Adelaide Zoo to build new educational playground with Variety
CHILDREN with special needs will be able to share the fun experience of Adelaide Zoo’s new educational playground, thanks to a partnership with Variety South Australia.
CHILDREN with special needs will be able to share the fun experience of Adelaide Zoo’s new educational playground, thanks to a partnership with Variety South Australia.
The $1.5 million Nature’s Playground project is the first stage of Zoos SA’s 20-year master plan and, under a partnership to be announced today, Variety will give Zoos SA more than $300,000 to fund the project.
Zoos SA chief executive Elaine Bensted said the funding has allowed the zoo to plan a better playground.
“We couldn’t have put in an $80,000 wheelchair accessible lift to our four-metre high aerial walk without them,” she said.
Variety has played a role in the research and design of the Nature’s Playground.
The charity’s experience will enable kids with special needs to experience the playground as much as all other children.
“There will be sound activation, an emphasis on tactile and feel for vision impaired ... and quiet areas for children with autism,” Ms Bensted said.
“It will help kids explore, and give them limits they feel comfortable with.
“It will be a play area children grow into.”
The playground will occupy approximately 2100 square metres of the zoo eight hectares, and will incorporate trees nearly 90 years old, a creek-based water feature, rocks, sand, timber and grass — shying away from traditional playground structures.
It will be near the zoo’s entrance, running along Frome Road. The area which was previously used for temporary exhibits, will feature a new open planned function centre with a 250 people capacity, additional toilets including disabled, seating and parenting facilities near the current cafe. The playground is expected to open in December, and eventually the children’s zoo will be relocated to that area.
In exchange for funding, Zoos SA will support Variety by providing families with 16,000 tickets to the zoo over three years.
Variety chief executive Mark McGill said the playground would provide a unique experience and interaction.
“The truth will be in the children’s smiles,” he said. “We’re as mindful for a child who is in a wheelchair as we are for children with other disabilities of disadvantages.”
Mother-of-two Sally Vogelesang said there aren’t many activities which cater for children with special needs. Her son Tyson, 12, lives with vision impairment and severe intellectually disability.
“Tyson doesn’t get to see the different sights so anything that is interactive is fabulous,” she said.
“There’s not a lot of things out there for disabled children ... and I can’t wait to bring my children here when it’s completed.”
