Our group was tasked to design and build a gross and fine motor playset for a family that would be outdoors and could grow with the child.
The goal of the project was to build an outdoor playset for a young girl. The playset needed to allow her to develop her gross motor skills and needed to include options for fine motor play. The family noted that the young girl likes to play on swings and slides when they go to the local park, but their concern is that the parks do not have any opportunities for her to have sensory play. The playset needs to be able to grow up with this young girl so that she can continue to use it as she gets older.
After our conversation with the family, we were given some inspiration photos of what type of playset they were looking for. The family also sent us an idea of a busy board that we used to inspire our sensory play area within the structure. We did additional research on playset structures and what it would take to design and build a from scratch playset. We found a couple of different options from a couple of websites that contained different features such as a different number of slides, swings, different play areas like a sandbox, table, or boards for drawing. All of these different features inspired our decision to build off an existing playset and add on the features that the family is looking for.
Design 1 is made to be added to the structure of a playset. It is a vertically mounted busy board that has a total of 6 different “stations” for play. The first is a flat, steel section that is used to hold a handful of magnetic toys that can be removed. The next is two gears that have a large gear reduction between them, with the larger gear having a rain tube affixed to it. After that is a small hand maze, followed by a wall mounted steel drum. The remaining two stations consist of miscellaneous switches and tactile doors that open to cubbies that can be used as fidget toys or storage.
This design is intended to be added to an existing playset design. The design features an L-shaped table that would function as a busy board. There are spinning gears, instruments such as a xylophone, and drums, a place for the child to practice tying and velcroing their shoes, and a station focused on matching shapes. Off of the table there is a box that would allow the child to be able to throw a ball into a hole and for it to come back to them. This box would also contain storage for different instruments such as finger cymbals or castanets. In addition to the table, this drawing also uses the vertical space to add a wall with windows that can be opened and closed and a hand maze like option.
Design a sensory table and wall with elements from each of the designs to add onto an existing playset (Option 4).
