In “Transforming Splash Play Into an Inclusive Experience,” Ariel Mansholt, an occupational therapist and inclusive play specialist with Landscape Structures, discusses how splash play is an inherently inclusive experience.
When asked how spray parks can be made accessible to children with varying abilities, Mansholt says, “Children with mobility devices can wheel up and engage with water tables and the dumping bucket elements. They can engage with the animal elements that are popular, and the different pressures and temperatures of water can be engaging.
Moving into that multisensory experience, different types of sprays and water events feel different, so we want to think about the pressure of sheets versus mists versus sprays versus dumping buckets. All provide a different proprioceptive input that’s super-regulating for kids needing that pressure.
From the different water elements there’s a lot of auditory input and visual input as well. And sometimes kids need a place to get away from so much input. When we get kids under a water shroud, they can take a break and regulate, and get less input visually. They can sit and engage with the water there before they go back and get into more interactive elements.
Interactive elements are also engaging for kids of varying abilities. Water tables and interactive elements that can be manipulated, for example, to see who can launch the water the farthest.”
Read the Article in Recreation Management