Proludic Brings Inclusive Play to Children’s Hospice

Play and sports area manufacturer Proludic has successfully designed and installed an inclusive play space for East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH). The play area provides a welcoming environment for the children in their care, offering opportunities for respite and bonding for their parents and carers. Tasked with creating a safe, accessible, and contemporary space, Proludic worked closely with the client to ensure the play area met the diverse needs of children with a range of disabilities and life-limiting conditions.

The play area at The Nook Children’s Hospice, built on sloping ground, required significant grading to create terraced levels, allowing easy access for all children while also creating a colourful and visually stimulating space. The design incorporates carefully selected play equipment, including an inclusive wheelchair seesaw, wheelchair swing, pod swing, inclusive roundabout, and wobbly mirror. These features ensure that children with varying disabilities and conditions can enjoy the play space, with a wide range of equipment available to stimulate and engage them.

In addition, various sensory elements, such as chimes (positioned at both floor and waist levels) and drums, are placed throughout the play area to enhance the sensory experience. The inclusive play area is further enriched with a vibrant wetpour surface featuring geometric shapes, providing both a visually stimulating sensory environment and a safe space for children to play. This cushioned surface also ensures accessibility and safety for children with physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities, while offering a safe environment for staff to conduct occupational therapy sessions for both inpatients and outpatients at The Nook.

To improve the sensory experience even further, Proludic installed a resin-bound sensory path that winds down from the hospice’s sun terrace to one of two entrances, ensuring easy access for wheelchair users and improved safety for those with mobility challenges. This striking technicolour path is lined with animal-themed geo-cache hiding spots and multicoloured box archways that create playful shadows, adding additional interactive elements to the play space.

Feedback on the inclusive play area at The Nook has been overwhelmingly positive, with children enjoying their new environment and parents and carers appreciating the bonding opportunities and memory-making moments the playground provides.

Proludic has also released a new brochure on inclusive play areas, filled with expert advice and inspiring play area designs. To request your copy, click the link: https://www.proludic.co.uk/catalogues/

For more information on Proludic Brings Inclusive Play to Children’s Hospice talk to Proludic Ltd