Inclusive Playgrounds: Designing Spaces to Bring Children & Communities Together - 1.0 PDH (LA CES/HSW)

Access to outdoor play should be a shared experience, not a limited one. This presentation highlights the importance of universal design in creating outdoor spaces for all ages and abilities, ensuring access to meaningful and engaging experiences. We move beyond basic accessibility to explore how inclusive environments support interaction, exploration, and growth while strengthening community connection. We begin by grounding the importance of play and outdoor spaces, then examine how well-designed spaces serve not just individual children but families, caregivers and entire communities. We review playground and recreation equipment and how each supports development, intergenerational play, and inclusion, and apply ADA guidance, safety standards, and design best practices through real-world examples that illustrate the impact of play for everyone.

Learning objectives:

• Participants will be able to articulate the role of play in child development and give examples of how it impacts community health and engagement.
• Define an inclusive playground in comparison to one that is accessible and explain the importance and benefits of a universally designed, inclusive playground and describe the array of events that contribute to inclusion.
• Integrate requirements for ADA compliance into the design of an inclusive playground.
• Use designs and case studies as examples of how universal design provides a framework for inclusive playgrounds that benefit communities.

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Image: Jewett Park, Deerfield, Illinois / BCI Burke