Can I Play There!

Inclusive Playspaces are places where everyone should feel welcome and are places high in play value where everyone can get around and feel like they belong- a place to play together and socialize. Guided by the Australian Inclusive playspace programme, this section CAN I PLAY THERE, explores the next steps once you get there: is there anything here I can play with?

An important step in auditing or planning for a playground or playspace, is to consider how diverse children and families will play there. For an inclusive playspace, usability is about being able to play there.

Core Principles from the Playability Model that apply include:

  • Principle 1: A rights-based perspective, underpinned by inclusive social policy
  • Principle 2: Respect for diversity of age, gender, size, ability, socioeconomic, ethnicity and cultural differences
  • Principle 3: Intergenerational spaces: Incorporating amenities as well as play opportunities
  • Principle 4: Play value
  • Principle 5: Positive approach to risk and challenge in policy and provision
  • Principle 6: Design by inclusion: Involving users in the design process
  • Principle 7: Inclusion by design: Universal Design
  • Principle 8:  Designed for inclusion but 100% accessibility and usability is not the goal

The most common problems that arise include:

  • The internal flow and pathways are not leading to each play component and so are not intuitive for children with intellectual disabilities or autism
  • Usability issues: no playspace components that are designed for use by diverse groups of children, especially children with disabilities- for example all the play components require the ability to climb. For children with physical disabilities in particular, climbing may not be an option.
  • Inaccessible ground level or elevated level components: The playspace components do not have diverse ways for using them e.g. a rope or a ladder or a slope to climb up to the top of a slide
  • Inequitable access to play value or play challenges- poorly designed options for diverse forms of play (see playability model)

Figure 1: only providing climbing options reduces the inclusiveness of a playspace for diverse children

General design considerations for play value and Universal Design so that everyone can PLAY THERE!

For high play value and Universal Design, consideration needs to be given to:

  •  Level routes and slopes to each play component so that users can access multiple choices.
  •  Multiple ways to use each play component – steps, ladders, transfer platforms, contrasting colour and texture, grips.
  • Transfer solutions for accessing play opportunities on different heights – transfer platforms, ramps, deck spaces, steps.
  • Space requirements – adaptive devices, head clearance, accessible equipment.
  • Access to important information – consistent and good colour contrast, kerb edging, textures underfoot, clear easy-to-understand information, pictograms explaining how play items might be used, acoustics.
  • Simple and intuitive use – desire lines that lead users from one space/item to the next, flow and layout of components in circular routes.
  • Play value
    • More varied ground-level components as well as elevated ones
    • Grouping play components in circles to increase social play; considering components that require more than one person to operate and use them (such as see-saws) for social play
    • Ways to include vegetation and landform to increase physical, sensory, social, and cognitive play: small hills and tunnels accessible to all users; low hedging to demarcate areas and give the child a sense of privacy
    • Providing small, as well as large, spaces to foster imaginative, creative play
    • Ways to incorporate loose materials or parts, such as sand, water, stones, sticks
    • Strategies to include loose parts in play such as providing buckets, spades, ropes. Storage solutions (for example, sheds, lockers, boxes) will help with this
  • Every child must be able to access the highest point in the playground; and,
  • Community involvement in designing playspaces, including young children and users with impairments is key to maximising problem solving for designing play solutions.

DESIGN BY INCLUSION AND INCLUSION BY DESIGN

SEE INDIVIDUAL STRATEGIES IN FOLLOWING SECTION FOR MAXIMISING PLAY VALUE