MONKEY bars, swings and slides are going the way of the dinosaur. A Winnipeg school is the first in Canada to witness the latest evolution of playground equipment.
In August, Pacific Junction School in Charleswood introduced the Evos system -- a playground that looks like a geometry set, only it's more fun and more safe with no pointy compasses.
Grade 6 student Alex Kingsland of Pacific Junction School in Charleswood is having a whale of a time on the slalom glider, an Evos play structure. It's safer than a traditional playground and stimulates children's brains by forcing them to think about their next move. It's also more fun!
"We've become a destination playground," beamed Lynda Hofbauer, the parent and lunch-time supervisor who was the driving force behind the school getting the Minnesota-made equipment.
"It was innovative," said Hofbauer, chair of the playground committee. "It's exercise disguised as fun." Last year, the school started looking to replace its traditional equipment, and found something new, better and less expensive, she said.
The Evos play structure just came out this year, said Michael Lacroix, a sales specialist at Playgrounds-R-Us, the central Canada distributor of the equipment designed by Landscape Structures Inc. of Delano, Minn.
"Pacific Junction was the first school in all of Canada," Lacroix said.
The new structure was the answer to the prayers of Canadian playground designers shackled by strict new Canadian Standards Association guidelines that came out in 1998, he said.
Pacific Junction students climb the “spider web” — a new EVOS play structure intended to give them more of a workout than a traditional playground.
"They took a lot of fun out of it, becoming so safety-conscious," Lacroix said.
"Play structures became stagnant and boring. Kids were not playing on it," he said.
"If there was a 10-foot-high chain-link fence, they'd be climbing the fence, not the play structure," said Lacroix. "You want them to be challenged."
Unlike traditional structures, there are no platforms in the Evos system for kids to stop and hang out on.
"We want the children to have fun but keep moving," said Elaine MacDougall, principal of Pacific Junction, which has 330 students.
And they have to keep thinking.
With more than one way to approach each component, Evos' design makes the kids think about how they're going to navigate the structure, said Jan Kolishnyk, president of Pacific Junction's parent council.
Instead of a slide, there is the slalom glider that requires kids to use their muscles and balance to stay on. Some straddle it, others go side-saddle.
Swiggle stix are a kind of wiggly bridge of cables with footholds low to the ground.
Wobble pods are low kidney-shaped benches on springs that are tricky to stand on. A hemisphere climber -- known to "P-J" kids as the "spider web" -- makes them think about how they're going to get around on the arched, mesh apparatus.
The gyro spinner is a dizzy kid's dream. Using their body weight, muscles and momentum, they stand on the slanted poles and spin themselves silly.
For kids with special needs, wheelchair pads invite them to wheel up to a chatter noodle and send a message to a kid at the other end of the underground via the underground voice tube. An assistant can help them get out of their wheelchair to sit on the side of the see-saw with a special seat with added support, and teeter-totter with a school mate.
"Nobody is left out," said Kolishnyk. "They can play with the able-bodied kids and integrate," she said.
A girl with autism who used to spend recess alone plays on the see-saw with the other kids.
"All you have to do is look around," said special needs resource teacher Cathy Sims. "Kids with disabilities have made some new social connections with the other kids in the school."
A boy with a developmental disability can play alongside his two brothers on the swiggle stix.
"I believe this is the greatest structure in the world," said Christian Kingsland, a Grade 6 student, who said he's travelled to playgrounds as far away as Disney World.
There are 46 school-aged special-needs kids within five kilometres of the school who will be able to play on the equipment with able-bodied kids, Hofbauer said.
The school raised $26,000 and collected $57,000 in grants from the city and Ronald McDonald House to build the Evos system, she said.
The $83,000 structure offers more value than the traditional equipment they were eyeing for $120,000, Hofbauer said.
There are no obstructed views, making it easier for adults to keep an eye on kids, she said.
"The way it's designed, you can see where a child is instantly," she said.
"The thing I like is not very many kids are injured," MacDougall said. She said kids became impatient on the old equipment, and were running into each other.
Pacific Junction gave its old equipment to Clearwater Hutterite Colony where fewer kids will have to share it.
Hofbauer expects the 20-year-old school will wear out before the new playground equipment does.
"Seriously, this play structure could outlast the school," Hofbauer said.
The joints have a special moulding covering them, so there are no bolts that can be tampered with or that can catch a kid's scarf and choke them. The concrete footings are buried well below the pea-gravel surface.
And it deters graffiti artists as well as kids getting their tongues stuck.
"There's not a lot of places for tagging," said Lacroix. And the surfaces are all painted rather than galvanized, so tongues won't freeze to them in the winter, he said.
MacDougall said tongues stuck to frozen playground equipment have been a monthly occurrence at the school.
Lacroix said Evos' only limitation is it isn't designed for kids under five, so it's not suitable for preschools and day cares.
Pretty soon, Pacific Junction may lose its exclusive destination playground status in Winnipeg.
Four more Evos systems are in the works this year, said Lacroix, including at Wayota School in Transcona and Manitoba Housing's Gilbert Park community.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Slalom Glider:
A thrilling ride that promotes balance and core strength.
Swiggle Stix:
Improves balance, agility, and depth perception as kids step from pod to pod and their weight shifts.
Wobble Pods:
Bouncy, wiggly benches require balance.
Chatter Noodles:
Kids can experiment with sound and talk long distance to friends. Promotes inclusivity.
Hemisphere Climber:
Challenges children with limitless climbing routes and angles.
-- Source: Playgrounds-R-Us
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