Hampstead playground designed for preschoolers
September 2nd, 2010 by meghan
Hampstead playground designed for preschoolers
HAMPSTEAD — There's a new playground for preschoolers behind Hampstead Central School, and thanks to the Mothers' Club and federal stimulus funds, it was built without taxpayer money.
School officials said the playground was made possible thanks to a "generous" donation from the Hampstead Mothers' Club, and federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money available to the district's special education department.
"It's so exciting. We're just so happy to be able to be a part of that and be able to give back to the school and the kids," club President Missy Dinsmore said. "It's been a long time coming."
The club donated $5,860 for the project to cover what was left after a $13,000 stimulus grant. Karen Gallagher, director of special education for the Hampstead School District, said the federal funding was specifically for preschool special education.
"We designed the playground to meet the needs of our preschool special education students," she said.
Many playgrounds are sold together in "cookie cutter" designs, she said. But in Hampstead, the entire special education and preschool staffs teamed up to design one that would work for their students — and be fun for other kids, too.
"It's going to be popular with all the kids," Gallagher said.
She said the new playground will replace a steep metal slide.
"This is ideal," she said. "This is perfect. This is for kids 2 to 5."
Some components are on the ground level of the playground, including bongo drums and chimes. Gallagher said during preschool, students learn while they play.
The playground was designed to encourage kids to play together, she said.
"We have a double slide," she said. "We thought of that because we wanted kids to be able to interact with each other."
Dinsmore said the Mothers' Club's capital committee searches for worthy projects to donate money to each year.
The head of the committee had spoken to the special education department at Central School, Dinsmore said.
"They brought up the dream of having this playground," she said.
After school hours, the playground will be open to all children. A ribbon-cutting scheduled for Wednesday was moved inside due to soggy weather.
"It was dreary outside, but it was definitely cheery inside," Dinsmore said.
Once the sun came out yesterday, children were playing on the new equipment.
The special education staff and preschool staff collaborated with playground designer M.E. O'Brien and Sons of Medfield, Mass.
The firm also designed the school's other play equipment, which is geared toward elementary-age children.
The school also got another addition to its elementary school play equipment, at no cost — a Gyro Twister, which was available to the district because Principal Dillard Collins is a member of the National Association of Elementary School Principals. O'Brien and Sons installed the playground spinner at no charge.
The playground equipment was manufactured by Landscape Structures of Delano, Minn
.
