What Do the New ADA Regulations Mean for Playgrounds?
With the new ADA regulations taking effect this Thursday March 15th, 2012 you may have some questions about what that means for your playgrounds. The ADA guidelines have been in place since 1991. The new regulations now mean that the guidelines are law and can be enforced by the Department of Justice. If your playgrounds complied with these guidelines before, they will be compliant with the 2010 standards. Check out the following points from our internal experts:
The Zach Hinish Foundation Seeks To Provide Accessible Play Area For All Children
There is a new playground at C.W. Longer Elementary School in Hollidaysburg, PA. With lush green trees as its backdrop and located near a community recreation center among tennis courts, soccer and football fields and walking trails, this park is in no way ordinary.
Kids That Hit the Playground Do Better When They Hit the Books
A study from the VU Medical Center in Amsterdam recently published in The Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine confirms that the more exercise a child gets, the more success he or she has in the classroom. It examined 14 cases—ten of which were evaluated using an observational methodology and four using methods of intervention.
Playground Slide Safety
A recent article from “The Well Column” in the New York Times gained lots of attention from parents, grandparents and caregivers. The article, “A Surprising Risk for Toddlers on Playground Slides,” discussed the instances of toddlers and young children with broken legs as a result of riding down a playground slide on a caregiver’s lap.
“The Backyard” Success: Where Collaboration Meets Opportunity
Our eyes must be opened to see a world that often fails to accommodate the disabled,” says Chris Kaag, Founder and Executive Director of the Wyomissing-based IM ABLE Foundation. IM ABLE promotes physical and mental activities and funds adaptive equipment grants for children with disabilities. Chris believes that playgrounds should be places where children can have the childhood he enjoyed before a degenerative nerve condition robbed him of his mobility in his early 20s. Fifteen years later, the former Marine credits his disability with opening his eyes to that world.
High School Students Build Playground for Mantua Township Elementary School
Twenty-one students from the Gloucester County Institute of Technology’s (GCIT) construction technology program worked diligently to assemble a new playground for the students at J. Mason Tomlin Elementary School (JMT) over two days in August.
According to Dan Roskiewich, welding instructor and construction trades coordinator at GCIT, the district requested the students’ expertise.
Bear Creek Intermediate School Builds Playground With Students’ Help
The 960 students at Bear Creek Intermediate School in Elizabethtown, PA, were faced with a big decision last school year: they had the opportunity to vote on two new playground concepts for their school.
Cape May Coast Guard Recruits Build Playground for Local School
Students that attend the Cape May City Elementary School arrived in September to find a brand new playground designed for the younger children.
More than 20 recruits and enlisted personnel from Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May arrived at the school August 22nd and 23rd to assemble newly purchased playground equipment.
GaGa Ball Pits: Go Ga-Ga for Children’s Health and Play
In a time when our country is facing a childhood obesity crisis, care givers need to continuously find ways to keep children physically active. Many schools and camps are looking for fun activities that keep children of all ages and abilities moving. The game’s growing popularity is due to its universal ability to be used in physical education classes, during recess, in after-school programs, or as a camp activity!
Product Spotlight: Freestyling Fun
General Recreation, Inc. and Landscape Structures introduce “Freestyling Fun,” a design concept for new and existing customers that celebrates the power of unscripted play and improvisation. Clients can now combine Landscape Structures’ popular PlayBooster® system along with the innovative play components of the EvosTM system, without the use of decks and enclosures, to create interesting […]
