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Contents
Play and Playground Magazine | Volume 17 No. 2 | Summer 2017
8
Features
Designer’s Unique Farm-themed Playground Brings Kid-size Fun to Retail Destination
8
Why Theme?
10
By Lisa Annis
Including Music on the Playground
14
By Karen Herren and Tim McNamara
12
20
Triax History and ASTM F1292 Were Parallel Paths By Rolf Huber
26
Transforming Everyday Spaces into PLAYces: The Future of Play in Cities By KaBOOM!
30
Waves of Fun
Opening of Unique Morgan’s Inspiration Island Splash Park By Bob McCullough
Photo courtesy of Cre8Play
16
DEPARTMENTS 5 Happening Today In Play / CPSI Course Schedule 6 Publisher's Notes 7 PGPedia.com 24 Ask the Play Lady 28 Reeve's Peeves and Obsessions
Photo courtesy of ABCreative.
4 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017
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Happening Today
CPSI Course Calendar
in play
June
Training Courses - Annual Events - Conferences - More
19-21
Kodak, TN
615.790.0041
27-29
San Diego, CA
916.665.2777
Raleigh, NC
919.515.7118
Park and Recreation Month
July
Since 1985, America has celebrated July as the nation’s official Park and Recreation Month. This July, think about what you love about parks and recreation and why parks are so vital in our lives!
More Information: https://goo.gl/vJhdxd
July
UV Safety Month
July
18-20
Spread the word about strategies for preventing skin cancer and encourage communities, organizations, families, and individuals to get involved.
August
More Information: https://goo.gl/4uRWCZ
July
17
NCYS Leadership and Insurance Summit You are cordially invited to attend the NCYS Leadership and Insurance Summit being held on Monday July 17, 2017 in Washington, D.C.
More Information: https://goo.gl/ZyCq4r
7-9
Wheat Ridge, CO
303.231.0943
22-24
Livermore, CA
916.665.2777
1430 Rhode Island Avenue NW Washington, DC 20005
September July
26-29
The Safe Kids Worldwide Childhood Injury Prevention Convention PrevCon, brings together injury prevention professionals from across the United States and around the world to discuss, share and learn ways to make an even greater impact for children and families.
More Information: www.prevcon.org
July
29
700 Aliceanna St, Baltimore, MD 21202
Greater & Greener 2017 International Urban Parks Conference This five-day indoor and outdoor conference will focus on the role of urban parks in creating healthy, resilient, and economically competitive cities.
More Information: https://goo.gl/MGqY39
September 26-28
Baltimore Marriott Waterfront
6-8
Honolulu, HI
808.845.7788
13-15
Leesburg, VA
804.730.9447
13-15
Saratoga Springs, NY
518.584.0321
18-20
Griffin, GA
770.760.1403
20-22
Dublin, OH
614.895.2222
23-25
New Orleans, LA
800.626.6772
27-29
Grand Rapids, MI
517.485.9888
INTERCONTINENTAL SAINT PAUL RIVERFRONT 11 Kellogg Boulevard East, Saint Paul, MN 55101
2017 NRPA Annual Conference
New Orleans is the perfect location for the 2017 NRPA Annual Conference. If you haven't seen all the details, now's the time! Registration is open!
More Information: www.nrpa.org/conference2017
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Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
900 Convention Center Blvd, New Orleans, Louisiana SUMMER 2017 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 5
Magazine Publisher Design | Webmaster Advertising Director Jake Amen
Editors Kambri Lenz Rita Watts
Accounting Ron Walker
Contributing Authors Lisa Annis Reeve Brenner Karen Herren Rolf Huber Bob McCullough Tim McNamara Pat Rumbaugh
Jake Amen, Publisher... THE THEME of this magazine is theme: themed playgrounds, theme parks, and theme songs. How many more ways can we say? It’s all about themed play! Pardon me for the brief rhyme, but I am very excited. The reason for my excitement is that I have decided to come out of the shadows and add the title of Play and Playground Magazine Publisher to my job description! Of course this is a bit of self-promotion and mostly ceremonial. Despite that fact, I am very honored to assume the title. Over the past 16 issues my name has appeared in the ego box on the left side of this page under the graphic design and webmaster sections. In fact, artwork that I had illustrated even began appearing in the magazine as far back as March 2002. Since I purchased the Play and Playground Magazine in October of 2015, I have been working furiously to ensure that the legacy of this publication will be preserved while continuing to be the authority on play structures, amenities, and industry trends! Now that I have granted myself the title of "Publisher," I will continue to work
hard and play harder. And with that out of the way, weren’t we talking about themes? What makes a playground or a park themed? The beauty of the child's imagination allows for any environment or any situation to become themed. Still, communities can be greatly enhanced by a space completely dedicated to theme play, like the farmthemed playground of The Summit at Fritz Farm (page 8). We asked why theme, and received a great answer from a company that offers custom design for theme playgrounds (page 10). Good vibrations emanating from your local park in the form of music adds flavor to public spaces (page 16). Another cause for celebration: Pat Rumbaugh and Reeve Brenner have agreed to become regular columnists. Ask the Play Lady gives readers a chance to pick her playful brain, and Reeve’s Peeves and Obsessions gives Brenner a chance to vent! Obviously, the answer to “Why Theme” isn’t so cut and dried. So why not find a local themed park or playground and find out for yourself?
Copyright, 2017 published by Playground Professionals, LLC, 4 issues per year, sub rates, back copies, foreign, reproduction prohibitions, all rights reserved, not responsible for content of ads and submitted materials, mail permits.
CORPORATE OFFICE Playground Professionals LLC P.O. Box 595 Ashton, Idaho 83420
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From the Play & Playground Encyclopedia
Theme Play
www.pgpedia.com/t/theme-play THEME PLAY is a form of symbolic play. Using a particular theme, children pretend to take on roles of others they have observed from earlier situations, imitating their actions and speech.1 The theme might be a doctor’s office where the children imitate the roles of the doctor and the nurse. Children like to play school, pretend they work in a store, and imagine they are cowboys. Young children pretend in order to comprehend real-life situations. They learn about themselves and the world around them through pretend play, and role playing gives them a safe way to explore new ideas and feelings and work out confusing or scary new experiences. Dramatic play with others provides cognitive and social benefits as it expands children’s language, creativity, and thinking strategies as well enhancing their social skills of self-regulation, negotiation, and consideration of others’ perspectives. Their ability to concentrate for long periods of time has been found to be greatly enhanced as well if they spend more time in imaginative play that requires them to maintain roles while playing.2 Using theme ideas complete with dress-up costumes and props adds to their learning. They assign roles to themselves and others involving several sequenced steps often with a predetermined plan, like pretending to be at the doctor’s office or having a tea party.3 Parents, day care centers, and schools can enhance the child’s ability to play make-believe by providing loose parts that have more than one purpose, such as building blocks, boxes, and nonrealistic materials that can be imagined symbolically as other objects. Costumes, props, and themed settings, such as play grocery stores or doll houses, also allow for pretend play.4 Theme prop boxes for dramatic play will encourage interactive play in young www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine
children. The result is an entertaining and educational experience where children learn to think creatively and imitate real-life situations. Prop boxes can be specific to one theme to emphasize a particular situation or they could contain items from an endless list of familiar situations, such as the post office, the kitchen, a construction site, camping, and the beach. Character costumes, uniforms, grown up clothes, and animal costumes, together with props, such as swords, belts, purses, shoes, and hats, all provide a range of possibilities for make-believe activities. Rotating the articles found in the theme prop boxes allows for a greater variety in their play as well as keeping the children’s interest.5 Many playground equipment manufacturers offer themed equipment in their catalogs to encourage playground designers to create theme playgrounds that promote dramatic play. Old West towns, forts, castles, pirate ships, rescue fire trucks, trains, and space ships are some of the themes built into today’s playgrounds.6 Incorporating a theme into a park playground can provide uniqueness to the play area that reflects the community. Historical or geographical elements blended into the design can give the playground a personalized identity that encourages greater participation.7 Custom-built themed playgrounds can be designed and then fabricated with a combination of materials that can include concrete, GFRC (glass fiber reinforced concrete), steel, sculpting epoxy, composite wood, and various plastics. The original designs of a custom-built playground can reflect the vision of the designer both whimsically or realistically. Natural-looking wood and sculpted rocks can be fabricated with durable materials to allow for years of play.8
Image courtesy of Rob Hainer/Shutterstock.com
Research over 630 listings of play and playground related companies, organizations, events, books, magazines, safety, people and blogs.
Footnotes
1. Frost, Joe L. Play and Playscapes. Albany, NY: Delmar Publishers Inc., 1992. p. 81. 2. “The Importance of Pretend Play in Child Development.” Bright Horizons. < https:// www.brighthorizons.com/family-resources/efamily-news/2013-importance-of-pretendplay-in-child-development/ > 10 April 2017. 3. Frost, Joe L., Pei-San Brown, John A. Sutterby, Candra D. Thornton, The Developmental Benefits of Playgrounds Olney, MD: Association for Childhood Education International, 2004. p. 24. 4. Trawick-Smith, Jeffrey. “Symbolic Thought: Play, Language, and Literacy in the Preschool Years” Early Childhood Development: A Multicultural Perspective, 3rd ed., Prentice Hall. <http://wps.prenhall.com/chet_trawicksmith_early_3/5/1495/382746.cw/index.html> 12 April 2017. 5. “The Prop Box: Setting the Stage for Meaningful Play.” Education World. < http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev101. shtml > 10 April 2017. 6. “Playground Themes.” Landscape Structures. < https://www.playlsi.com/en/commercialplayground-equipment/playground-filters/ playground-themes > 10 April 2017. 7. Stoddard, Curtis. “Themed playgrounds set neighborhoods apart.” Parks & Recreation. Apr. 2008. p. 54. 8. “Design Process.” Cre8Play. < http://www.cre8play.com/design-process/ > 12 April 2017.
SUMMER 2017 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 7
Designer’s Unique Farm-themed Playground Brings Kid-size Fun to Retail Destination CONSUMERS NO LONGER want shopping centers to be places just for quick trips to buy clothes or electronics. People of all ages now prefer spaces where they can enjoyably linger. They want to shop, dine, and play. As a master of what has become known as “experiential retail,” Birmingham, Alabama-based Bayer Properties knew its conversion of an old family farm in Lexington, Kentucky into a $156 million retail-centered mixed use destination called The Summit at Fritz Farm needed a memorable, unique playground for kids. The playground had to reflect the local authenticity of the project. Bayer hired Atlanta-based playground designer Cynthia Gentry to create a playground that would blend perfectly with the landscape planned by famed Lexington garden designer Jon Carloftis, best described as “farm chic.” “The Summit at Fritz Farm has shops that are the most popular in retail now, along with unique, chefdriven dining, community events, and more. But we wanted to provide a sophisticated destination that fully embraces the history of the land as a family farm,” said Lindsay Bayer Shipp, creative director – brand & marketing strategist for Bayer Properties. “Cynthia took that idea and created a space
that children love.” The Summit at Fritz Farm opened in April with ample farm charm: greenspace; barn-wood accents; a collection of vintage agricultural equipment artfully displayed throughout the land-
8 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017
scape; and the farm-themed play area, which has proven popular. “I’m delighted it has been received so well. They gave me the term ‘farm chic,’ and that worked well for me. They introduced me to Lexington – www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine
drove me all over the place,” Gentry said, which helped her know the community she was designing for. “It may sound corny, but play design is not an analytical process, but a heart thing. I am an artist and a grandmother, and that helps shape my work.” The playground doesn’t have slides or swings, and Gentry said one adult who saw it remarked, “There’s nothing to do here.” That person may have forgotten what it’s like to be a child, she said. “One of the problems with some playgrounds is that they are too prescriptive, but the playground at The Summit at Fritz Farm gives children a chance for their imaginations to bubble up,” Gentry said. “I was ecstatic that the Bayer people got that. They understood that play is child-led. I sat at a playground here in Atlanta one time with lots of fabulous equipment and watched as the kids instead ran up a hill and rolled down, over and over.” What The Summit at Fritz Farm play area does have is a tunnel and
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berms, a wooden tractor and animals carved out of wood, a robin’s nest and bridge, plus much more. “They have these fabulous old tractors on the property, but they are not safe for children to play on, and they are cordoned off,” she said. But knowing children would want to play on a tractor, Gentry designed a child-size wooden one, and the installation team built it.” Gentry designed the playground to give young visitors to The Summit at Fritz Farm a fun experience, designed just for them. “As a business decision, providing the play area gives people another reason to visit,” she said. “Bayer has taken what could be just a shopping mall and given the community a place that can be a part of their lives.”
The Summit at Fritz Farm playground at a glance:
The space: A playground similarly shaped to home plate on a baseball diamond, with a base of 64 feet, two straight sides of 29 feet and two angles sides of 46 feet The features include: • A miniature barn • Wooden farm equipment • An arbor tunnel • A bridge • A grassy berm with a crawlthrough tunnel • “Loose parts” that children can use to build with • Adirondack chair seating, including an oversized chair • An oversized robin’s nest
SUMMER 2017 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 9
Photos courtesy of Cre8Play
Why Theme? by Lisa Annis BETWEEN THE COMPUTER animation in Pixar movies and PlayStation video games, kids have seen it all these days. The first challenge is getting their attention and the second even larger challenge is keeping it. It’s the “blue face” generation with heads down and glued to the screen. It’s nearly impossible to get kids to engage in raw imaginative play. Once a level is completed on an app
or video game, kids are taken to the next level. This generation is trained to constantly look for the next step, level, or experience. Today’s youth are being raised on real-time entertainment. Whether we like it or not, product offerings to this generation need to match their expectations. Typical post and platform playgrounds often fail to offer kids extra challenges with layered experiences. Traditional playgrounds provide a singular experience and sometimes get
10 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017
only a single visit. Themed products and environments can bring excitement as they offer added challenges and take kids to that “next level.” They’re engaging and keep kids coming back throughout their learning years. In themed play, children are immersed in an alternate universe which ignites their imagination. It adds a layer of challenge and offers open-ended play. Companies that offer custom design for theme playgrounds create everything from themed sculptures and www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine
site amenities to complete environments. Themed playground designs can be realistic or whimsical in nature. Popular theme settings could include enchanted forests, farms and barnyards, gardens, and jungles. Aviation, sports, nautical, fairytale, health and fitness, cartoon, aquatic, and pirate themes are just a few that can be the inspiration for playgrounds. Whatever the imagination can conceive inspires the themed play companies to meet the challenge. Custom design companies include children in their design process to stay close to their likes, needs, and expectations. They actively try to understand and test what will engage kids. They have a close collaboration with clients including architects, facility directors, www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine
SUMMER 2017 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 11
and parks and recreation departments to be able to find ways to make the imagined a reality. Todd Lehman of Cre8Play says: “Clients love to work with us because we are different. We’re a creative, artsy shop with crazy passionate talent that really digs our job. We love to work closely and personally with clients from the beginning all the way to the end of the project.” Of course, their designs are built to meet national and state guidelines, however custom designers view themselves as nonconformists in the industry. They tend to twist and bend from the ordinary to create a product that is intriguing to both youth and adults. The goal is to grab attention and inspire creativity, and they know how to do it well. It would seem as though themed play projects would present obstacles in meeting safety standards, however that is really not the case. Companies think way outside of the box working through challenges to create those unique and cool experiences. For instance, creating the tall slides similar to the playgrounds of years past before the lawyers took over, the challenge is to find ways around the safety difficulties by working with the natural surroundings. The result? The excitement of a 30’ slide incorporated into the hillside so that the slide is no more than a few feet off the ground. By utilizing the site’s natural landscape, solutions can be found that sometimes seemed impossible. So, although the safety guidelines and standards were developed with the mindset for traditional play equipment more than custom or themed play, this doesn’t stop a company from creative solutions! Themed play environments can be built to incorporate inclusive design for users of all abilities that go far beyond ADA standards. These include challenges and unique structures for children and adults who have vision impairments, cochlear devices, children with high-functioning disorders such as autism, those with walking impairments or in wheelchairs, and more. Custom-designed theme play environments do not need to look like the typical “sea of ramps” ADA playgrounds found in many of today’s parks. Whether simple log steps in a 12 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017
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nature-themed trail or an interactive alien spacecraft, it is important to design with the modern-day user in mind. Products and spaces need to speak to their generation and give them a reason to pull their heads from the digital fog. Themed play and customized environments provide for a deeper layered offering to engage kids, evoke emotion, and to keep them coming back. C
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Todd Lehman, Owner and Executive Creative Director has been designing truly unique play environments for 20+ years. After many years in the traditional post and platform playground industry, Todd started Cre8Play in 2005 to meet a growing demand for custom play environments. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Cre8Play has global clientele. You don’t thrive in this industry like they have without the kind of smarts and creativity we champion at Cre8Play.
www.cre8play.com www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine
SUMMER 2017 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 13
Including
Music on the Playground by Karen Herren and Tim McNamara
Unstructured play on the playground gives children the opportunity to explore, discover, experience, learn, and develop the imagination. Music further stimulates a childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s curiosity, encouraging them to discover new sounds, new rhythms, wonder how a sound is made, and so much more. 14 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017
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Freechimes can be fixed to backboards and mounted onto posts for ground installation (photo courtesy of Percussion Play).
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS are for everyone, everywhere. This is a key concept that is often missed when determining what to offer on a playground. Music is universal; it doesn’t differentiate between language or age. Musical instruments work in every day circumstances; they can go anywhere, whether it is a park, playground, sensory garden, or street corner.
Music is for All Abilities
Playgrounds are typically designed for active kids who are jumping, running, and climbing. This can make it difficult for kids of other abilities to join www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine
in the fun. Musical instruments are an alternative solution. They are a leveler between different abilities. Children with a disability can participate with those who are able-bodied. Music therapy has proven to be effective in helping children with autism and Asperger’s syndrome and those who have diminished social skills to participate in play, to be more engaged. Music is success-oriented; people of all ability levels can participate.
Types of Outdoor Musical Instruments
When it comes to choosing outdoor musical instruments for a play space,
it is important to know the difference between diatonic and pentatonic instruments. A diatonic scale is built on the intervals made by natural notes, neither flat nor sharp. It is most familiar as the major scale. Some companies color code the notes on the instrument and produce a music book with the score colored in. Players don’t need to be accomplished musicians or be able to read music; they can still play by following the colors in the book. Pentatonic scales do not include all the notes found in a diatonic scale. With pentatonic instruments, the melody played always sounds good, no
SUMMER 2017 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 15
“It’s a movement that is spreading around the world. We are finding musical instruments in random places, such as street corners. They are extending the playground area outside the fenced-in park.” The Duo is accessible from both sides and the curvacious design makes it easier for individuals with limited range of movement to reach the notes (photo courtesy of Percussion Play).
matter what order the notes are played in. No musical ability, skill, or training is needed. Children who don’t know how to read music or who have never played before can play pentatonic instruments and make beautiful music. Using outdoor musical instruments with the pentatonic scale enhances group play. Several children can play different instruments and generate a beautiful melody. There is no need to practice or rehearse; songs can be made up impromptu. Playing together helps develop cooperation with others and leads to a sense of accomplishment. Children learn that each type of instrument makes its own sound. They learn how to replicate sounds and how they can affect the speed, tone, and volume as well as how different materials make different sounds.
The Cavatina is a color-coded instrument that is tuned to the C-Major diatonic scale (photo courtesy of Percussion Play).
Encourages Creative Expression
There is no right or wrong way to play when it comes to musical instruments on the playground. With no rules, the focus is truly on creativity and selfexpression. The playground offers a safe environment for children to experiment, improvise, and express emotions. It gives them the opportunity to discover sounds and rhythms on their own and experiment by creating their own tunes. For some, it might be the first time they have played an instrument. Outdoor instruments give them the chance to experiment in a freer manner and explore their artistic voice and imagination.
-Robin Ashfield, Sales & Marketing Director for Percussion Play
to build greater bonds between different age groups and offering intergenerational play. People of all ages can enjoy playing the instruments, allowing parents and caregivers to play alongside with children. It is something they can do together; age doesn’t matter. These instruments are also attractive to teens. As children get older, they become harder to entertain. Musical instruments are often seen as “cool” and challenging by this age group. Older children can get together and jam.
Classroom Benefits
Installing musical instruments in a public space such as a park playground serves as a social and recreational focal point for the surrounding neighborhoods. They fill a social need by helping
Music captivates a child’s attention, stimulates the imagination, and uses many parts of the brain. Research suggests that informal musical activities influence auditory discrimination and attention maturation of preschool and school-aged children. Whether listening to it for pure pleasure or to gain new
Chimes repeated on two sides makes this a great instrument for two to play together. Miller J. Fields Park, Lee's Summit, MO (photo courtesy of ABCreative).
An ensemble of different instruments offers a well-rounded range of tones and the opportunity for anyone to take the stage. Karnes Playground, Roanoke Park in Kansas City, MO. (photo courtesy of ABCreative)
A Place for Social Gatherings
16 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017
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The height, angle, and space underneath the Grand Marimba makes it easy for children in wheelchairs to play (photo courtesy of Percussion Play).
language or social skills, music enriches the lives of children of any age, preparing children as they start school and progress, make new friends, and face new challenges. Musical instruments enhance learning and growth, helping children develop emotional, social, cognitive, and even physical abilities, all of which will help them be more successful in the classroom. Musical instruments can be used to teach math concepts by counting beats. Often music is used as a mnemonic tool to help them remember things like the alphabet and days of the week. Music supports and encourages movement. Using musical instruments,
children develop motor skills such as visual-motor integration and crossing the midline. Children benefit from auditory and tactile stimulation through the musicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vibrations. Outdoor playground instruments add a physical element to learning about music. Children can stand still while they play or bounce from note to note and dance to the music. This movement helps improve coordination and balance and develops a greater awareness of their bodies. Musical instruments help children develop social skills such as taking turns, following directions in a group, making eye contact, and engaging in cooperative play. Add Outdoor Musical Instruments to Your Next Playground Design Outdoor musical instruments, whether diatonic or pentatonic, can be installed individually or in groups, no safety surfacing is needed, and some can be wall-mounted, too.
Maintaining your parks and playgrounds just got a lot easier.
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Authors The Pagoda Bell is a vertical array of bells that can complement other musical instruments. Valley Park, Grandview, MO (photo courtesy of ABCreative). www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine
Karen Herren and Tim McNamara, CPSI, are owners of ABCreative, a company focused on creating the perfect park and playground for your school and community. Visit abcreative.net for more playground safety solutions.
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SUMMER 2017 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 19
Triax History and ASTM F1292 Were Parallel Paths by Rolf Huber
IMPACT ATTENUATION for playground surfacing in North America gets its start through the work of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the first publishing of its Handbook on Public Playground Safety in 1981 with, “most injuries associated with playground equipment involve falls, which would not be addressed by equipment specification alone.” The work on impact attenuation leading up to the recommendations in the Handbook come from the automotive industry, the Franklin Institute, and National Bureau of Standards. The recommendation of the CPSC was that the Gmax shall not exceed 200 when an instrumented American National Standards Institute (ANSI) headform is dropped onto a surface from the maximum estimated fall height. Although the ANSI headform was not defined in the Handbook, the testing in reference 32 of the Handbook utilized the ANSI C headform. This headform was formally adopted by ASTM International (ASTM) into ASTM F355 as procedure C and ASTM F1292 in 1991. In Canada, there was a recommendation by the CSA Group (CSA) in the CSA Z614 M90 that synthetic surfacing suppliers should be able to provide testing data to ASTM F355. That is where some of the problems begin since ASTM F355 has the description of the headform and some of the procedures used, but not the determination of Critical Height. The CSA committee can’t take all of the blame for the wrong reference as they published the Z614 in 1990 and ASTM did not publish the first F1292 until 1991. There was an anticipation of the ability to test surfacing and therefore the reference to F355 and not F1292. By the time CSA published
its 1991 revision, ASTM had caught up, but the reference was not changed until the 1998 revision to the CSA Z614. So, the focus for surface testing during the 1990s is on the work at ASTM, since the CSA committee was not in a position for developing their own performance test, and skills were predominantly in the U.S. and Europe through the European Commit- Paul J. Hogan tee for Standardization (CEN). There was also considerable cross-membership between the CSA and ASTM playground structure and surfacing committees and it was believed that duplication of effort would not be beneficial. ASTM F355 procedure C consists of an aluminum headform that was used to duplicate the injury prevention data in the U.S. automotive industry for head first head injury. Much of the underlying research came from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). The ANSI C shape of the headform was more like a human and the technology utilized a uniaxial accelerometer. This technology did not lend itself to free-fall testing, but was found to be more reliable when guided on a rail or wire, and to ensure capturing all of the impact data, this later incorporated a triaxial accelerometer. The ASTM F1292 provided for a laboratory test
20 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017
as well as the option of testing in the field. Due to the shape of the ANSI C, it was mostly used as a guided device indoors. The initial free-fall field testing was with an unguided ANSI C, but this presented issues of safety for the test operator as the head bounced in every direction on landing. There were also accuracy issues with the values. Although repeatable and reproducible, values would be higher than what the result should have been with a problem of failing surfaces that should not have failed. This was an economic burden on surfacing suppliers. These were later addressed in the F1292 revision in 1999 through a change in the shape of the missile to hemispherical and the requirement of a triaxial accelerometer. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. In the late 1980s Paul J. Hogan petitioned the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the development of a field test device for www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine
the measurement of impact attenuation of surfacing in playgrounds to complement the guidance of the CPSC in their Handbook and confirm the ability of the surface to meet these requirements. The CDC granted Mr. Hogan and Playground Clearing House approximately $50,000 to develop a device. This led to a patented device for impact testing that also allowed the data to be transmitted by wire or wirelessly. As it turned out, the development of what has become known as precursor to the Triax impact attenuation systems took significantly more money, time, and technological changes. First it was found that the shape of the headform did not lend itself to a free-fall test, and soon there was a change from the ANSI C to the 4.6kg (10lb) hemispherical headform that was being used successfully in Europe, first in the British Standards Institution (BSI) and later CEN Standards. The second major change was from a uniaxial to a triaxial accelerometer to capture all of the impact data. Many of the technical requirements for the free-fall test method were developed during this period. It is important to understand that “free-fall” still requires the device to be supported to ensure specific and measurable drop height and the headform landing in a specific location. It does mean that once it is released, the headform falls freely from the support to the ground a minimum of three times. One might think that just coming to the ASTM F08.63 sub-committee on playground surfacing with a “better mousetrap” would lead to the quick adoption of the 4.6kg hemispherical headform with a triaxial accelerometer even with the success in Europe. Not likely, there was the very serious issue that standards reflect accuracy in measurement to contend with. First there was the change in shape and secondly the change in mass. There was legitimate concern that the new headform would not reflect the data collected with the tried and true guided ANSI C headform and the traceability back to the original automotive data. There was also the www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine
concern that there were many different surfacing materials in the field that have significantly different materials properties. Some of these included fine and coarse sand, fine and coarse gravel, woodchips and engineered wood fiber (EWF), and rubber mats and poured rubber surfacing, and all of these absorb energy differently. Having erroneously high drop test results struck fear in the hearts of the surfacing suppliers concerned with false negatives and costly removal and replacement of their surfacing material. One might think this would not be a problem as the risk of false negatives would push suppliers to provide surfacing with better impact attenuating properties. Not true, as some suppliers at the time, as is true today, did not possess the technical ability to perform better. Additionally, in a competitive world where the bidding process pushes everyone to the lowest quality that “meets spec,” having the lowest price to still win the bid is problematic. False failures could also cost suppliers significantly reduced profits and potentially put them out of business. The opposite side of the same coin is the false positive where a surface could be found to pass with a non-standard device when it actually places a child at even greater risk of injury than the 10% risk of skull fracture or 16% risk of a life-threatening head injury that the F1292 allows. This obviously is contrary to the public health initiative of the CPSC Handbook and more importantly could result in extraordinary costs to an owner in litigation when the surface is tested with the device and to the procedure specific to the relevant standard. The need to ensure the accuracy of the testing to the accepted ASTM F1292 was essential, and although financially painful, Mr. Hogan submitted the hemispherical device with the triaxial accelerometer to the ASTM process for formal round robin testing. This consisted of travelling to more than six testing laboratories around the United States and Canada with six different materials representing the surfacing materials available for
playground use at the time. All of this test data was provided to ASTM for the rigorous analysis of the round robin process. It was found that the data, although not “mathematically equal,” represented the same data collected with the ANSI C headform with the same results. This was presented in a paper prepared by Dr. Martyn Shorten of Biomechanica. It was also found that the synthetic surfaces, which are more linear and travel well between laboratories, were more consistent between and across laboratories and devices. Loose fill materials tended to have a higher degree of variability as a result of sample preparation during the round robin testing, and this was reflected in the precision and bias statement for the standard in 1999. This was corrected for the test device in the revision of the precision and bias statement in 2004. The precision and bias statement is important as it states the anticipated variation in results that could be gotten by any given person using a device that meets the requirements of the standard and follows the procedure of the standard. This is not a tolerance nor does it open a door for any imagined devices that are non-compliant to F1292. One would think that this would be the end and people would be out in the field holding a 4.6kg hemispherical device in the air and dropping it from a supporting device three times from approximately the same height to approximately the same point, but not so fast. Standards are not approximate, they are about measuring accurately. It was noted that in the round robin testing the free-fall test device was actually suspended to ensure the dropping from the exact same height to the exact same position and this provided accurate data. A logical extension of this thinking was that if the use zone of most play equipment is a minimum of 1800mm or 6’, the use zone is further out than the arm length of the person performing the test, and using a step ladder on soft surfacing does not offer a stable platform for the accurate support and the dropping of a test device. As a result, the ASTM F08.63 sub-committee required that the device
SUMMER 2017 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 21
include a stable mechanism to suspend the headform and ensure it was being dropped from the same height to the same location three times. This precludes the option to perform “hand drops” and still be compliant to the standard. A further concern of the sub-committee was that this is a sophisticated electronic device measuring impact in an outdoor setting and likely subject to damage or environmental influences. As a result, there was the need for bi-annual calibration as is required by almost all scientific testing devices. Additionally, there is the performance of a pretest on a known material or MEP pad to ensure the device was traceable back to the calibration of the accelerometer. Additionally, the members of the committee understood the need for professionals who were trained and/ or working in laboratories, and ASTM was about to unleash technicians on the playground world without the benefit of training or understanding the data they were collecting or further verifying its validity. This included the review at the time of testing of the drop graph to ensure that the curve was continuous and did not include spikes indicating a failure of the filter-
The Triax2000 was the first free-fall test device that was fully compliant with ASTM F1292-99.
ing requirements. And lastly, that since the people performing the testing in the field would not likely be trained in laboratory techniques, standards, and report writing, they would be required to be trained. To satisfy this, Alpha-Automation Inc. and Canadian Playground Advisory Inc. have been providing training to more than 1,500 people around the world since 1999. With all of this in place, the ASTM F1292-99 was published and the freefall test method became the subject of an ASTM standard. It turned out that although the device that Mr. Hogan had developed was the model for the free-fall method, it did not initially meet the new standard. Technical changes were made and the Triax2000 was the first free-fall test device that was fully compliant with ASTM F129299. The test device was also compliant with the technical requirements of the CEN EN1177 Standard for measuring the impact attenuating properties of playground surfacing. These two standards became recognized as the only surface performance measure standards in the world, and interestingly CSA allows for either test to be used to determine compliance. The reason there are no other choices goes back to the word “may” and the inclusion of the option of either F1292 or EN1177 as the stated options. Since the CSA Z614 was due for publishing in 1998 and the ASTM F1292 did not include the free-fall test method until 1999, the Z614 could only recommend the periodic testing of surfacing in the field in section 10.4.6. Section 10.2 stated that “The test method specified in ASTM Standard F1292 shall be used to evaluate the shock-absorbing properties of a protective surfacing material.” Now the words “shall,” “recommended,” and the reference to ASTM “F1292” become important. Knowing that the free-fall test was imminent and knowing that the installed surface performance was important, the use of the word “shall” allowed for the testing in the field only to the ASTM F1292 Standard. Lastly, the use of F1292 without a reference to a revision year allowed the user of
22 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017
the Z614 to perform field testing to the ASTM F1292-99 free-fall test method once it was published. The Z614 was revised again in 2003 and the requirements for surface testing were modified again in recognition of the changes in standards and testing throughout the world. There also was an interest to go back to the old “Hogan” hand drop testing rejected by the ASTM F08.63 sub-committee. The proponents were looking for a “cheap and easy” solution that even today appears to be the holy grail of surface testing rather than measuring accurately. The European Standard EN1177 Standard for Impact Absorbing Surfacing was published but poorly understood in its detail. It was presented to the CSA Technical Committee as a potential alternative to ASTM F1292 and was therefore added to the CSA Z614 as an alternate and acceptable test between the two choices. On further examination of the detail of the EN1177 that required a series of three drops from a specific height to a specific location to be repeated at four increasing heights, which was a more complicated procedure, testing agencies in Canada chose to revert almost exclusively to the ASTM F1292. Since the CSA Z614 states that either ASTM F1292 or EN1177 “may” be used, reverting to the ASTM F1292 is totally appropriate. The problem arises when people do not accept the definition of “may” as a choice between stated options and not like a school child asking “may I” and thinking that anything in their wildest imaginings becomes acceptable. Today there is the potential of even more confusion for the playground owner, specifier, surfacing installer, or regulator working to ensure compliance to the recommendations of the CPSC and the requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), ASTM F1487, and CSA Z614. There are a few “magic devices” in the market that for the most part clearly state on their websites that they do not comply with ASTM F1292, but are “cheap.” Someone using any of these devices, particularly in conjunction with any of the above standards, is www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine
Paul Hogan, Rolf Huber, and Paul Bamburak, pioneers of playground surface testing
non-compliant, and an owner, regulator, or inspector is not only placing themselves at risk for liability should an injury occur, or an ADA complaint be filed, but they are placing children at risk. That is the history and Paul Hogan at 90 years of age should be thanked for his vision, investment, and perseverance. As a result of his initial efforts and the demands for measuring accurately from the Surfacing sub-committee at ASTM, children are better off and at lower risk of a life-threatening or critical injury.
What does the future hold?
As to the future, there is work going on. The F1292 4.6kg hemispherical headform has moved to the headform standard ASTM F355 as procedure E. It
has also been adopted as the test device for wall padding, pole vault, and other surface applications and is being considered for replacement of the A missile for testing of sports systems to determine the risk of head injury with an impact on those surfaces. As to ASTM F1292, there is an effort to clearly delineate the laboratory and field tests, and there will likely be an ASTM test procedure for measurement of impact attenuation for playground surface systems as measured in the field. It will likely be that the ASTM F1487 sub-committee (F15.29) will set the performance requirements at the time of installation and throughout the life of the playground as they are the connection of the surfacing with the child falling off of their structures.
Stay Tuned
ROLF HUBER
Rolf Huber is the founder of the Canadian Playground Advisory, Inc., and has been involved in the manufacture and installation of athletic and playground surfaces since 1981. Since the early 1990s, Rolf has worked to set standards for surfacing in both the ASTM International and the Canadian Standards Association. www.playgroundadvisory.com Read more by Rolf Huber at
playgroundprofessionals.com
PROVEN RESULTS www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine
SUMMER 2017 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 23
Why should we make time to visit themed and specialty parks?
ask the
-play ladypat rumbaugh
Dear Readers, When people ask how old I am, I usually say eight. A couple of years ago while walking my dog Abbie with my young friend Lucy, Lucy told me she was almost six. I responded, “I am almost six too.” Lucy looked at me and replied, “Pat, maybe you can’t count to how old you are.” I then shared, “I have not counted that high in awhile, but on my next birthday I will be fifty-six and I would rather just say I am going to be six.” Lucy giggled and said, “Ok, Pat, you can say you are six.” Why do I share this cute story? Well, I like to think like a child, so I can remind myself what I enjoyed playing back when I was six and eight and so on. Some of the most highly anticipated moments of my childhood came when our family drove from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Los Angeles, California. We have three first cousins who lived in Redondo Beach. Besides seeing them and getting to go to the beach, the highlight of the trip was a day at Disneyland. The six of us would go with our cousins' family of five and spend the entire day riding the rides and playing. I can feel the goose bumps on my arms as I think about how excited we were to go on the rides. I loved to drive the cars. I am not sure why I loved that activity so much, but I thought it was super fun. We got to buy the Mickey Mouse hats and have ice cream treats, which was a big deal. Spending those special hours with our
families was a truly great experience. Just thinking about having those opportunities makes me appreciate my parents for all the sacrifices they made, so we could have a wonderful time. A big thanks to my parents!
If you are an adult and can afford to bring a child or two to an amusement park, I highly recommend you make the time to do so. Memories last a lifetime and believe me, some of my fondest memories are of going to theme parks. As a mother of two young children, my husband Tom and I used to join my in-
laws every summer to go to a company picnic held at another amusement park called Idlewild in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. This park is about fifty miles outside of Pittsburgh with a variety of rides, waterslides, a pool, and a lovely setting for picnics at their pavilions. Tom’s parents enjoyed introducing us to friends they had known for years. We would ride, play, have some lunch, and start all over again. Our children Alex and Sarah grew up going to this park every summer. I can still see both kids climbing the jungle-like rope high in the air, so they could go down a three-story slide. I wouldn’t trade those memories from Idlewild for anything. I urge families to check out amusement parks near and far from where they live, plan a day trip, maybe go for a couple of days’ vacation, or meet some extended family members or friends for a special event like a birthday or anniversary. Spending time together while riding rides, playing games, and just enjoying life is an awesome way to spend time with people you enjoy.
Rumbaugh family at Idlewild amusement park in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.
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Many people have access to local themed parks as well. In Takoma Park, Maryland where I live we are fortunate to have a skateboard park. I enjoy going for walks and watching kids and adults ride their skateboards at the park. This is a free park for our residents and nonresidents that is tucked away next to an outdoor basketball court and volleyball court. I love that our city officials saw the need for a skateboard park, because there are all kinds of ways to play and to get physical activity. We also recently got a new dog park in our city. The dog park is up on the hill not far from the skateboard park. There is a parking lot near both of these parks, so if a resident is short on time, they can drive to these parks. I have observed children of a variety of ages playing with their dogs at the new dog park. The dogs and the kids both seem to enjoy this new luxury of letting their dogs off leash to run freely, and the kids join in on the fun and run around with the dogs. I have even watched some adults get active with their dogs. If you have the chance to go to a www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine
skateboard park or a dog park, I hope you will go. Maybe the first time or two you will be an observer, but I bet sometime down the road you may want to join in the fun. I also wanted to mention parks and playgrounds with musical features. A while back Christy Cooke wrote a fabulous article about playgrounds with musical features. The article is so good I thought I would share the whole thing. https://www.playgroundprofessionals. com/magazine/issues/2016/03/musicparks-rock103 Friends, it is summertime and I hope no matter how old you are, you will go outside to play everyday. Give yourself a treat and aim to go to an amusement park, a dog park, skateboard park, and visit a playground with a musical theme. I know I plan to do all of the above. Now go out and play!
Hurray for play! - Pat, The Play Lady
Have a question for the Play Lady? Email your question to Pat at theplaylady@gmail.com
WHO IS THE PLAY LADY?
Pat Rumbaugh has spoken all over the country about the importance of play. On the LPA website you can see Pat's speaking engagements. Also on that website is the cover of Pat's children's book, Let's Play at the Playground published in 2013. People interested in a copy of Patâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s book can email Pat at theplaylady@gmail.com. The cost is $16 for her to sign the book, write a message to your child, and mail it to you.
www.Letsplayamerica.org
SUMMER 2017 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 25
An image from the Charlotte Rail Trail installation, which converted a walking path into a musical play stop for kids.ŠKaBOOM
Transforming Everyday Spaces into
PLAYces: The Future of Play in Cities
26 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017
Oftentimes the most poignant childhood memories are the simplest ones: playing in the backyard with a sibling, learning baseball with a parent, or going to the playground after school. And, frequently, those memories involve play. Play is a critical component to healthy development and to simply being a kid. It sets the stage for helping kids to achieve their highest potential and provides those essential, formative moments with friends and adults. It cultivates social skills, greater self-confidence, risk-taking opportunities, and the chance to live a healthier lifestyle. Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kids deserve each and every one of those benefits linked to play. But for many kids, particularly those living in poverty, having time and access to daily play is a challenge.
www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine
An image from the iPlay MIAMI Streets installation, which turned a dead-end street into a play space for kids. ©KaBOOM
An image from the Lexington BUSt! Boredom installation, which incorporated playful activities for kids into a downtown transit center. ©KaBOOM!
So how do we provide more opportunities for play by turning everyday spaces into PLAYces? Play can take place at bus stops, on sidewalks, at laundromats, or in grocery stores – in everyday spaces where kids and families interact daily, but are unexpected spaces for play. This allows moments of potential frustration or www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine
development. There is no better way to do so than by integrating play into our urban landscapes. While playgrounds are a critical component of any city or urban space, it is not always feasible for kids to have the opportunity to visit a playground on any given day. Additional times and spaces for play must be available for kids throughout normal schedules and routines. We believe this happens by transforming our infrastructure to be playful opportunities that engage kids by being wondrous, challenging, convenient, invited, shared, and unifying. Whether it’s on a sidewalk, laundromat, at a bus stop, or in a grocery store, moments of potential frustration can become moments of play, joy, and wonder. In an effort to encourage cities and communities to incorporate play into everyday spaces, KaBOOM! created the $1 million Play Everywhere Challenge and selected 50 winners among over 1,000 applicants with the best ideas to integrate play into kids’ daily lives. The installations will challenge communities to think outside the box about what can be considered a playful moment – or, at least, how play can be incorporated into unexpected ones! As cities look for ways to attract families and to retain top talent, these kinds of innovative approaches are imperative. Kids and families do not often receive top billing amid all the other demands faced by local government, but without them, what would our cities look like? And what would our cities look like if we started to design for these members of our communities? Now is the time to ensure our kids have the brightest futures possible. As our projects continue their installations throughout Summer 2017, please go to https://kaboom.org/playability/ play_everywhere for regular updates, photos, and inspiration about how you can transform your own community!
boredom to become moments of joy and creativity. How can we ensure that our streets and cities are designed not just with adults in mind, but also with the kids who use them daily? It’s time that our city infrastructure tells kids they are valued – that they are a part of our communities and that we care about their happiness, health, and SUMMER 2017 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 27
REEVE'S PEEVES AND OBSESSIONS
PURPOSEFUL PLAY THERE IS PLAY and there is purposeful play. To be more specific, there is spontaneous play, team play, competitive play, self-competitive play, and noncompetitive play. There is also alongside play and opponent-based play requiring defeating rivals. Participants within the autism spectrum, others with physical or cognitive challenges, and various special populations often need to participate in individual or independent play. Play understood as “individualized” play, without offense, defense, or teams, in essence scores as purposeful. Purposeful play is intended to achieve certain specifically designated intentions, which might include mainstreaming and integrating those with disabilities in sports and recreation and developing motor skills, physical coordination, and self-confidence. Playgrounds and play courts provided by the community in parks and recreation centers can provide for the socialization of community residents who meet and interact there. Even spontaneous unstructured play is purposeful since free play, by socializing and bonding with others, has purpose. That much is self-evident once considered.
But when a community plans the distribution of space and budget, purposeful play, especially addressing the children in need for noncompetitive recreation and the requirements of the differently abled, should, but do not, take priority. The other more conventional forms of play exclude far more than they include. They were never purposefully intended for integration and socialization of populations with special needs whose recreational needs are invariably and decidedly neglected. That neglect is reflected in the large number of body banging, fast-paced sports fields of play benefiting from the allocation of space, budgets, and attention, and the virtual nonexistence of self-competitive sports such as bowling, golf, and Bankshot sports. Ball playing exclusionary sports, where play means defeating others, are many, but there are so very few selfcompetitive sports, such as Bankshot, developed intentionally for the purpose of play without opponents. Bankshot facilities provide sports that are played by participants alongside, not against, others thereby achieving total mix of a community. Total mix diversity constitutes a most worthy purpose for play. In the Wall Street Journal (Saturday, April 4, 2015), the weekend interview was with Jean Vanier, the Canadian theologian and philosopher who founded the Ark, this year’s Templeton prize winner, talking about his life’s work of building communities for the disabled in a world “seeking perfect babies.” He says, “people with disabilities want to relate.” It makes “people who are closed up in the head become human.” He goes on to point out that “the great thing about people with intellectual disabilities is that they’re not people who discuss philosophy. What they want is fun and laughter, to do things together and fool around, and laughter is at the heart of community… It is to understand what it means to be human in all its imperfect forms, and to mark human dignity where it is least physically obvious.”
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The Core Concept In the recreation and sports facilities that communities provide, the core concept of universal design can best be achieved by alongside play where participation is not against opponents but played alongside others – characterized as self-competitive ballplaying sports. Success is measured by self-improvement. No rivals are necessary as seen in golf, bowling, and Bankshot sports newly created for that purpose. In these sports, it is not necessary to be defeating others to achieve excellence. Self-competitive recreation provides inclusion, integration, socialization, and a level playing field often understood as mainstreaming at adaptive sports facilities. As opposed to programs which isolate, segregate, and provide virtually no drop-in spontaneous play, self-competitive sports do not require having to wait for a program next Thursday. They do not isolate or segregate. A family with a differently-abled member can drop-in any time. We at the National Association for Recreational Equality (nareletsplayfair) refer to these inclusionary drop-in sports facilities like Bankshot as total mix diversity based on universal design. NARE teaches and advocates: play self-competitively alongside others. Be a sport. Participate. Move your body. Get in the spirit of alongside play. You don’t have to win to be a winner
REEVE BRENNER See more from Rabbi Reeve Brenner at www.playgroundprofessionals.com/contributors/reevebrenner
www.nareletsplayfair.com www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine
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Waves of Fun - Opening of Unique Morgan’s Inspiration Island Splash Park SAN ANTONIO – The opening day of Morgan’s Inspiration Island, the world’s first ultra-accessible splash park where guests of all ages and abilities can get wet and have fun together, was a success. “Like Morgan’s Wonderland, Morgan’s Inspiration Island is not a specialneeds park; it’s a park of inclusion,” said Gordon Hartman, founder of The Gordon Hartman Family Foundation, which since 2005 has pursued endeavors benefitting the special-needs community. “Both were designed with specialneeds individuals in mind and built for everyone’s enjoyment.” Prior to officially opening June 17, Morgan’s Inspiration Island invited groups serving those with special needs to help thoroughly test all aspects of the new splash park. “Our goal is to provide a great guest experience in an inclusive, safe, comfortable, not-overly-crowded environment,” Hartman said. “Because of the great anticipation for the opening of Morgan’s Inspiration Island, we respectfully request everyone’s patience and cooperation as we fine tune the park.” Hartman said Morgan’s Inspiration Island will be open daily throughout the summer until mid-August and then on weekends in August and September. He strongly recommended that guests go online in advance at www.MorgansWonderland.com to book admissions to the new park. He also noted that non-profit Morgan’s Wonderland admits anyone with a special need free of charge, and the same policy will be in effect at Morgan’s Inspiration Island. “When Morgan’s Wonderland opened in spring 2010, we really didn’t know what to expect, but the park’s popularity has grown tremendously and encouraged us to add Morgan’s Inspira-
tion Island,” he said. “Now, we’ll have two attractions like none other that everyone – regardless of ability or age – can enjoy. Morgan’s Inspiration Island promises to give individuals with physical or cognitive special needs a place where they can splash and play without barriers.” Morgan’s Inspiration Island overlooks the theme park’s 8-acre catch-andrelease fishing lake. The focal point is a seven-story lighthouse with a rotating beacon on top that can be easily seen from IH 35 a half-mile away. Six major elements comprise the $17-million, tropically-themed island paradise inspired by Hartman and his wife Maggie’s 23-year-old daughter with special needs, Morgan. “We decided to call it Morgan’s Inspiration Island because Morgan truly has been the catalyst for every project we’ve pursued to help the special-needs community,” Hartman said. The River Boat Adventure ride twists and turns for more than five minutes through a jungle setting with bird and animal sounds in the background. Five water play areas – Hang 10 Harbor, Rainbow Reef, Shipwreck Island, Harvey’s Hideaway Bay, and Calypso Cove – offer a variety of splashy elements such as raintrees, falls, pools, geysers, jets, water cannons, and tipping buckets. Just as is the case with Morgan’s Wonderland, every Morgan’s Inspiration Island element is wheelchair-accessible, and waterproof wristbands with RFID technology are available so parents can go to a Location Station and easily ascertain the whereabouts of their children and other members of their party. Other special features include the capability of conditioning water to a warmer temperature at Rainbow Reef so guests with sensitivity to cold can still
30 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017
splash and play. “In addition, we recently unveiled with the University of Pittsburgh revolutionary new wheelchairs propelled by compressed air,” Hartman said. “Our guests in expensive batterypowered wheelchairs can’t afford to get them wet, so we have special Morgan’s Inspiration Island PneuChairs™ available first-come, first-served, along with two other waterproof wheelchair models – a push-stroller type for guests needing assistance from a caregiver for mobility and a rigid-frame, manual wheelchair for guests who can push themselves. The first PneuChairs to go into service are prototypes that are already undergoing significant improvements.” Hartman said spacious private areas are available where guests can transfer out of their wheelchairs into Morgan’s Inspiration Island waterproof wheelchairs. Other facilities include the Rusty Anchor Galley Grub and Little Italy Bistro food outlets for snacks and beverages; the Surf Shack Gifts and Gear sundries shop offering items such as sunscreen and souvenirs; a panoramic viewing deck; an air-conditioned party/meeting room; and private cabanas for rent. He further pointed out that the splash park has been designed with water conservation in mind. Water used in the various play elements will be filtered continuously and recirculated, and it will be stored in huge underground concrete tanks when the park is not in operation. “Morgan’s Inspiration Island – like Morgan’s Wonderland – will concentrate on inclusion and inspire guests with special needs to do things previously thought not to be in their range of capabilities,” he explained. “Those without www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine
disabilities and those with, including individuals in wheelchairs, guests with hearing and visual impairments, and even guests on ventilators, will be able to play alongside each other and gain a greater appreciation of one another. “In many ways, creating Morgan’s Inspiration Island feels a lot like it did when our team designed and built Morgan’s Wonderland with a focus on special-needs individuals – it’s never been done before. For the past three years, we’ve been collaborating with water park consultants from Texas, Arizona, Florida, and Canada as well as local doctors, special-needs therapists, special-education teachers, parents, and caregivers. We believe Morgan’s Inspiration Island will be tremendously popular because both children and adults in wheelchairs will be able to have fun in the South Texas sun.” Groundbreaking for Morgan’s Inspiration Island occurred in November 2015, and construction began in January 2016. The new splash park becomes part of the growing family destination in the old Longhorn Quarry, now known as Wonderland, Texas, that includes Morgan’s Wonderland, The Academy at Morgan’s Wonderland school for students with special needs, and the Children’s Rehabilitation Institute of TeletonUSA (CRIT USA), a non-profit rehab center for children born with or suffering from neurological, muscular, or skeletal disorders and injuries. Additional Wonderland, Texas facilities to help special-needs individuals are already in the planning stages. Detailed information and Q&As about Morgan’s Inspiration Island as well as the latest updates about Morgan’s Wonderland admissions, days/hours of operation, and special events/celebrations can be found at www.MorgansWonderland.com. The 25-acre theme park, cited by TripAdvisor respondents as one of the top 25 in the U. S., is located in Northeast San Antonio at 5223 David Edwards Drive a half-mile west of IH 35 at the intersection of Wurzbach Parkway and Thousand Oaks Drive.
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PLAYGROUND MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN TRAINING The two-day Playground Maintenance Technician Training focuses on practical playground maintenance activities, inspection principles and best practices in making repairs. This program does not focus on play theory or memorizing standards.
Participant Benefits • Learn about materials! Learn how to maintain playground equipment made of metal, plastic, wood and concrete • Learn about safety! Understand how to take damaged equipment out of service safely, keep proper records, and identify potential legal issues related to playground maintenance • Learn about surfaces! Learn how best to maintain unitary and loose-fill surfaces as well as fasteners and connectors • Cost effective! Train front-line maintenance staff at an affordable price • Ensure your equipment lasts through its useful life! Improve playground user safety and prolong the useful life of equipment
Upcoming Playground Maintenance Technician Programs • September 18-19, 2017 – Florida School Plant Managers Association, Orlando, FL • October 2-3, 2017 – City of Spokane Parks and Recreation, Spokane, WA • October 5-6, 2017 – Oregon Recreation and Park Association, Spring Field, OR
Want to host a PMT program in your area? Contact the Program Coordinator at the Eppley Institute pmt@eppley.org Find out more at
www.playgroundmaintenance.org
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