Introducing Pentagon Play's New SEN Playground Range!

Working closely with SEN Teachers, SENCO’s, Occupational Therapists and children with special educational needs, we are developing an exciting range of outdoor play equipment to fully benefit children with SEN, while enabling occupational therapy activities to take place outdoors.

Our main aim of this industry-leading new range is to truly enhance children’s learning as well as preparing their brains for learning and creating fully inclusive playground spaces for children to learn through play within.

Our expert, dedicated, in-house products team have headed into settings to gain a true insight into what is missing from the SEN School Playground Equipment market. With these ideas in mind, the team have worked to design play equipment to suit five very different areas that we’re highlighted with a gap in the market.

The five areas include:

• Sensory Play
• True Inclusivity
• Physical/Heavy Work
• Break Out Spaces

Here is a first look at the first products we have developed as part of this new range:

Sensory Circuits: Alerting Frame

The Sensory Circuits is a group of 3 activities that have been designed to prepare children for learning once back inside the classroom.

The first section of this amazing outdoor resource is the Sensory Circuits Alerting Frame, which is the alerting selection of the overall resource: providing vestibular and proprioceptive stimulation within a controlled setting. Coming next will be the organisation section and the calming section!

Our Sensory Circuits Alerting frame creates a simple, yet effective heavy work environment to support children’s additional needs and prepare them for learning.

The square unit provides children with four different heavy-work activities including a Pull Up Bar for pull ups or just simply hanging, Parallel Ropes for traversing and balancing, heavy work swings for hanging, swinging and pull ups to provide children with the ability to gain tension in their muscles and a Net Traverse for the children to balance and traverse across and begin to develop their spatial awareness.

This simple square unit enables occupational therapy to take place outdoors.

We believe that our new Sensory Circuits are a fantastic resource that children can truly benefit from as it helps prepare them for learning once back in the classroom!

In-Out Shapes

Therapeutic exercises benefit many SEN children with a variety of different needs, which is why we have designed a selection of In-Out Shapes. Our In-Out Shapes enables children to crawl, weave and climb in and out of the different shapes as they prepare their brains for learning with this exciting regulatory activity.

A triangle, rectangle and square provide the children with a choice of different shapes to use while self-regulating themselves.

The open-ended shapes can also be used as a breakout space through the draping of loose materials over the rounded timber posts. A cosy space and a therapeutic exercise in one!

Up Down Slide

Exciting regulatory activities are a fantastic addition to any school playground, which needs to cater for children’s very different and varied needs.

Our Up Down Slide has been designed to provide children with the opportunity to practise self-regulation, balance and develop physical skills through the repetitive movement of climbing up the stairs, sliding down the slide and repeating the action until they’re calm and ready for learning back in the classroom.

The open-ended Up Down Slide can be transformed into a cosy breakout space as materials are threaded through the den making posts and children sit and relax under the homemade canopy on the comfortable artificial grass surfacing, peering out the bubble windows to others below.

The Up Down Slide is perfect for those who require particular assistance as practitioners can slide down the slide with them since it is 1m wide. Extra wide stairs and hand rails enable children to carefully balance and develop their lower body strength as they gain their confidence and climb the stairs independently.

We are still developing a huge range of products to extend our range further and meet the needs of children with SEN while providing truly inclusive outdoor play products for all children of every age and ability to get involved in valuable learning and play.

Sensory Tunnel

The wonderful Sensory Tunnel is a fantastic sensory journey that provides stimulation for all 5 of the senses through its fantastic features. Sight, tactile, audio, taste and smell are all targeted on this journey as children learn through experience.

An enchanting space is created as light hits the multi-coloured polycarbonate panels. Rainbows of light transform the space into a calming space for the children to self-regulate themselves.

Those who prefer other types of stimulation are able to use the integrated musical play equipment to make noise, smell and eat the fresh herbs in the straight planter or touch and feel the tactile materials such as artificial grass.

Wide enough for careers and wheelchair users, it is fully inclusive for those of all abilities, enabling each and every child to stimulate their senses on a magically journey.

Sensory Spinners

We’ve designed a regulatory, multi-sensory, calming activity for children with a wide selection of needs to participate in and benefit from. Some children with specific needs love to participate in repetitive activities as they are able to self-regulate themselves and prepare themselves for learning and concentration.

As a result of this, we have created two unique Sensory Spinners that provide visual, audio and tactile stimulation. Children can spin the spinners to make noise, create rainbows of colour as light hits the polycarbonate panels or touch and feel the Artificial Grass or Saferturf tactile triangles.

Understanding of the world can also be developed as children observe themselves in the mirror and point out key features of themselves and colour recognition is also enhanced through the magical rays of light that blend together as the hexagonal spinners spin.

The spinners are a wonderful, space effective addition to any playground for children with SEN.

Nesting Tables

A version of our Tuff Spot Tables, which are truly inclusive to wheelchair users and all children with a multitude of different needs. Our brand new Nesting Tables enable children of all different abilities to get involved with the same activity in the same area as they are encouraged to make eye contact with one another while they learn and play: enhancing communication and language skills through outdoor play!

They are made up of three different sized tables that allow children in wheelchairs to get right up to the table to access the activities set out. Sand, mud and water can be used in the trays to aid sensory small world play.

As storage is something we know some schools struggle with, these multi-purpose tables are able to be moved from one area to another using the wheels featured on the legs. The wheels are lockable, ensuring they are safe for use in the playground. We have also designed the tables to easily tuck under one another when not in use.

The nesting tables are truly inclusive outdoor learning and play resources for all children of all abilities to benefit from.

Ball Run

Releasing and watching balls travelling through various channels down a wall is a repetitive activity to help children to self-regulate themselves and become prepared for learning, which is why we have designed a dedicated Ball Run for children to use outdoors.

All children can get involved with the low-level frame that enables children to work individually to create paths for balls to travel down or work in a team, moving and manipulating the channels. Children’s teamwork, fine motor skills, communication and language are all developed through play as they are encouraged to work together.

The Ball Run has many advantages to children’s development as they work out why some balls move down the run faster than overs and explore the concept of gravity.

Take a look at a few of the amazing products coming soon:

Sensory Castle:

Sensory Tower:

Buddy Bench:

Sensory Circuits Frame:

If you would like to enhance your SEN environment or provide us with invaluable feedback on our new products, please Contact Us to arrange a free, no-obligation consultation with our Lead Product Designer and one of our Playground Consultants.