Everybody is free to use the equipment (Minimum age 6 with adult supervision, for some units the minimum age is 13); there is no entry fee, subscription, or dress code. There are written and pictorial guidance about how to use the equipment on each piece of equipment.
A community can also set up special times during the week where professional instructors can execute fitness classes or sessions at the gyms for the community members.
Visit Active Playground Equipment’s Outdoor Fitness Equipment page for more information on Green Gym.
Outdoor fitness equipment can be installed at the heart of well-kept public parks which are situated along running or walking paths, senior homes, hotels, golf courses, military bases and many other open spaces situated in villages and towns (See location samples). GreenGym is also installed around children’s playgrounds providing a general solution, both for people coming to work-out and for parents, siblings, grandparents and nannies who want to do a little exercise while their children are playing nearby. Either way, the facilities promote family and social interaction. Some were designed to allow for simultaneous use by two or four people, another element contributing to the overall feeling of a playground.
You can place GreenGym parks from Active Playground Equipment anywhere with a goal to provide outdoor fitness exercise that meets the needs of your community. Many communities around the world are already benefiting from outdoor fitness parks. It’s the right time for your community!
How many times have you ever wished you could be a part of a real archaeological dinosaur dig?
How many times do you wish to have your own children that same experience?
Active Playground Equipment has teamed up with Exploration Playgrounds, who for years has worked with museums and historic organizations in producing elaborate and detailed dinosaur exhibits molded from real authentic dinosaur bones.
If you’ve hiked mountain paths, caught frogs and crayfish in a stream, rolled down a grassy hill, planted seeds, played in mud, or followed animal trails, then you’ve enjoyed natural play. The intent of our designs is to reunite kids with nature and the concept of natural play. Playspaces are designed to allow and encourage unstructured free play. This type of play is spontaneous as kids use their imagination to invent games, explore and discover the world around them.
By maintaining natural grades, naturalizing large portions of the site, or introducing a wetland, kids once again have play areas that stimulate and challenge them. Children can again enjoy long days of climbing trees and hills, building forts, and manipulating natural materials into tools and toys. This type of play is vitally important for healthy physical and mental development.
Our playground designers work in collaboration with you to combine plant material, pathways, drainage, and weather phenomena with play structures and site amenities to create play, social and learning opportunities in a natural setting. Our designs seeks to create a natural landscape in miniature, full of intriguing play and learning opportunities just waiting to be discovered by children of all ages.
Vegetation is used throughout the landscape to soften and cool the play space. Trees provide three-dimensional structure to the space, and screen the surrounding urban landscape. If appropriate, site fixtures, fitness elements, and site specific sculpture are incorporated into the design.
Active Playground has teamed up with Green Gym, a manufacturer of simply the most intelligently designed, and durable outdoor fitness equipment that we could find.
We had a chance to view some of Green Gym’s outdoor fitness equipment and it is truly superior in design and in durability to other products we have seen in the industry.
GreenGym is an outdoor gym, very similar to an indoor gym – from cross trainers to pec decks. We have carefully provided a range of equipment to suit all needs. The key differences being that the equipment is found outdoors so it is robust, weatherproof and colourful. It does not use weights for resistance, but rather one’s own body weight. The devices are inviting, and look more like friendly playgrounds than intimidating fitness equipment. GreenGym parks provide a great opportunity for all community members to enjoy fitness and healthy active living for free.
A tax receipt is a benefit to all donors. Offering a tax receipt may help to increase donation amounts.
This how the process works:
• Verify with your principal or local board who the cheques are made payable to
• The playground committee would collect all the cheques issued for the playground fund
• The cheques are forwarded with a letter requesting that the board accept this gift to use towards playground improvements
• The funds are then deposited into your school bank account
• The school board would issue the receipts and forward them back to the committee for distribution to the donors.
You may want to include a minimum donation amount to receive a tax receipt. A suggested amount could be $10 or $20.00. Some boards have set a pre-determined dollar amount to receive a tax receipt. Be sure to contact your local board for details.
NOTE: Since the procedure of issuing tax receipts may vary between boards, be sure to confirm this process with your principal or school board.
Is one of the greatest hurdles standing between your school and a new playground finding the funding to pay for it?
Since funding is not provided by school boards, fundraising is now an essential component to obtaining a play structure. This has inspired APE to include with our service, a comprehensive fundraising plan for schools and daycares.
This section can provide you with innovative and creative ideas that are simple and easy to execute. These ideas will help inspire and energize your entire fundraising team. Most importantly, these ideas will put money in your schools bank account and save you time.
We have tried to be as detailed as possible with these ideas. We welcome your comments, suggestions or ideas to improve these events. Please feel free to contact us and to speak to your APE Consultant.
NOTE: Some boards restrict the level of which the students are allowed to participate in fundraising events. Confirm these details with your principal or school board.
We have also included the following information that will assist you with a successful fundraising campaign.
• Issuing tax receipts
• Donor Recognition program
• Goal setting
• Chart your success
• Effective letter writing
• Incentives
• Team and school-wide incentives
• Motivators
• Seasonal fundraising
A very simple yet effective way to encourage corporate fundraising is to go to a local car dealership and have them sponsor an imaginative car to be put in your playspace.
With our customizing abilities, we can customize our graphics and panels to look similar to any vehicle or brand that the car dealership represents. We can even put their logos and their dealership name on the imaginative vehicle.
It is a great way to have the dealership get some exposure, while supporting a local playground.
Check out these photos!
Active Playground Equipment.
Kids on a sponsored imaginative truck by a local Honda dealership.
• Your school will be refunded a percentage of the GST paid on your new APE Play Structure. Your principal or school board can confirm the percentage amount refunded.
• Confirm and book dates for fund raising events well in advance with your principal.
• Certain times of the year are very busy for staff (e.g. report cards), try to plan large events around these times. This will encourage staff participation.
• Try to ensure that your event does not coincide with the same type of event that another local organization may be doing in the community.
• Send notices/fund raising events home on coloured paper so it will stand out.
• Use a thermometer to chart your success. It will motivate the students as they get closer to their goal.
• Posting a 3D rendering of your play structure will increase anticipation. Your APE representative can provide you with one.
• If you are in need of volunteers to run an event, you could ask local high school students. They require 40 hours of community service to graduate.
• Be sure to give frequent reports/updates to keep the school community informed.
You can also use the school newsletter.
• Establish goals on all fund raising events.
• Have time limits (10 – 14 days) on fund raising events that require selling items.
My family just got back from a long weekend in Manitoulin Island, in Ontario, Canada.
There were no amusement parks, no rollercoasters, no flashing billboards, no flashy marketing.
We fished, we hiked, we jumped off piers into water, we swam, we enjoyed the beach, and had a great time. Non of us, including the kids felt that we missed out on any activities amusement park style activities.
We had just as much fun, and it didnt cost us a fortune.
