Kids’ play
WashPA Outdoors opens sensory space in city park
WashPA Outdoors Founder Pam Kilgore hopes that the newly opened sensory play space in Washington Park will give local children an engaging, entertaining experience, even if they get a little bit muddy.
The sensory playground located at the log cabin that serves as the headquarters of WashPA Outdoors is an expansion of the sensory play concept that the nonprofit piloted at the Firefly Gardens in downtown Washington starting in 2021.
That space was designed primarily as an educational and community programming venue focused on agriculture that eventually added a small sensory play area; the new space was designed from the ground-up with kids in mind.
While a typical playground may feature more static apparatus like slides and jungle gyms, Kilgore wanted the sensory play space to engage kids and promote multi-faceted interaction.
“The difference is that (the sensory play space) is more open and creative versus a traditional playground,” she said.
Kilgore secured a $50,000 Let’s Play, PGH! grant from Remake Learning to renovate the exterior area of the log cabin to include a range of highly interactive play stations for children.
These include a sandpit, water table, holographic mirror toys and even a mud pit.
These “simple ideas” are made more accessible via the open concept play space, she said.
According to Kilgore, WashPA Outdoors partnered with WQED and the Washington Park to bring the sensory playground vision to life, utilizing feedback from local parents and kids to ensure the play stations meet their needs.
“Kids are who I listened to first, so the kids wanted the mud pit even if their parents not so much,” Kilgore said. “I wanted to have what kids are going to be excited about.”
Local nanny Nashelly Williams brought two of the children she cares for to the opening day at the new sensory play space, saying that she prefers giving the kids outdoor fun instead of staying inside and watching TV.
“I love it, I love how it’s so nature-based,” Williams said. “It’s very smart and very intentional.”