A mud kitchen that you can access with a wheelchair, a climbing course with extra grip and benches with different heights. The renewed playground of Jeugdland in Nieuw-Vennep, which opened yesterday, also offers children with a disability many opportunities.
Wheelchair or not: everyone can get out of their feet in this Vennep playground – NH News
The playground used to be ‘a large sandbox’, says board member Arie Willem Koolhaas. “We’ve made it really accessible. Not just for [beperkte kinderen, red], but you can play together. And that is actually the goal we are pursuing.”
The refurbishment of the playground started in November last year. For half a year we have been working to set up the playground in such a way that the integration of children without and children with disabilities is promoted. Yesterday the symbolic ribbon was cut.
“Now I can get close to my children, that’s great”
Part of the playground is still unpaved, but the layout has been well thought out. “We built the water playground on the paved road, so that children with or without disabilities can play together,” explains Femke Hoogweg of the Jeugdland foundation.
Moreover, the playground not only offers more opportunities for disabled children, but disabled parents also encounter fewer barriers. “I have two children and they like to play in the sand,” says a mother in a wheelchair in front of NH’s camera. “And now I can also get close to them, that’s super nice.”