Creating the Perfect Playground for Children with Down Syndrome!

Children with Down syndrome have enormous potential. Like all children, children with Down syndrome want to move, explore their environment and interact with peers and equipment. Physical factors can create obstacles but when children are given targeted support they can achieve their goals.

Every child is a complex and unique individual, they have their own likes and dislikes, their own habits and their own ways of doing things. Children with Down syndrome can develop knowledge and skills valuable to them by problem solving and taking some risks.

Once children are successful they will be motivated to perform an action again. Through repetition of movements children develop strength and therefore require less support. Eventually a certain skill will be able to be performed with no support at all.

Playgrounds for All

Well-designed and resourced playgrounds can provide a rich environment for learning and social interaction. However, the fast-paced, unstructured nature of play, the range of choices presented and the motor skills required to play on the equipment may create a difficult environment for children with differing needs.

Gross Motor Development

The perfect playground for children with Down syndrome will enable the development of gross motor skills. For most children with Down syndrome, gross motor skills eventually become one of their strengths and they continue to develop and refine new gross and fine motor skills throughout their lives.

Children with Down syndrome, like other children, develop at their own rate - some slower than others and some faster. Certain physical and medical issues can impact the development of gross motor skills.

Hypotonia

Children with Down syndrome have low muscle tone, which is also called hypotonia. Low muscle tone, along with decreased strength and endurance, can make it more difficult to learn gross motor skills.

Hypotonia affects each child with Down syndrome to a different degree. In some children the effect is mild and in others more pronounced. Some areas of the body may be more affected than others.

Muscle tone

Muscle tone enables us to hold our bodies in different positions. A child with low muscle tone may need to exert more effort when performing an activity to activate their muscles. As a result they may have difficulty maintaining their postural stability and fatigue faster due to the extra effort required.

Decreased Strength

Children with Down syndrome have decreased muscle strength, but strength can be greatly improved through repetition and practice.

Hypermobility

Hypermobility is another component of low muscle tone, when the ligaments that hold the joints together are slack and easily stretched. This allows excessive flexibility and range of movements. Flexibility in the joints limits a child's control over their movements. This can make it difficult to support themselves, as hyper-flexible joints are harder to stabilize.

A Pentagon Playground

Pentagon Play firmly believe that play environments should enable the full participation of all children. A child with Down syndrome should find that the playground feels as welcoming to them as it would to any other child.

We strive to create spaces where all children can engage and play together. All children benefit from inclusive playgrounds, regardless of their development abilities.

Inclusive Playground Design Factors to Consider

• Select equipment that provides motion and allows children to climb, swing and slide.
• Choose Sensory Panels in order to build tolerance to different types of sensory stimulation, such as tactile activities and sound elements.
• Offer opportunities for independent play and visually interesting equipment such as a Mud Kitchen and Water Table.
• Avoid overcrowding of play space equipment where children are constantly bumping into each other.
• Include cosy spaces such as a Playhouse or Den.
• Offer clear lines of sight throughout the play space.
• Install elements such as seating areas and Gazebos where children can go when overstimulated and where they can still observe other children.
• Use signs and picture boards to assist communication skills. The use of playground communication boards allows children to express their thoughts by pointing to symbols related to the playground environment.
• Provide safe look-out areas.
• Use boundary indicators such as Interactive Fencing to identify different play zones.

Sensory Play Opportunities

It is important to incorporate sensory elements into play to allow children to learn using a multi-sensory approach. Children with Down syndrome may need more time and repetition to learn a new skill therefore more frequent bursts of sensory play will be more beneficial than longer and less frequent.

Consider the use of:

• Sound and musical elements such as instruments and falling water.
• Textures and shapes - textured surfaces, designs and shapes.
• Moving components such as water channels and spinners.
• Colour, patterns and light - use colour contrast Sensory Panels to mark and identify spaces.
• Smell - plant lavender, jasmine and sweet peas in accessible planters.

The Importance of Opportunities for Social Development

Social interaction with peers is an important element of every playground. Playground zones and equipment such as construction, messy play at the Mud Kitchen, pushing each other on the Basket Swing and Den Making encourage active engagement.

Behaviours such as turn-taking, sharing, verbalising and reciprocal interaction can be encouraged. Educators can help to initiate and scaffold social interactions with other children in order to build self confidence.

Gross Motor Development - Balance

Include inclined surfaces in playground designs as children with Down Syndrome need to become familiar with the feeling of walking up and down inclined surfaces. Practise walking up first as this is generally easier than walking down as the pace is slower and the ground is closer.

Hand support will be needed until children learn how to move their legs and balance themselves. Two-hand support will progress to one-hand support and then no support will be worked towards.

Balance Beam Skills

When walking on a balance beam children with Down syndrome will learn to walk with their legs and feet in a new position. Children will learn to rotate their hips so that their knees and feet point straight ahead. They will need to position their feet closer together and will learn to balance using a narrower base.

Initially begin with beams from Pentagon's Play Builder set flat on the floor. Children can practise placing one foot in front of the other or they may turn sideways and step sideways across the balance beam.

Get Set, Jump!

Learning to jump helps to strengthen calf muscles, which tend to be weak in children with Down syndrome. Practising foot motions when jumping help children to use a better foot posture when standing and walking.

Jumping will take time to develop. On average, a child with Down syndrome learns to walk at 2 years of age and to jump at 4 years of age. Children will firstly need to be introduced to bouncing. Aim to make this great fun so that children are interested and willing to participate.

Some studies have shown that children with Down syndrome are more successful at learning new movements in response to visual clues than to verbal instructions. This may reflect different brain organisation for movement control therefore children may learn new gross motor skills better by modelling or copying them than being given verbal instructions.

Pentagon's In-Ground Trampoline allows children to feel safe. They can begin slowly and gently and gradually build up tolerance. Lively music will encourage children to automatically bend their hips and knees. Children can practise taking turns on the trampoline and learn from each other.

Once children can jump on a springy surface they will be ready to learn to jump on the floor with two-hand support. To be able to jump on the floor children need to be able to push off with their toes against a surface with enough strength and speed to lift the body upwards.

Children will progress to jumping off a step, jumping over an object on the floor like tape or rope or in and out of a hoop.

Riding a Tricycle

Children with Down syndrome usually learn to ride a tricycle by themselves between the ages of 4-6 years with the average being 5 years. When learning to ride a tricycle children learn to hold the handlebars and steer, to keep feet on the pedals and to pedal by moving hips, knees and feet in a smooth continuous rhythm.

Having a track to ride tricycles on in the playground will benefit children with Down syndrome both socially and physically.

Firstly children will need to learn how to climb on and off a tricycle before practising steering and turning. Children will learn to ride through feeling it, seeing others doing it, watching themselves do it and by responding to simple and direct verbal cues.

A Playground for Regular Physical Activity

A playground which promotes regular physical activity helps children to develop physical fitness and to control their weight. Equipment which can be regularly used such as an obstacle course or a daily mile track can help to improve strength, balance, coordination and endurance. Children should be challenged to build cardiovascular fitness where they are breathing hard and working up a sweat.

When children engage in regular strenuous activity they tend to be mentally more alert. There are also important social benefits of regular playground exercise, children learn to interact and naturally make friends leading to overall well being. When playing with peers in the playground, confidence will continue to increase, children will see what they are able to do and will challenge themselves more.

By providing playground games and activities which encourage and increase active movement children are practising key gross motor skills. Practice allows the central nervous system to develop more effective motor programmes for smoother and more coordinated movement.

Most of all a playground should be an exciting place for children with Down syndrome to have fun, sing, dance and be silly. Small steps to gross motor success can be praised and achievable, realistic goals that will stretch and encourage can be set.

Children with Down syndrome, like all children, need to be allowed to make choices, take some risks, try new friendships, explore different materials and to get dirty!

Pentagon Play Can Help You

Pentagon Play have a range of inclusive equipment including accessible roundabouts, swings, sensory play panels, quiet zones and playground markings to aid communication. Rest assured that Pentagon products are good quality, safe, accessible, encouraging of independence, durable and offer different levels of challenge.

The use of our equipment enables families to attend the same playground together. Pentagon Playgrounds benefit everyone and can actively promote community engagement and inclusion.