Supporting state parks and recreation associations and their members

Posted on August 8, 2019 by PlayLSI

We are excited to announce the 11th Annual State Speaker Scholarship Program has launched! The 2019-2020 program will support the appearances of keynote speakers at state parks and recreation associations’ annual or regional conferences. State associations that are chosen will receive a scholarship of $2,500.

Since the scholarship program’s inception in 2009, Landscape Structures has awarded nearly 250 scholarships to state associations and more than $600,000 to support the appearances of speakers at park and recreation conferences throughout the nation. To complete an application for Landscape Structures’ 2019-2020 State Association Speaker Scholarship, visit playlsi.com/speaker-scholarship/.

Splashing for the whole community

Posted on August 1, 2019 by PlayLSI

It is easy to be overwhelmed in the variety of design options offered by Aquatix by Landscape Structures. The best practice is to design your splash pad for variability and play value. Start by answering the following questions:

Who will use the spray park?
What types of spray features should you include?
Where is your water playground located?
When will the splash pad be used?

Create areas that cater to specific age groups. Typically, younger players enjoy a gentler water experience than older kids, while older kids prefer highly interactive features with high volumes of water. It’s also important to choose equipment at various heights so children of all abilities can reach the spray elements and engage with their peers. Overlap for different ages and abilities should be considered to provide opportunity for children to participate and play together rather than just alongside each other. All these factors help create a fully inclusive environment to welcome all children and families.

Splash pads are highly interactive facilities. Simple ground sprayers can add plenty of interactivity that meets a variety of sensory inputs. Structures like the HydraHub2 combine traditional playground structures, and all their fun with water elements. Dynamic play components provide endless aqua play excitement with dumping and splashing that provides a big payload of water plus an element of suspense. Interactive play products like the JetStream encourage kids to experience water in novel ways through game-based events and innovative cause-and effect activities. Users of all ages can experience a variety of water flows, sprays or mists to run through with water products like the RippleRun.

Splash pads are fun play environments. However, designers can maximize the play experience through color, spray patterns and interactive elements. Through thoughtful design, a fun and colorful splash pad can tell a story and guide users through the environment. Spray parks can incorporate the history and culture of the surrounding neighborhood with themes. And even better, themed spray parks may encourage imaginative play among children as they interact with the splash play products.

Lights can be added to components to create accents that transform the splash pad space into a visual experience at night. Some parks have set their splash pads to become water and light shows during evening hours to maintain interest in the space.

Learn more about designing a fun and safe water playground for everyone.

Keep your cool with heavy duty shade sails

Posted on July 18, 2019 by PlayLSI

Branford Park, California

From small shade to big shade, decorative shade to themed shade, we offer flexible and stylish commercial shade sails for everywhere people like to gather. SkyWays® by Landscape Structures offers the largest reprieve from the sun’s rays to provide cool and reliable shade for any play, rest and activity area!

: Pickleball Courts, Arizona

: The Vista 1 at Hunters Creek, Florida

: Kansas City Zoo, Missouri

: Freedom Park, California

: Infinitus Pie, Colorado

Recreational areas such as tennis courts, fitness parks, playgrounds and dog parks; outdoor activity spaces such as zoos, amusement parks, waterparks and splash pads; public/community spaces like pavilions; and corporate locations, hotels and airports all benefit from the addition of commercial shade structures. Our sun shade structures are available in a variety of standard shapes and sizes, and these industrial shade canopies can be customized to fit the unique requirements of your environment.

: Ascend at Cave Creek, Arizona

: Sonic Square, Arizona

: Henry Doorly Zoo, Nebraska

SkyWays shade structures are unmatched in materials, design, engineering and manufacturing, and successfully block up to 97 percent of harmful UV rays from the sun and keep areas beneath up to 30-degrees cooler. Even more, SkyWays by Landscape Structures is certified to ISO 9001-2015, ISO 14001-2015 and AISC for steel building structures so customers can be assured that they are working with a manufacturing facility dedicated to providing the highest quality and most durable heavy duty shade structures.

Learn more about commercial sun shade sails and structures from SkyWays by Landscape Structures.

Lincoln Heights Recreation Center, California

Principals give back to the local community

Posted on July 11, 2019 by PlayLSI

On Monday, more than 100 principals representing the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) came together to build a playground at Adams Elementary School in Spokane, Wash. The community service day was part of the 2019 NAESP Pre-K-8 Principals Conference held in Spokane.

Principals from across the country are welcomed to the school in Spokane where they will build a playground! Rocking it for kids! Thanks to our friends @PlayLSI! You all are rock stars! @NAESP #naesp19 pic.twitter.com/Jd9CqpFsQJ

— Eric Cardwell (@Cardwell16) July 9, 2019

The school playground was designed for students ages 5 to 12, and features playground slides, climbers, and activity panels in addition to overhead events and bridges. The playground is ADA compliant and designed to welcome children of all abilities. In addition to building the playground, principal volunteers participated in landscaping, painting and other beautification projects at the school.

What an awesome day of giving for @naesp and Adams Elementary. We had a great time building the new @PlayLSI playground. It was a bummer telling the kids they had to wait 72 hours to play on it. We could see how excited they were. Thanks @DrSGeis for the recommendation. So fun! pic.twitter.com/HiZI9OqADx

— Bret Domstrand (@bretdom) July 10, 2019

TEPSA was in the house…or, on the playground, to help with a playground build @spokaneschools @NAESP #NAESP19 @TEPSAtalk #WeLeadTX @PlayLSI pic.twitter.com/qZRZU12fQv

— Mark Terry (@tepsamark) July 9, 2019

More playground pictures! @NAESP @PlayLSI @SuperPWCS @ToddErickson15 pic.twitter.com/iof4XmOg1H

— Susan (@susan_danielson) July 10, 2019

As you can see from the tweets, principals had a blast during the build. This community service day marks the 11th anniversary of our partnership with NAESP to build a playground at a deserving elementary school.

We came. We saw. We built (a really awesome playground). Another #NAESPServiceDay19 is in the books. #NAESP19 pic.twitter.com/x8Eu6Tli9z

— National Assoc. of Elementary School Principals (@NAESP) July 9, 2019

See more about the playground build from The Spokesman-Review.

Planning an Inclusive Splash Pad

Posted on June 20, 2019 by PlayLSI

Splash pads are a great way to make aquatic play accessible. Even though splash pads may be accessible to those with differing abilities, this does not make them fully inclusive inherently. Designing bigger and more exciting splash pads does not necessarily make a splash pad more inclusive. In fact, bigger and more exciting often adds barriers for some individuals. Designing for inclusion requires extra consideration in the design process, but typically very little consideration for extra budget or maintenance.

Splash pads should be designed as an aquatic play environment comprised of features that maximize the sensory and cognitive stimulation for children of all physical and mental abilities and is designed to encourage all children to play together and with the same features. Play features that are wheelchair height accessible and adequate turn-around space between elements are important aspects to consider in design. Other considerations should be made for how children with autism or other sensory differences may approach such a space: is there a balance between intense and more gentle water play? How will the various sounds and sights affect those playing in this space?

From the design of the splash pad feature, to the methods of accessing the site, be conscious of barriers to access and address them early in the design process. For instance, assure that there are adequate handicapped parking spaces and that the path from parking to the splash pad location does not contain any obstacles.

All splash pads should be developed utilizing a rule of thumb for one child every 25 square feet of active water spray. Splash pads are an excellent opportunity for park agencies to develop safe play areas that encourage people of differing ages and abilities to experience water play.

To learn more about Splash Pad products, visit the Aquatix website.

Kiwanis Legacy of Play Winners 2019

Posted on June 13, 2019 by PlayLSI

We’re excited to announce that the Kiwanis Club of Barron, Wisconsin is the winner in the 6th Annual Legacy of Play contest. The club, which will receive $25,000 in playground equipment, plans to build an accessible and inclusive playground in Anderson Park to provide a safe and fun opportunity for all kids of the community to play together and be themselves.

Located in Northwestern Wisconsin, Barron is a rural city with a special needs community of children that make up 20% of the child population and over 50% of children qualifying for free or reduced lunch. It is important to the city of Barron to create a park for the community that children can enjoy regardless of their physical and mental ability or socio-economic status. The City of Barron and the Barron Kiwanis Club are excited to collaborate on this special project, and we’re excited to see this inclusive playground vision come to life over the next year, as well!

Stay tuned for updates along the way through our website, and Barron Kiwanis Club.

Planning an Inclusive Playground

Posted on June 6, 2019 by PlayLSI

Planning a playground requires consideration for children of all abilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires all playgrounds to be brought into compliance. Since the ADA requirements have come out, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) have provided written guidelines for accessibility compliance. ASTM F1487-05 Standard is a document that provides specific playground/play equipment accessibility guidance.

The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board has also authored a guideline that is the standard of practice for determining compliance with the ADA.

Legally, the ADA requires that “each service, program, or activity conducted by a public entity when viewed in its entirety, be readily accessible to, and usable by, individuals with disabilities.” This law covers “both indoor and outdoor areas where human constructed improvements, structures, equipment or property have been added to the natural environment.”

Accessibility law only requires that comparable experiences must be provided for all. If there are several slides and two or more swings, it is considered accessible if children with disabilities can use one of the slides and one of the swings. To learn more about the difference between accessibility and inclusivity, click here.

Aside from the regulations put forth that determine how to design an accessible playground for children of varying mobilities, there are many actions a planner should take to ensure their structure is truly inclusive. Inclusivity on a playground can be witnessed when children of all abilities can play together and participate equally- not separately and on their own. A well-designed playground incorporates the aspects of inclusive play to blend seamlessly.

To learn more about inclusive play structures, visit playlsi.com

To find an inclusive playground near you, click here.

Planning a Community Splash Pad: Goals and Development

Posted on May 30, 2019 by PlayLSI

Welcome back to the second installment of our educational series on how to create a community splash pad! The last post focused on items to be accomplished in the pre-planning stage. This week we will be focusing on the goals of the splash pad and its development.

Goals

By creating a list of goals, planners and decision makers can refer to the objectives they set in the beginning to re-evaluate their choices to ensure they meet the goals they originally set out with. The goal of a Master Plan is to provide community residents exceptional open space, park land, facilities and programs to splash pad users.

The following goals and objectives are intended to provide an operational framework for future decisions related to provision of parks and recreation.

Create a Sense of Community and Belonging
Offer programming that is targeted to families and those residents without support services.
Celebrate the community through participation in festivals, community functions and events.
Support and encourage new developments to include areas for active and passive recreation.
Provide parks and recreation facilities that are of the highest quality, that preserve open space and history, are well maintained and that are accessible to all residents of the community.
To create a community of healthy residents by providing opportunities that promote and encourage active lifestyles.
Provide recreation programming and facility opportunities that meet the needs and interests of the entire community.
To use existing community resources efficiently and to demonstrate fiscal responsibility.
To build a city-wide system of parks connected by trails and greenways to provide both active and passive recreation opportunities.
To enhance the landscape character and aesthetics of parks to heighten the experience of the spray park user.
To increase the accessory services and facilities available to the park system use in the way of adequate restrooms, water fountains, concessions, shades areas, playgrounds, and other accessory services or facilities.

Development

Clearly define the goals of the project (i.e. public health, revenue generation, community asset, etc.) and frame public discussions, budget numbers and designs in terms of stated goals.
Design the splash pad so that capacity aligns with projected use and revenue goals. Don’t cap users at a much lower number than the official capacity of their splash pad for safety.
Ensure access issues such as parking are considered early in the design process.
Plan for expansion and new features (i.e. install more ground sprays than will initially be used and buy water features that can be replaced or exchanged).
Explore opportunities to develop splash pads near other public amenities such as parks, pools, picnic areas and community centers.
Ensure adequate seating in shaded areas for adults supervising splash pad users.
Install mechanical and electrical equipment on concrete surfaces and insulated from dust and dirt.

Important considerations during the planning process:

1.Physical Location

Within Community
Within Park or Recreation District
Proximity to similar neighboring facilities

2. Location and Availability of Parking

Is there sufficient parking?
Is there van or bus parking?
Is the parking shared with other activities?

3. Location and Availability of Restrooms and Concessions

Are restrooms included?
Are changing areas included?

4. Existing Utility Services (Water, Sanitary, Storm and Electrical)

Are existing utilities on site or nearby?

5. Nearby Amenities and Facilities (Playground, Athletic Fields, Mini Golf, Courts, etc.)

Are there nearby facilities that will complement the sprayground? Or negatively impact the sprayground?

6. Neighborhood Connectivity, Bicycle Routes

Connectivity to nearby regional bicycle or multi-use trail systems.

To learn more about Aquatix splash pad and water play products, visit their website.

The Value of Inclusive Sensory Play

Posted on May 23, 2019 by PlayLSI

A well-rounded playground is not complete without the addition of sensory play elements. Sensory play adds valuable play experiences to a playground through beneficial opportunities for learning and socializing. Proper sensory play can help children develop problem solving skills, express emotion, promote empathy, and instills lasting confidence. Not all sensory play is created equally- playground planners should ensure that their sensory play equipment is inclusive to children of all abilities, both physical and mental.

Many children living with sensory processing disorders or autism may find socializing, communication, and imaginative play challenging without the proper support. Through sensory play, these children can feel included to explore and discover new experiences without fear or exclusion.

Landscape Structures Inc. offers a variety of sensory play equipment for every project:

Sensory Play Center

Pulse

Rhapsody® Outdoor Musical Instruments

Fossil Digs

And much more!

Visit playlsi.com to learn more about planning your playground project.

Introducing: The Curva® and Chill® Spinners

Posted on May 16, 2019 by PlayLSI

Introducing: The Curva® and Chill™ Spinners! These new play pieces from Landscape Structures Inc. are bound to add a twist of vestibular fun to any play project.

The Curva® Spinner allows for one or multiple riders on each spinner. The spinning motion allows children to experiment with centrifugal force and learn about cause and effect in the way they use their bodies to engage in movement. The unique design adds a custom, designer look to any space and is available in any of the ProShield® colors or stainless steel.

The Chill™ Spinner has all the spinning fun of the Curva® Spinner, with a more relaxed design feature. The comfortable seat accommodates players who require or desire a little more support and comfort when taking part in the spinning fun. Textured rubber belting adds to the secure and relaxed feel. Users can control the movement themselves or have another player spin for them. The Chill™ Spinner is also available in any of the ProShield® colors or stainless steel.

Both products are ideal for players age 5 to 12 years old and promote freestanding play and developmental benefits such as balance, problem solving, proprioception and vestibular experiences.

Together We Play

Bringing the magic of play to communities.