Bringing all abilities together
Special Needs Schools
Playground equipment for special development schools
Explore how inclusive and accessible playground equipment and designs foster a shared play experience for children of diverse abilities.
Outdoor play holds immense importance for children with special needs, supporting their physical and cognitive development, and enhancing social inclusion. Our specially adapted school playground equipment and educational play structures create a secure setting that stimulates sensory engagement, encourages imaginative play, and promotes sustained focus. This inclusive space facilitates group play alongside other children, fostering an environment of unity and camaraderie.
Why outdoor play equipment is important for children with special needs
Encouraging children to move and naturally explore with their bodies is crucial for their physical and cognitive growth. The outdoors enhances sensory stimulation and allows them to engage their sensory devices in exploration. Accessible outdoor playground equipment holds particular significance for children with special needs, as it enhances coordination, mobility, balance, and proprioception. The importance of play for special needs children is straightforward – it allows them to feel just like any other child.
Our playground equipment prioritises children of all abilities, ensuring they experience a sense of worth and inclusion during playtime.
Tips for designing inclusive school playgrounds
When designing school playgrounds with focus on inclusion and accessibility, it helps to incorporate the following school playground equipment and design features:
Sensory Play Elements: Add play panels and musical play elements that can be reached from ground level.
Playground Surfacing: Sand and woodschips can be hard to manouvre for children with mobility dissabilities. By choosing poored in rubber as your surface you get a high quality, easy to maintain and manouvre surfacing. It also allows you to create colour contrasts on surfaces to assist guidance.
Accessible playground structures: Choose playground equipment with ramps or wide access points for, e.g., wheelchairs to use.
Ground level playground equipment: Incorporate ground-level play options on your playground towers or climbing equipment, they are easy to access and make it possible for children of all abilities to play together.
Quite Areas: Make sure your school playground offers an area with benches and shading to withdraw to.
Solitary Play Areas: Can be individual play pieces, like playground carousels or play panels.
Below you can explore a selection of playground equipment to add to your inclusive school playground.
What inclusive & accessible playground equipment should you choose?
6 Principles for Universal & Inclusive Design
We believe that children, regardless of age or ability, deserve the opportunity to play. Hence, our products adhere to six principles of universal and inclusive design.
Accessibility
Multifunctionality
360-Degree Design
Diverse Play Opportunities
Clear in Colour & Design Signals
Providing Solutions for Special Needs
Learn more about how to plan and design inclusive playgrounds here.
"I would definitely suggest to anybody who is the head teacher of a school to do the same thing and to provide more equipment for children to play with, it has a huge impact on attendance, behaviour, confidence, friendship"
- Gayle MacDonald, Head Teacher at Corpus Christi Primary School, Glasgow, Scotland
Research and user-led universal playground equipment
The KOMPAN Play Institute collaborates closely with schools, educational centre, and parents to create dedicated spaces that prioritise safe, accessible, and engaging play. Our outdoor playground equipment for special needs is specifically crafted to enhance motor learning, trigger sensory exploration, and promote social interaction among children.
You can see more about how to plan and design inclusive playgrounds here.
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