Sensory Spaces Playgrounds
Improved development, improved school performance
Mission of the playgrounds
Providing opportunities for children in under resourced environments to experience balanced and enriched sensory experiences that will have an impact on their development.
Sensory Spaces Playgrounds aims to...
Create unique enriched sensory opportunities for children impacting on their development.
In designing the playground equipment the focus are on the different sensory systems, how it is integrated in the brain and the developmental abilities that they support.
The concept of playgrounds was originated and founded by Dr Annamarie van Jaarsveld at the Occupational Therapy Department, University of the Free State in 2015.
Designing of the playground equipment
Playgrounds were developed focusing on the role of especially the tactile, vestibular and proprioceptive systems.
- Receptors in the skin detect light & deep touch, pain and temperatureTactile
- Inner ear structures detect changes in the position of the head (and assists with bodily adaptations for example balance and movement reactions)Vestibular
- Receptors in the muscles, joints & tendons responsible for awareness of body position and strength needed for muscle movementsProprioceptive
Each playground is designed based on the space available, needs, material and available human & financial resources
The process of building a playground is in its own sense contributing to doing, being and becoming...
