Matter of Inclusion

The campaign for more inclusive play areas in Great Britain is on!  Charities  KIDS and Sense carry out regular surveys on the state of play and have found there are very few truly inclusive play areas in the UK. With 1 in 20 children under the age of sixteen living with a disability or special need, we need to be proactive and be the change.

Top 5 Tips for Inclusive Design:

1.       Different options of play experiences so that every child has a chance and a choice to play – don’t be tokenistic

2.       Offering sensory play for all ages, not just for toddlers and in toddler zones

3.       Providing everyone with the same play experiences; a key opportunity is to get everyone playing at height

4.       Recognising diverse needs, not just designing for a particular ability or disability. Risk and challenge has to sit side by side with other more accessible or inclusive pieces, otherwise, we exclude families with children with diverse requirements

5.       Become a PiPA (Plan Inclusive Play Areas) park and community

For more information on creating inclusive play spaces, please take a look at the PiPA tool.

“I’ve been working with Jupiter Play on several projects in Essex over a number of years. I believe they are one of the few playground suppliers that truly understand inclusion and consider the needs of children of all abilities.

Their approach is non-tokenistic and it is good to see how they embed the principles of PiPA (Plan Inclusive Play areas) in their designs.  Family and young people’s voices are embedded within their designs and as such children and young people fully embrace the space as their own.”

Joanne Mason, Senior Commissioning Officer, Short Breaks for Disabled Children and Young People.

Bathhouse Meadow, Walton-on-the-Naze