Pasir Ris Park Mega Adventure Playground
Team members: Cassia, Xiu Min, Jeanne, Jody, Wendy
Play space audit at https://maps.app.goo.gl/oEjqWABKWQTVJoLQ8
With a focus on children and youth with physical disability and intellectual disability
Overview
Pasir Ris Park Mega Adventure Playground is designed as an engaging play environment that connects children and families to nature amidst Singapore's bustling and urban environment. Surrounded by the sea, lush greenery and wildlife, it encourages exploration and active play through features such as climbing structures, rope bridges and slides. Such elements contribute to children's overall development by creating opportunities for movement, interaction and engagement (Barnett, 1990).
Through its integration of natural elements and varied terrains, the playground aims to create a dynamic space that fosters creativity and enhances the children's social interactions (Lousen et al., 2024). With the use of natural materials, soft padding and various altitudes surrounding the playground, it provides children with extensive opportunities to experiment with different play activities.
Play Experience
The playspace aims to cater to children across ages 2 to 15, offering a range of play experiences that support different developmental needs. A key highlight is the presence of varied play types, including sensory, cognitive, imaginative, and social play.
For instance, the sandpit supports sensory play and free play, allowing children the freedom to decide how they want to interact with the material (Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors, 2021), as it is an unprogrammed space. Aligning with the principle of simple and intuitive use, the sandpit supports the concept of Universal Design (UD) in enhancing children's usage of the space.
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The playground maze features activities such as tracing paths and recognising numbers. With questions presented in short sentences, and visually guided tasks, these elements could reduce cognitive demands, making them accessible for children with intellectual disabilities (ID) (James et al., 2022).
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This playspace accommodates different levels of social interaction. Children can engage in solitary or parallel play, observing others before joining in, while multi-user equipment encourages peers and caregivers' interaction (Scott & Cogburn, 2023). In addition, role-playing features (e.g. elements that allow one to stick their head out and assume different characters) can allow for imaginative play.
Play opportunities can also be accessed at different heights and access points, allowing children with varying physical abilities to interact with the environment. Aligning with the universal design principle of size and space for approach and use, this creates multiple opportunities for participation, including for children in wheelchairs.
Equipment
Generally, the equipment is well-connected within the playspace, allowing children to move between different play elements without significant physical barriers. This creates a more continuous play experience and supports exploration across the environment. In addition, some equipment in the playspace (e.g. swings) have various sizes and features to accommodate children and youth of varying sizes.
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However, accessibility of elevated equipment remains inconsistent. While play equipment such as the merry-go-round and wheelchair-accessible swing provide ramped or level access, many elevated structures, such as climbing elements and slides, rely on stairs or physically demanding entry points. This limits access for children in wheelchairs, as they may be unable to reach key play features independently.
The wheelchair accessible swing is also located in a fenced-off area separate from the main swing zone, physically isolating it from where other children play. This segregated placement undermines the stated goal of inclusive play: a child using the wheelchair swing cannot swing alongside peers, and their companions must actively leave the main play zone to be near them. Inclusion is not simply about access to equipment, rather it is also about shared experience. Positioning adaptive equipment apart from equivalent standard equipment creates a two-tiered play environment, where disabled children can participate but not alongside their peers, which replicates the very exclusion inclusive design aims to eliminate.
Accessible equipment   | Inaccessible equipment
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The arrangement of equipment supports skill development, particularly through varied play elements such as climbing, balancing, and interactive panels. These allow children to develop different physical and cognitive skills. However, many of these dynamic play pieces, such as the net-climbing structure, require higher levels of coordination and strength, making them less accessible to children with physical disabilities.
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In terms of design, the playground uses bright colours and varied structures, which are visually engaging and suitable for play environments. However, some equipment, such as the silver structure, lacks clear visual suggestions on how it can be engaged with, which may reduce usability for children with intellectual disability who may require more cognitive support.
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Overall, while the equipment is well integrated and engaging, it does not consistently support accessibility and independent participation across all users.
Facilities
The presence of ample seating, including sheltered pagodas, is a key strength of this playspace. For children with physical disabilities, these rest points enable longer participation by accommodating fatigue and mobility limitations. Caregivers too benefit, as the space allows for comfortable supervision.
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However, certain facility elements reduce independence and usability. Poor bin placement on uneven terrain presents a barrier for children with physical disabilities, particularly wheelchair users, as it limits safe and independent waste disposal.
Additionally, the cramped toilet layout may compromise accessibility and dignity. Limited turning space restricts independent use for wheelchair users. Such constraints reduce inclusivity in essential facilities and may discourage prolonged use of the playspace.
Accessibility
Access encompasses both physical access and the ease with which users can navigate and understand the environment.
Accessibility within this playspace is inconsistent. The absence of clearly marked accessible entry points—such as distinctions between downhill versus flat routes, or ramped versus stepped access—creates challenges for children with physical disabilities. Without clear guidance, users may encounter unsafe or physically demanding routes, limiting independent navigation.
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For children with intellectual disability, accessibility extends beyond physical movement to include cognitive access. The lack of pre-visit information and eye-level signage reduces predictability and wayfinding support. Children with intellectual disability may experience difficulties with processing complex information, memory, and transferring prior knowledge to unfamiliar environments (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Without simple, consistent visual cues, navigating the playspace can become confusing and potentially overwhelming.
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Recommendations
Firstly, equipment such as the merry-go-round could be redesigned to allow for active participation, rather than relying on others, limiting autonomous participation.
Suggestion: Handhold on the centre post allows users to participate in the movement by controlling the steering of the merry-go-round without having to physically push it from the outside, like traditional merry-go-rounds. These features enable users to control movement, improve the level of participation for wheelchair users and support greater independence.
Secondly, the playspace could improve wayfinding and signage, in line with the checklist. Adding clear maps, symbols, and simple instructions at an appropriate height would help children with intellectual disabilities better understand how to navigate and use the space.
Thirdly, the use of open-ended visual prompts and abstract structures may be confusing for children with intellectual disabilities. Providing clearer starting points for play, along with colour-coded routes on net-climbing structures to indicate difficulty levels, can help guide safe engagement and interaction. This reduces ambiguity and allows children to engage in independent exploration without feeling overwhelmed.
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Finally, accessibility should be extended across the entire playspace. Improving surfacing and reducing barriers such as steep slopes would allow wheelchair users to access more areas, ensuring that play is not limited to specific zones.
Reflection
Defining an inclusive playspace is not just about access, but also about ensuring meaningful participation. While the playground does offer inclusive elements (e.g., the wheelchair swing and merry-go-round), children may not be able to engage with the playspace autonomously and independently as desired.
Whilst evaluating the playground, the provided checklist helped greatly in offering a structured way to identify gaps and areas for improvement both within and surrounding the playspace, particularly in categories like accessibility, equipment use and wayfinding.
From this project, a key takeaway is that inclusivity requires attention to both a user's physical and cognitive needs. By considering how different users experience the same playspace, it becomes possible to design environments that are not only accessible but also actively engaging for all.
References
-American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.)
-Barnett, L. A. (1990). Developmental Benefits of Play for Children. Journal of Leisure Research, 22(2), 138–153. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222216.1990.11969821 -James, M. E., Jianopoulos, E., Ross, T., Buliung, R., & Arbour-Nicitopoulos, K. P. (2022). Children’s Usage of Inclusive Playgrounds: A Naturalistic Observation Study of Play. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(20), 13648. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013648 -Lousen, I., Arvidsen, J., & Pawlowski, C. S. (2024). Children’s play behaviour and engagement with the schoolyard environment. International Journal of Play, 13(4), 311–327. https://doi.org/10.1080/21594937.2024.2425532
-Sand tray therapy for clients with intellectual disabilities. Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors. (2021, August 1). https://www.aipc.net.au/articles/sand-tray-therapy-for-the-intellectually-disabled/
-Scott, H. K., & Cogburn, M. (2023, July 4). Peer play. StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK513223/
-We-Go-Round® - Merry Go Round - Landscape structures. (n.d.). Landscape Structures Inc. https://www.playlsi.com/en/commercial-playground-equipment/playground-components/we-go-round-perf-panels/
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