Making surfacing a play asset: considerations for truly integrated play structures.

When children of all abilities are given the opportunity to engage in true play, they play with purpose. With the right types of playground structures, one of those purposes can be learning important developmental skills.

True play is independent and self-directed. Through play, children achieve one of the most basic rights of being a person, the right to make choices. During play, all children make choices by gathering information through physical and sensory experiences and by watching other children at play. What's most interesting about observing children during play is that they seek out the experience that they currently need most for their development. Indeed, these play activities might be the best learning environment for all children. Learning isn't just being given information; it's assimilating that information into application. Children are actively involved in learning when they're playing.

Children are doing more than recreating when they play. They're exploring two compelling characteristics: who they are genetically and what their environment has to offer them. The explorations of children during play, and the input that they receive as a result of their childhood efforts, set the tone of their self-image and forge their perception of their competencies. An integrated playground that's designed to remove the barriers that limit children's explorations will support their need for independent, self-directed play.

Elements of Play

The elements that will most affect the usefulness and accessibility of a finished play area for all children are the pathways throughout and around the play environment, as well as the resilient safety surfacing materials in the use zones around the playground equipment. These "surfaces" can be the playground's best unnoticed asset for providing a barrier-free, universally accessible play environment.

There are many factors that should be considered when selecting the materials for the "surfacing." Most important, consider how the materials will be connected throughout the environment, including how the playground equipment is integrated into the overall playground design. The purpose of this article is to give a general overview of these crucial selections.

How can the surfacing elements be more important than the selection of play equipment or any of a multitude of other details relating to the overall design and usefulness of an integrated playground? The answer is at your feet. When a child can't get onto the playground or is prevented from moving from one area to another owing to an uneven surface connection or an inaccessible surface, the entire playground becomes a less valuable asset. Improper combinations of surfacing materials or poor construction details can become the chasm that prevents a child with a mobility impairment from playing with other children in a playground. Pathway and playground-use zone surfacing materials must be selected with care so that the transition from one type of surfacing material to another doesn't present a barrier or a hazard for a child using a wheelchair or other mobility device.

Understanding how these materials interact during use is helpful when deciding which materials to select for the accessible pathways and for resilient safety surfacing materials in the use zones around your playground equipment. Let's take a closer look at the factors that should govern your selection of surfacing materials.

Proper Pathways

The first necessary detail in designing a barrier-free, universally accessible playground is to connect a "handicapped accessible parking area" or public walkway to the accessible pathway that leads to the playground. Pathways must meet the following criteria:

* Be firm, stable and slip-resistant.

* Be at least 60" wide.

* Each section of the pathway must not exceed a grade of 1' of rise to each 20' of run.

* At the end of a section of pathway where the elevation has changed 1' in 20' of length, there must be a level section at least 60" long before another section of 1' to 20' grade can begin.

* Wheel stops or curbs must be provided, where necessary, to prevent children using wheelchairs from accidentally leaving the pathway.

The most suitable materials for accessible pathways are poured concrete or asphalt (smooth, pebble finish, scored or stamped with designs--colored or natural), pavers (brick, natural stone, interlocking pavers or "contribution" engraved bricks) or compacted stone dust. Each of these materials has a cost that varies depending on playground location. Some of these materials may have a longer service life depending on weather, flow of surface water and natural vegetation growing around and up through the pathway. When selecting these surfaces, consider adding texture and color. Children gather sensory information while they play, and this gathering is important to their development.

Materials that aren't acceptable for accessible pathways are any loose materials like sand, gravel, pea stone, rice stone or river rock. These materials aren't firm and stable. Pathways aren't considered accessible if undeveloped with grass, compacted soil or clay; these materials are not slip-resistant.

Enlist a local landscape architect to help make the best decisions about pathway materials. Technical layout of the pathways and the method to be used when connecting to other existing accessible walkways and parking areas are readily achieved with help from design professionals.

Resilient Safety Surfacing Materials

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission provides The Handbook for Public Playground Safety at no charge by calling 800-638-2772. In this document, you'll find a list of the general categories of resilient safety surfacing materials and their qualities (both advantages and disadvantages).

There are three general categories of surfacing materials: organic loose materials, inorganic loose materials and unitary synthetic materials. With focus on their beneficial characteristics, each of these materials can be used to great advantage within the integrated play environment.

By their very characteristic of being loose, organic loose materials and inorganic loose materials are difficult to maintain as accessible surfaces according to Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility guidelines. Yet when children fall on these surfaces, the material tends to move on impact, providing cushioning to the child's long bones and head. For active play areas with climbing and upper body devices, and where falls to the surface can be readily predicted, these materials may be preferable.

Unitary synthetic materials are resilient safety surfacing materials that provide excellent accessibility around and through the playground. These materials are also an impact-attenuating surface appropriate for the use zone around playground equipment. Although this material has a high initial cost, over its lifetime, the lower requirement for rigorous routine maintenance makes it a viable selection within public play spaces.

Because all of these materials have a variety of benefits, more than one material within the use zones of the play equipment should be considered when you're selecting impact-attenuating surfacing materials. Some materials within the use zones may limit accessibility, but may also provide an additional margin of fall safety. Children with mobility impairments won't be using upper body devices or climbers, so the surfacing materials around some of these play components can be selected on the basis of the best choices for a falling surface.

Placement and Layout

Within the use zones around play equipment, a further consideration must be made about "play-usefulness." That is, if the surfacing in an area is barrier-free, what play activities are available for all of the children to use? Play-usefulness occurs when the design of the playground equipment, the pathways and the impact-attenuating surfacing materials work together to achieve real play opportunities for all children.

The accessible pathways should lead directly to accessible surfaces within the play environment use zone or the entrance to a ramp on a composite play structure. The liberty of all children during play must include play experiences at the ground level within the use zone. It should also include opportunities to experience height, such as a higher view of the surroundings. The surfacing must provide all children with cozy spots, such as beneath a composite play structure or under the roof on a composite play structure. These are interesting places to be and will provide independent, self-directed play experiences for all children.

A major concern when designing an integrated play environment is the provision that all children be in the middle of play. To accomplish this goal, it isn't necessary to cover the entire play environment with a unitary synthetic material. Placing play activities adjacent to one another with this material economizes the cost while extending the play-usefulness. It can't be overstated that strategic planning of the playground equipment, the pathways and the surfacing is required to ensure that all variables are considered together.

Surfacing Essentials

These rules are useful for making surfacing a play asset when planning play environments for all children:

* Select pathway materials and finishes that give interesting sensory experiences.

* Select more than one class of surfacing material within the use zones of the play equipment, because all of these materials have a variety of benefits for safety, accessibility and maintenance.

* All accessible pathways should lead to accessible surfaces or the entrance to a ramp on a composite play structure.

* Provide accessible surfaces to interesting places throughout the play environment. Consider high places and cozy places.

* Plan for play-usefulness with the placement of impact-attenuating surfacing materials that match children's use in each play area.

Jean Schappet is the creative director and co-founder of Boundless Playgrounds, a nonprofit organization. Antonio Malkusak, ASLA, is director of design for Boundless Playgrounds. Lawrence Bruya, Ph.D., is a full professor at Washington State University, in Pullman. For more information about Boundless Playgrounds, see www.boundlessplaygrounds.org.