Much at stake in playful design
We think of playgrounds, by their very nature, as exhilarating. Little pockets of adventurous clambering and imaginative, energetic activity. And generally we’d be right, whether they’re glorified paddocks with a swing, slide and a climbable tree, or more sophisticated and stocked with all manner of artfully designed contraptions for youngsters’ spinning, swooshing and dangling pleasure.
And we certainly think of them as inclusive, which isn’t reliably true for a wide array of kids with health conditions.
It’s with this in mind that Eion McKenzie is setting out on a fundraising bike ride on that increasingly well-travelled (but still itself challenging) route from Cape Reinga to Bluff, raising money for a playground that his grandson Ollie Walton, and many besides, can enjoy as heartily as anyone else.
Ollie has Cohen syndrome, delaying his development, and progressive vision loss. So if the playground at Waihopai School is to fulfil its intended role it needs not only some safety measures but also multi-sensory capacities – such as music, different textures and sounds.
Again, it might be tempting to tell ourselves that pretty much any recreational cavortings are capable of delivering multi-sensory experiences.
Fact is, more than a little educated thought has gone into enhancing this, and where this has happened the communities are better served.
Consider Blenheim’s Pollard Park, which opened last year. It’s a $400,000 playground (don’t get your hopes up, Waihopai, because McKenzie can hardly be expected to peddle and publicise his way to such riches on your behalf) with a particularly musical bent including large-scale percussion instruments designed for outdoor installations. We’re talking bongo-style drums, a steel tongue drum, vertical tubular pipes and a duo xylophone.
Then there’s Hare Puke Park in Flagstaff, up Hamilton way. Last year it picked up an industry award as playground of the year. It has all manner of bells and whistles – figuratively speaking, anyway – expansive and expensive enough to be termed a million-dollar venue and its designated ‘‘sensory play’’ capacity is a large part of that.
Happily, the scale of the facilities is less important than the thoughtfulness that goes into the planning to create sounds, textures, sights and sensations that help develop children’s sensory and motor skills.
Ideally, of course, the experience is appealing rather than overwhelming. Because there’s a lot to be said for care being taken in the other direction – helping protect the vulnerable from sensory overload. Just a few months ago we were commending supermarkets that were prepared to offer low-sensory quiet hours in their stores, dialling down the noise, lighting and other distractions at times for families with members on the autism spectrum who can find the overload a stressful experience indeed.
That’s the thing about stimulations. There are some situations where we want them enhanced; others where we want them muted.
All of which is reasonable, as long as we’re alert to the reality that different people have different tolerances. Especially at different times of the day.
We do need to offer a variety of stimulations, and that includes in our playgrounds.
In case it doesn’t go without saying, other settings have rich and a rewarding stimulations of their own. Gardens, for instance.
We do need to offer a variety of stimulations, and that includes in our playgrounds.