PlayCore Resource Series: Inclusive Playgrounds
Inclusive playgrounds move beyond physical accessibility by creating usable play environments that create equal opportunities for play, allow individuals of all abilities to fully participate, and incorporate design features that foster independence. These resources include information on the value and characteristics of a universally designed outdoor play environment that supports the needs of the whole child.

Click here to download the Inclusive Playgrounds Resource Sheet 

Me2
Developed in partnership with Utah State University, Center for Persons with Disabilities, PlayCore offers a comprehensive design program for creating play environments for people of all ages and abilities and create inclusive communities through play. The program determines 7 principles of inclusive playground design that strive to create a truly inclusive and embracing play experience the developmental needs of the whole child by intentionally providing opportunities for physical, cognitive, communicative, social/emotional, and sensory development.

2Play Together
Developed in partnership with the National Lekotek Center, 2PlayTogether offers a valuable resource striving to make a difference in inclusive playground play and creating communities that care through character education. This resource equips programmers with tips and activities that will promote play, understanding, and fun between children with and without disabilities.

Lekotek
The National Lekotek Center is a not-for-profit organization that uses interactive play expreiences, and the learning that results, to promote the inclusion of children with sipeical needs into family and community life. Lekotek makes the world of play accessible to children with a types of disabilities through special play and learning centers where they can have fun with traditional toys, adapted toys, books, and computers.

To learn more, visit http://www.lekotek.org

Boundless Plagrounds®
Boundless Playgrounds® is the first national nonprofit dedicated to helping communities create extraordinary playgrounds where children, with and without disabilities, can develop essential skills for life as they learn together through play. There are more than 100 Boundless™ playgrounds in over 20 states and Canada, and dozens more are currently in development. Boundless Playgrounds, based in Connecticut, was founded in 1997 by a passionate team of parents and professionals.

Both GameTime and Play & Park Structures are proud to be part of a select group of Boundless Playgrounds Industry Partners working together to provide places where children of all abilities can learn and play together.

To learn more, visit www.boundlessplaygrounds.org

Accessibility and Your Playground: A Profile of Facilities Taking Action
By Anne-Marie Spencer, GameTime
When designing a playground, incorporating accessibility into the design should begin early in the process, with consideration given to layout, circulation and component selection. This article offers a variety of factors to keep in mind when designing accessible playgrounds. Profiles of three communities that recognized the importance of integrated play, and the steps they took to make it happen on their playgrounds are also shared.

To learn more, visit findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1145/is_4_38/ai_100960610/print

Inclusive Play for ALL Children: The Opportunities are Boundless!
GameTime’s Can-Do Playground is a welcoming place where children of all abilities can be in the middle of the fun. The Can-Do Playground endeavor brought together both the private and public sectors of this community that included a non-profit organization founded by the six Wilmington-area Rotary Clubs and enthusiastically led by Thomas A. Talley, a champion of this project, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, and the Delaware Department of Transportation. Together, these public and private entities secured and prepared the land for construction, while raising $489,500 to complete this project.

To learn more, visit www.candoplayground.org 

Shane’s Inspiration
The mission of Shane's Inspiration is to create Universally Accessible Playgrounds and programs that integrate children of all abilities socially, physically and emotionally, fostering acceptance, friendship and understanding.

To learn more visit www.shanesinspiration.org

National Center on Accessibility
The National Center on Accessibility (NCA) promotes access and inclusion for people with disabilities in parks, recreation and tourism.  Based at Indiana University and established in 1992 through a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service, NCA has emerged as a leading authority on access issues unique to park and recreation programs and facilities.

To learn more, visit www.ncaonline.org 

National Center on Accessibility: Access to Play Areas
This publication is designed to assist park and recreation professionals, designers and consumers in creating inclusive play environments for children with and without disabilities. Because a child or an adult has a disability, does not mean their need for recreation is lessened. While play promotes self-awareness, inclusion promotes community-awareness by involving both people with and without disabilities.

To learn more, visit www.indiana.edu/~nca/playgrounds/play-areas.shtml#skipnav

Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board)
ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Play Areas
The Access Board is issuing final accessibility guidelines to serve as the basis for standards to be adopted by the Department of Justice for new construction and alterations of play areas covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The guidelines include scoping and technical provisions for ground level and elevated play components, accessible routes, ramps and transfer systems, ground surfaces, and soft contained play structures. The guidelines will ensure that newly constructed and altered play areas meet the requirements of the ADA and are readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.

To learn more, visit www.access-board.gov/play/finalrule.htm

A Guide to the ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Play Areas
This guide is designed to assist in using the play area accessibility guidelines. Copies of the play area accessibility guidelines and further technical assistance can be obtained from the U.S. Access Board, 1331 F Street, NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20004-1111; 800-872-2253, 800-993-2822 (TTY), or online at pubs@access-board.gov.

To learn more, visit www.access-board.gov/play/guide/intro.htm

Play Area Guidelines: Background
This rule amends ADAAG to specifically address play areas, including play structures and equipment. The rule addresses requirements for the number of play components required to be accessible, accessible surfacing in play areas, ramp access and transfer system access to elevated structures, and access to soft contained play structures.

To learn more, visit www.access-board.gov/play/status.htm

Training Course on Accessible Play Areas
The Access Board, in partnership with the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA), has developed a new training course on its ADA and ABA accessibility guidelines for play areas.

To learn more, visit www.access-board.gov/play/nrpa-training.htm


National Center on Physical Activity and Disability
Playgrounds for ALL Kids!
Why should we make ALL playgrounds accessible to kids with disabilities? It's the right thing to do! ... And, by the way, it's the law! Accessible design doesn't just happen by accident. It must be considered from the very beginning of the process of planning a playground. This article was edited for the National Center on Physical Activity and Disability, a collaborative project of the National Center on Accessibility, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

To learn more, visit www.indiana.edu/~nca/ncpad/play4all.shtml

Utah State University, Center for Persons with Disabilities
Beyond Access
The Beyond Access website contains information to guide parents, advocates, communities, play environment designers and equipment manufacturers in their efforts to create inclusive play environments for all children.

To learn more, visit www.beyondaccess.org

Natural Learning Initiative
What makes a park inclusive and universally designed? A multi-method approach
In Open Space People Space, by Moore, R. & Cosco, N.
Social inclusion has been the subject of recent initiatives in the United Kingdom and Canada, driven by continuing issues of social exclusion of minority ethnic groups, low-income families, people with disabilities, children, youth and elders from mainstream contemporary society.

To learn more, visit www.naturalearning.org/docs/InclusiveUDPark.pdf

The Natural Learning Initiative is a Research and Design Assistance Program of the
College of Design at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. A variety of resources and full text articles can be accessed from the resource section of the website at www.naturalearning.org/resources/resources.htm.

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