"Inside the Playspace" Playground Blog

Did you know that Active Playground Equipment is made right here in Point Edward, Ontario? And did you know that we have a network of 15 local representatives able to serve you right across Ontario?

Visit Active Playground Equipment for Ontario’s most complete source for all things playground related. Our product line ranges from climbing boulders to traditional post and deck playground equipment. Traditional swings, shade and exciting motion playgrounds. Even unique dinosaur dig sites. We are also specialists at Inclusive, Accessible and Universally designed playspaces. Finally if you want to add outdoor fitness, we have durable fitness equipment and designers who specialize in natural play environments.

We can take care of all of your needs from playground surfacing, to toddler playground equipment, school playgrounds, swings, daycares and city parks.

Contact us at Active Playground Equipment.

On Wednesday, April 28, 2010 we will be attending Springfest 2010, an exclusive invitation-only event for 1500 Property managers, Owners, Facility Managers and Maintenance & Operations staff.

Please stop by out booth # 410 while you are at the show.

You are eligible for a free pass from Active Playground Equipment. Click here to obtain your free pass.

A ONE-DAY EVENT FOR BUILDING OWNERS, MANAGERS AND OPERATIONS STAFF
Springfest is a great one-day event for building owners, property managers, facility managers and others responsible for building maintenance and facility operations. Renew contacts in your industry and update yourself on key trends.

TIPS ON HOW TO REDUCE YOUR OPERATING COSTS!
Representatives from 150 suppliers will be on hand. Learn how to reduce your operating costs and to increase revenue with new income opportunities. Get factual advice and solutions to your building problems.

GREAT NETWORKING!
Make valuable contacts with 1,500 peers in the industry. Exchange ideas. Discuss common problems and discover new solutions.

WIN $500 IN CASH!
One lucky visitor will win $500 in cash. Simply follow the instructions in the Passport that you will receive at the Show to enter.

TELL YOUR COLLEAGUES!
Photocopy the registration form on the back of this brochure and reserve tickets by fax or online for all your colleagues: property managers, building owners, facility managers, plant engineers, and building maintenance and operations staff.

LOCATION: NORTH BUILDING
Springfest will be held on the Lower Level of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre’s North Building.

Contact Active Playground Equipment to obtain your free passes.

Visit our booth at the show.

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!

Visit Active Playground Equipment Ontario for more details about GreenGym Outdoor Fitness Equipment.

Click Here for more details.

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.

T-Rex playground dig.

They have taken this approach to create some of the coolest, most authentic and imagination-inspiring playground dinosaur dig sites where children and adults of all ages can explore! Check out our website for more details and photos of this new line of playground equipment.

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.

Visit the Active Playground Equipment Website for more details on Natural Playgrounds.

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.

Click here for the corporate website for GreenGym, as well as click here for the Active Playground Equipment Website.

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

Playground Fundraising Tips

• 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.

• Stay motivated and have fun.

Your choice of surfacing is of major importance when choosing an accessible, or inclusive playspace. So often the surfacing is treated as an afterthought, rather than being integrated into the whole plan.

Usually when designing a playspace, a client’s focus is more on the playground components, the slides, the climbers, the colours, and they completely ignore how are assuming a user with special needs is to traverse around the playspace.

A playspace designer should take a look at the users of the playspace, and integrate the appropriate surfacing to allow children to access all parts of the playspace, regardless of abilities.

Does a user in a wheelchair need to roll from freestanding component to freestanding component? In this case, loose fill surfacing will not do. Instead a monolythic unitary surfacing, like SofTile, or ActiveTurf is a better solution.

Creating a well designed playspace will inspire users of all abilities to have fun, to be challenged, and to use the playground; which is exactly what it’s intended for. Contact the experts at Active Playground Equipment for the perfect, user-appropriate playground design, like our Olivia DiMaio project.

Active Playground Equipment just finished up a new park playground, in Sarnia, Ontario’s Fairlane Park.

It consists of a colourful new Exploration Playstructure, and some very cool climbers and challenges.

Click HERE for more details and photos of the new playground.

Fairlane Park Playground, Sarnia, Ontario

Active Playground Equipment.