Article published on 5 August 2024
Play and sports area manufacturer Proludic has successfully designed and installed a fully inclusive play space for East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH). It provides a welcoming space for the children in their care to enjoy. Meanwhile, it offers a space for respite and bonding opportunities for their parents and carers.
Asked to create a safe, contemporary, and accessible environment, Proludic worked closely with this client to ensure the play area met the diverse needs of children. Therefore, the team catered for a range of disabilities and life-limiting conditions. The Nook Children’s Hospice play area, built on sloping ground, required extensive grading to create terraced levels, allowing easy access for all children while creating a colourful and visually inspiring space.
Inclusive Play Design Features
The accessible design features carefully selected play equipment, including an inclusive wheelchair seesaw (J987), a wheelchair swing (R49-IPY-1611), pod swing (J496), an inclusive roundabout (J2409) and a wobbly mirror (J3428). These elements ensure that children with a variety of disabilities and illnesses can enjoy the space and access a diverse range of equipment that will stimulate them repeatedly. Additionally, a variety of sensory equipment such as chimes (both at floor and waist level), drums and are placed throughout to reinforce the sensory experience.
The inclusive play area features a colourful wetpour-designed surfacing featuring vibrant geometric shapes to provide a visually stimulating sensory experience and safe environment for all children. This surfacing not only enhances the playful atmosphere but also offers a smooth, cushioned surface, ensuring accessibility and safety for those with physical, sensory and cognitive disabilities. It also provides a safer surface for the staff members to undertake occupational therapy sessions with both the in and outpatients under the Nook’s care.
To enhance the sensory experience, Proludic added a resin-bound sensory path curling down from the hospice’s sun terrace to one of two entrances, making the playground easily accessible to wheelchair users while improving safety for those with mobility impairments. This focal technicolour path is lined with local animal-themed geo-cache hiding spots, as well as multicoloured box archways that create playful shadows, adding further interactive elements to the space.
Feedback about the inclusive play space at The Nook has been overwhelmingly positive, with children loving their new space and parents and caregivers enjoying the bonding moments and memory-making opportunities the playground offers.
Proludic has released a new inclusive play areas brochure packed with valuable tips and expert advice, featuring several inspiring play areas for you to explore.
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