Only a very small minority of disabled children actually use a wheelchair. Within the context of play, the concept of inclusive play, i.e. play for all abilities, is to ensure that the play experience is available for all and that there is no segregation or differentiation in the play experience available to children with impairments and those without.

With guidance from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) now www.communities.gov.uk, we have formulated what we feel is the best solution to enable us as play area designers to meet the guidelines of the act and create a play area which encourages inclusion.

We believe that there are several physical factors in the design of a play area, that we can influence, which can assist in making a child's play experience as inclusive as possible. These fall into the following categories: access; surfacing; play equipment and furniture.

Access

At Inclusive Play we believe that the key to a successful play area is to ensure that the design...

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Surfacing

Whatever surface is selected it is important that it caters for several functions. To act as a s...

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Play Equipment

Budget constraints and the need for specialist equipment are often cited as a barrier to the deve...

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Seating

In general, unless the site layout dictates otherwise, always try to include seating within the p...

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