Playground Picnic

In the last days of summer why not get out and take your kids to the playground with a wonderful picnic lunch. Some of my favorite memories of visiting the playground is the “down time” we had relaxing and eating our lunch on the “big blanket.” In keeping with the “playful” feeling I tried to bring food that would appeal to my kids sense of fun too. I tried to think rather unconventionally not the traditional “sandwich and chips” of an everyday meal.


I thought I’d give you a few ideas, maybe you haven’t tried, which my kids loved for packing fun into their playground picnics or you can use these ideas for lunchboxes and keeping them happy and full at school:

1. Dip it.

Kids love to dip things, so pack little containers of hummus or spinach dip and pita bread. The Mediterranean-inspired dips are packed with protein and a good source of fiber. Celery sticks with a cottage-cheese salsa dip, baby carrots and yummy salad dressing dip, (honey mustard is a favorite of my kids) or apple slices and peanut butter can contribute to the fruits-and-veggies quota.

Yogurt dip: this recipe has a “fresh” taste which my kids love!


yummy yogurt dip

Ingredients
• 1 medium hot house cucumber
• 1 cup fat-free plain yogurt
• 1 cup fat-free sour cream
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons Greek seasoning, divided
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Cut cucumber in half lengthwise and grate into a medium mixing bowl. Add yogurt, sour cream, lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon Greek seasoning. Season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

2. Skewer it.


children love veggies and cheese kabobs

Eating the same old sandwich over and over again is boring. So mix it up a bit! You can put all the essentials of a sandwich on wood skewers. Thread alternating small chunks of turkey, ham, cheese and bread (add cherry tomatoes for fun) on skewers for a new dimension. This trick also works well with fruit. The following fruit make wonderful kabobs: Fresh or canned Pineapple, Bananas, Star fruit, Peaches, Nectarines, Mango, Papaya, Kiwi fruit, Cantaloupe, and Melons Cherries, Pitted Grapes Apples and Pears.


fruit kabobs with raspberry sauce

Colorful fruit skewers
12 wooden skewers
1 large ripe mango, peeled
2 large oranges, peeled
2 large bananas, peeled
250 small strawberries, hulled

Soak skewers in cold water for 20-30 minutes. Cut mango and oranges into 3cm chunks. Cut bananas into 3cm slices. Thread fruit onto skewers, alternating the varieties. Serves 12


3. Wrap it.

Add some pizazz with colored tortillas. Smear red and green ones with a ranch dip or cream cheese and layer in cold cuts. They're tasty, colorful and easy. I have even made a wrap of the traditional peanut butter and jelly with bananas and boy did my kids love them!


turkey and cheese wrap filled with veggies

4. Cut it out.

Make your kids favorite sandwich and make it just a bit more jazzy but cutting it with a cookie cutter, something this simple makes it feel that much more special to your kids, and you will be surprised how fast they eat it!


kids love fun shapes!

5. Fun Desserts
There are so many wonderful brownies and baked bars that kids love but this is a favorite of my kids which I got from Parents Magazine.


Blueberry-Banana Stacks

Ingredients
6 mini chocolate, caramel, or berry-flavored popcorn cakes
1 to 2 Tbs. strawberry-flavored cream cheese
6 banana slices
6 fresh blueberries

Spread cakes with cream cheese and top with banana slices. If desired, dollop with additional cream cheese and top with a blueberry. Serves 2.

Now go on take some time and visit a playground with your kids, one day you will look back and smile on the memories! Do you have a playground story you would like to share with us?

Why worry about accessibility?

Five million children living in the United States have disabilities. For most of these children, the thrill of the playground is as foreign as a trip to the moon. To date most local playgrounds exclude these children.

I as the Playground Princess am dedicated to the “true spirit of children”. The park and recreation industry vendors work to make playgrounds compliant; worrying too much about how many components it takes to meet minimal ADA guidelines. Contrary to popular belief, meeting these minimum guidelines does not make a playground fully inclusive! What is a transfer station anyhow? And just how many children with physical disabilities can get out of their wheelchairs, or put down their walkers or canes, and climb up a staircase to play on a particular piece of equipment? The answer is: not many. A full 10% of children with disabilities have a physical disability. Out of five million special needs children, that number represents a lot of kids!

Now assume that some of these children can climb their way up into a structure for play. There isn’t much more they can do besides crawl around the structure. Isn’t that degrading? This is not a solution if it continues to deny children with special needs equal access for play.

It is my belief that the spirit of play should always be for children of all abilities! Let’s take a moment to remember what it was like to be a kid. Why would anyone want just the minimal play opportunities for children? Ten years ago in creating Hadley’s Park, the first fully inclusive playground in Maryland and one of the first in the country I raised the bar. I believe that in doing so we set new standards, and I hope to continue and help bring fun to every child. And remember, the thrill of a playground is for all!

Follow along if you would like to bring an inclusive playground to your area, or pass this blog information onto someone who you know would want to create a playground like this in your area. We will deal with everything from starting a nonprofit organization through what it takes to raise the funds to do so. And we will also give tips about playgrounds across the country. If you have a story about an inclusive playground please feel share it with us the1playgroundprincess@gmail.com.

Remember being a kid?

Take a moment to sit back and close your eyes and remember what it was like to be a kid. You attended school; you probably walked there. You would come home and have a snack, and then you would run out and play. These are some of the best times and memories of childhood.

Chances are you have a little movie clip running through your mind -- hopping on your bike, riding to the local playground and waiting to see who else might show up. Your movie clip may include going to a friend’s house and playing in their home or backyard. You might play kick-the-can, softball and other games; some would be physical while others might include make-believe play. Maybe you were a princess awaiting your handsome prince, or a brave pirate looking for treasure.

Your imagination took you too many special places. Aside from going to school, this is what you did-- play! Play was your childhood work. And although you probably were not aware, this is where you built the foundation for your social, physical and cognitive skills. These are skills you use in everyday life.

All children learn from developmental learning and recreational hands-on-play. Hadley’s Park Projects encompass both parallel and cooperative play in a free and supervised environment. The ideas and visions of Hadley’s Park Projects have resulted in the development of theme-play playgrounds.

Often, a playground is considered as strictly physical. When the physical play is mastered, a structure’s limited appeal can lead to boredom. How can we add to the restrictions of physical play? Theme-play offers a creative challenge to the child’s imagination and encourages play for extended periods of time. Theme-play provides endless journeys of discovery and excitement.

When children are given an “equal” playing field, they learn from each other through physical and cognitive growth. A child with a disability gains so much by playing with a typical able-bodied peer. What people don’t stop to think about is how the reverse is also important – to give able-bodied children a chance to interact with children with disabilities. Through this cooperative play, children learn at an early age that a young person with a disability is a child first, then a child with a disability second. Children see that people with disabilities have feelings and like to play, just like them. They learn to feel comfortable with people who have disabilities. Children who play together at Hadley’s Park learn empathy while learning to accept people for who they are at an early age. Hadley’s Park helps young people learn not to discriminate or be fearful of the disabled. It becomes a win-win situation and a teachable moment for all the participants.

I invite you to help your community and bring a fully inclusive playground to your area, follow along and I will show you the how to’s, all you need to do is get up and “go.” I’m challenging you! Does your community have a playground such as this? If not come on, what are you waiting for?

Some kids dream about flying while other just kids dream of playing at the park

Some say “necessity is the mother of all inventions,” well that became evident to me one spring day in early 1996 when I brought my then 4 year old and 7 year old daughters to play at a local park. We were very excited to finally get out of the house from the winter doldrums and get some fresh air at the playground. My older daughter was thrilled to have a place to run around and I was just thrilled to get outside after winter.

When we got to the playground it was the usual ritual of letting my older daughter out of the car and having her bolt like lightening to the playground area, and for me, not so fast. I had to lift the wheelchair out of the back of the station wagon and then put my 4 year old daughter into it. When that 5 minute ordeal was over, we were off but almost immediately we were stopped by a timber barricade which seemed to be placed there to keep in mulch but very obviously was a problem for us. So, as usual supermom that I am, picked up both the wheelchair and my daughter over the timbers and then thought we were off. But again, not so easy to push a wheelchair over mulch, think of trying to drive over sand; it’s not so easy, is it?

We then caught up with my older daughter who was running from each piece of equipment to the next. When I finally told her to “hold up.” She exclaimed she wanted us to “come up” on the equipment. Come up? Now how exactly was that supposed to happen? Oh, I know the wheelchair was supposed to sprout wings. Well, that is what it would have taken to get her up on the equipment. And let’s say that actually could have happened, then what? Sit up there and watch from the tower while her sister ran around and around. This was no fun!

So my younger daughter and I went over to a seating area where I sat and we both watched my older daughter run around. At one point my older daughter came over to us a little frustrated but then realized when she came over to us that my younger daughter had a tear dripping down her face. That was it! That was the moment I went from a stay at home mom to a mom on a mission! Why was there not anything my children could do together? Why was there not anything I could do with my younger daughter while my older daughter played? This was going to change, it had to!

I went home and started drawing (coming from a design background, drawing was second nature to me) and visualizing what a perfect playground would look like. When my husband came home I told him of the adventures of our day and how I was now out to change the world. I had a dream; a goal- “to build a unique park where all children could play together with or without disabilities.” A park where through playing, the concepts would help all children socially, and cognitively, as well as physically. Equally as important, a place for children with disabilities to play with their own siblings and peers.

The ideas and visions of this playground resulted in the development of a theme-play park. Often a playground is considered strictly physical. Although, when the physical play is mastered, the appeal of the playground can lead to boredom. Theme-play offers a challenge to the child’s imagination and encourages children to play for extended periods of time.

My dream playground encompassed a Transportation Area, Pirate Ship, Frontier Village, Castle, Dinosaurs, and Main Street themes. In the design, accessibility was ensured through the implementation of the ADA requirements, CPSC and ASTM guidelines; those are playground rules.

By combining all of these elements in the design and equipment, my dream would create the best playground for all children to play!