Strang Park

Video features a Landscape Structures inclusive playground at Strang Park in Overland Park Kansas.

[video: scene fades into a view of a park sign made of concrete and stone surrounded by a decorative garden. The sign reads “Strang Park” with an oak leaf design carved in the rock behind the letter. Scene switches to a view from a shaded walking path leading to a park sign that reads “Dream” with an image of Martin Luther King Jr. on it. In the background a large playground is filled with playing families. Scene switches to a full aerial rotating view of the park play area filled with playing children. The circle shape of the play area is outlined by a concrete walking path. A large tower structure connects to and incorporates itself to the elevated hillside allowing for inclusive ramps onto the structure. Children play on other freestanding play activities on the inclusive playground surfacing. Scene switches to a ground view of the large play structure filled with children. The camera focuses on a large stand-up spinner. Multiple children stand and or sit holding onto the vertical hand hold ropes as they spin. Camera switches to a mounted view from the base of the large spinner. A girl hugs the center orange post of the spinner as two girls stand on the outer edge of the spinner’s platform. They giggle as they ride the spinner. Camera switches to a mounted view from the roof of the spinner down to a crowd of children as they ride the spinner. Scene switches to a boy as he rides down a curved dual laned slide. Scene switches to a view of the inclusive ramps leading onto the large play structure. Light glows through orange opaque flourished designs on a navy-blue slanted roof panel. Scene switches to children as they step out onto an elevated horizontal cargo net climber with belted pathways and steppers. Scene switches to children as they run their hands over marble spinners inside of a sensory play tunnel. The sun illuminates the marbles and the star shaped sky lights and panels all around the tunnel. A girl’s face is tinted red by the beams of light coming through the star shaped skylights in the sensory play tunnel. Scene switches to the corner of a concrete wall colorfully painted with a modern style mural of geometric shapes and animal silhouettes. Children step up a rock climber lined along the muraled wall leading up to an open port hole to the elevated cargo net of the play structure. Scene fades to a woman as she sits with her daughter seated in her white wheelchair near some log steppers. White text in the lower center of the screen reads “Mila and Katy Shepherd, Local residents”. The woman begins speaking about the playground.]

Katy: Mila is my three-year-old developmentally delayed kiddo. And then we have a five-year-old who is typically developing.

Katy voiceover: It’s really important to me as a parent to be able to take her and him to the same place where both of them can play. Maybe not do the same things but play in the same area.

[video: Milo plays with a small ball. Camera pans the play area filled with playing families. Several kids climb and stand on log and rock steppers on artificial grass surfacing. Mila plays by pointing and touching the symbols on a communication panel. Camera quickly switches back to Katy and Mila.]

Katy: And so, I was really excited about this playground because I heard it was inclusive, meaning for all abilities.

[video: in slow motion the camera pans to Mila as she sits and pokes and bumps her feet at a log stepper. Camera switches to a full elevated view of the entire play area filled with playing families.]

Katy voiceover: And I was excited that he could play on the bigger equipment. She could even be in her wheelchair and roll in the equipment and also be in the smaller area and I could get her out of her wheelchair, and she could kind of play.

[video: ground view across the play area as children spin in slow motion together on the large multiple person spinner. Scene switches bag to Mila and Katy quickly as Katy holds out Mila’s ball to here. Scene switches to Katy pushing Mila in her wheelchair by a single cane like handle. Mila looks around as Katy pushes her. Top-down view of Katy as she adjusts Mila’s legs in her wheelchair. Mila sits near a rock stepper looking around the play area. The camera focuses on Mila as she continues to sit and play near the log and rock steppers. Camera switches back to Katy as she speaks.]

Katy: Because I’m a parent of a special needs child it’s really important to me to be in the public so other people can see that she is completely able to do many things.

Katy voiceover: It may not look typical; it may not look like there child. Our life is not typical but, it is nice to show people that we can still exist in this community.

[video: Katy pushes Mila area the play area. Katy and Mila play and point at the symbols on a communication panel. Camera switches to a side view of Mila pointing at the symbols on the communication panel as her mother Katy stands nearby. Camera pans away from children standing and sitting on the tops of log steppers. The camera continues to pan away showing Mila as she sits in her wheelchair bumping and moving her feet along one of the log steppers.]

Katy voiceover: We have gone to many parks where there haven’t been any equipment that she can even touch.

[video: Katy sits by Mila as she’s continuing to speak. Mila smiles as she throws her ball. Katy grabs the ball and hands it back to Mila.]

Katy: Just because it’s either not safe or it’s not something she can physically do or cognitively do. But this playground has a lot of different levels that she will be able to utilize now and then in the future.

[video: close-up of Mila as she touches and plays at the symbol communication panel. Camera pulls back for a full view of Mila playing at the symbol communication panel as other children run and play around her.]

Katy voiceover: I love that kids are just enjoying themselves and she is perfectly content being over her while their all playing.

[video: camera focuses on Mila as she sits and plays with her ball. Scene switches to a view of an artificially grass hillside with a wood plank rope bridge cascading down it. Children walk and play across the wood planks as others run up the hillside. Camera switches back to Katy and Mila.]

Katy: And again, it’s just we’re doing it as a family.

[video: camera switches to a full bird’s eye view with a slow pull away showing more and more of the city park and the play area. Scene switches to a play structure for smaller children designed like two small houses. Mothers stand outside the structure as children play in and around the little houses. A girl lays on the floor inside of the houses. She speaks into a talk tube panel build into the wall.]

Girl: Hello?

[video: another little girl sits on a small bench inside the house. Scene switches to a mother as she supports her young son as she stands and plays at play panel outside of the house structure. Another boy plays at the play panel on the opposite side. A girl with pigtails smiles as she rides down the slide coming from one of the small house structures. Scene switches to a view across the play area to the small house structures connected by an elevated crawl tunnel perforated with evenly spaced holes for airflow. The camera follows a child as they crouch to walk through the connecting crawl tunnel of the two houses. Scene switches two a row of arched swing set frames where children swing and play together. Scene switches to a girl as she grabs onto arched bars tunneling over a roller table bed. She pulls herself over the rollers by grabbing the arched over bars. A girl slides herself on her belly like a seal over the rollers towards the camera. A boy also slides over the rollers on his belly. As he reaches the end of the roller table he smiles up to the camera. Scene switches to a boy and girl as they play together at the symbol communication panel. The camera focuses on the communication panel showing it’s many symbols. Scene switches to a group of children standing on top of an artificially grassed mound. They all sit down on their rears and slide down the side of the mound out of site. Scene switches to mothers playing with their children on a designed concrete downed log. With a ground view from the end of the downed log a mother supports her son under his arms as he walks across. The camera focusses on the boy’s legs as he takes a few steps across the log. Other children walk across the log as their mothers hold onto their hands for balancing support. A girl walks towards the camera from the wood planks of the wood planked bridge on a hillside. She jumps off the end of the bridge and smiles at the camera. Scene switches to a side view swinging with a child in an inclusive safe swing seat. The camera switches to front view as the child continues to swing. Scene fades to black and back into a view down a sensory play tunnel. Three children slowly jog through the tunnel towards the camera smiling. Scene fades to black and back into a girl and boy standing on log steppers. The father of the girl stands by patting her belly as she stands near the camera. Scene fades to black and back into a vertical pan up from a girl’s foot as she balances in a yoga pose on a log stepper. As the camera pans up to her face she smiles. Scene fades to black and back into an elevated pan overview of the entire play area filled with playing families. Screen fades to white. A black line appears in the center of the screen. The Athco logo slides out to the right of the black line as the Landscape Structures logo slides out to the left. Text fades in below both logos reading “For a better tomorrow we play today”. Screen fades to black and video ends.]