Rick Hansen Foundation: A Guide to Creating Accessible Play Spaces

The Accessible Play Spaces Toolkit is a practical guide to creating accessible play spaces for children of all abilities. Whether you are developing a new play space or renovating an existing one, this guide offers a general set of guiding principles for designing an accessible and inclusive play space that all children, including those with disabilities, can engage with and enjoy.

In this toolkit, you will:

• Learn the benefits of inclusive play

• Understand the principles of inclusive, accessible, and Universal Design for play spaces

• Recognize the play space design needs of children and caregivers of various abilities

• See different play experiences

• Learn best practices in play space design

• Understand common problems in play space design

• Learn how to evaluate your existing play space for accessibility and inclusion using a simple checklist

• Be able to create a new play space from the sample plan provided