New Playground in Beverly Coming!

A new playground is planned for the North Beverly Elementary School. What will make this playground EXTRA special is that it will be the second in Beverly, the fourth on the North Shore, that is TOTALLY DISABILITY ACCESSIBLE.

It is said to be similar to structure at Ross Memorial Park in Peabody, below. 

The playground is being built by Boundless Playgrounds. A "national nonprofit dedicated to helping communities create extraordinary barrier-free playgrounds where children, with and without disabilities, can develop essential skills for life as they learn together through play." The playground is hoped to be installed by summer, 2009.

The playground is currently raising funds and tax-deductible donations can be sent to:

North Beverly Playground Fund

North Beverly Elementary School

48 Putnam St

Beverly, MA 01915

The Neo

Here's Play World Systems' newest 2008 addition, The Neo.

It's an oversized electronic game powered with 12 volts.. The Neo can be powered by solar energy, panels not included. 

Their reasoning for this giant-sized, light-up Simon: kids are playing video games indoors, let's have them play video games outdoors.

The Evo

Here's a  Landscape Structures new playground equipment design for 2008. It's called the EVO.

Here's a gallery of the structure

I have always been a HUGE fan of a specific playground manufacturer (and no, I do not get any endorsements from them), KOMPAN. They are not a HUGE player in the US market, but are getting there. But my point is, they have had this type of "freeform", creative play, structure for several years and I have raved about their ability to create unguided, creative play on their structures. My kids RAVE about them as well.

It seems the "big" playground structure companies are beginning to follow suit.

Very cool.

Australian Playground Finder

I found an Australian Playground Finder web site. So if you are ever in Australia with your children, well, here's a great way to have some outdoor fun and enjoy that excellent Aussie weather!

Great Article!

This article appeared in the Boston Globe back in April, 2007, by Drake Bennet.

Back to the Playground article

A great push for more leniency and creative ideas at playgrounds. They site Teardrop Park in New York as a "manifesto on the possibilities of a playground."

It's a long article but an interesting read if you are planning to build a playground.

KaBOOM!

This is a great non-profit organization that deals only with playgrounds, building them, funding them, and making sure playgrounds are everywhere. Their mission: To have every child walking distance from a playground.

Kaboom.org

They also have a PlaySpace Finder with currently over 5000 playgrounds to search from. I have been trying to reach them to work with them on their site. That makes me sound snobbish, but I think the site could use a bit of help. But it's still great.

West Newbury, Action Cove

Here's the writeup for this magnificent five star playground located on Bachelor St. between Meetinghouse Hill Rd. and Middle St. in West Newbury. Action Cove is now up in the top FIVE of playgrounds in the North Shore. Similar to Eagle Nest in Essex, but even better with even more platforms, under-floor crawl spaces, and nooks.

Download the PDF at my web site:

www.visualvoices.net/publications/update.html

The photo is of course in color as is all the photos in the newly done addendums I have been posting.

Enjoy!

Salem's Mary Jane Lee

Okay, I have finally finished all the edits for the known missing playgrounds for Salem. Just Mary Jane Lee Playground located on the corners of Prince St. and Palmer St. in the Point Neighborhood.

Download the PDF of the writeup at my website:

www.visualvoices.net/publications/update.html

The playground photos are in color in all of my addendums now, so you get a great visual.

Maps

Well, here's something I am not proud of doing but I think I have to, especially because my editor told me to - that's my wife.

So on the addendums I have been working on, I have been updating the maps to reflect the addition of the missing playground. You know, putting it on the map and adding the streets, etc. Of course, as in the original maps I had done for the book, the map page also lists every playground, its location, and its rating. PLUS, it is all in color now.

Now, anybody can download the map even if they didn't buy the book. I don't have some insane registration process to get the download. I just don't know how to code that into the web site and what a logistical pain that would be. 

So with the new colored map, you pretty much have an entire city with all its playgrounds and their ratings in your hands without spending one penny. And that is actually just fine with me. 

BUT - and here's the rub - I am planning to sell those playground brochures (a map and photo of each playground in their city) to their respective park and recreation departments. Well, why would the city want to pay for something that is already free on my site? Darn it.

So I am left with a marketing choice, which always puts the audience at a disadvantage, and had to leave the maps off the downloadable updates. Hopefully, IF the cities buy their brochure then you can download the brochure with the color maps at that point. But in the meantime, you'll have to put your own little stars marking the playground on the maps in the book. Sorry.

Gloucester Addendum

I finally finished the first addendum to the Playground book. Go to the web site:
www.visualvoices.net/publications/update.html

and download the PDF of the updated pages. It includes the write ups for each of the five playgrounds. And best of all, they are all in color!

The playgrouds are:
Babson Playground
Brown's Field
Edward "Gint" Middleton Playground
Ganine Nancy Doucette Playground
Joseph Palazola Playground