal during the recent redevelopment of an outdated community park. One of the keystone projects was to create a playground design merging manufactured equipment with the natural elements of the surrounding environment.
CWPD’s mission is to deliver fun, healthy, and outstanding park experiences that connect the community with the outdoors. We strive to achieve this mission by updating park playgrounds to become unique destination spots within the community. Younger kids tend to identify a park by their playground experience; it could be a unique feature at the playground, their favorite slide, a spinner, or even the playground color. Accessibility is another factor in all park projects, and Field Park—centrally located within the community—became a good candidate for an all-accessible playground surface. These key elements led to planning a redevelopment of the 44-acre community park surrounded by a 194-acre nature park.
Assessing Wants And Funds
CWPD employees surveyed the community, explained project components, and identified community needs. The new playground was designed with all ages in mind. If two different playgrounds were constructed, parents wanted the ability to view both playgrounds simultaneously while their children played. Based upon proven research on the benefits of nature play to a child’s growth and development and the proximity of the playground to a large nature park, it was evident that a natural play area would be a vast improvement. CWPD decided it was most feasible to build one traditional, central playground and one playground for nature play at the same location within the park.