Review - Playfair 2009

Bringing teenage girls into play

In June this summer, we once again supported API’s annual event, Playfair, The Play, Sport and Leisure Activity Event. We hope if you came along you were able to visit us on our stand.

Proludic were sited at stand A3 and we thoroughly enjoyed the show. Our stand focused on the MUSA (Multi Use Sports Area) concept with excellent ideas to engage teenagers, in particular teenage girls. At Proludic we believe that to encourage teenage girls to play and exercise it is vital that we give them equipment that will excite and challenge them.

Outlined in the recent government agenda was the need to engage teenage girls in outdoor sport and play. On our stand we showcased our solution to this need. We demonstrated how dynamic fitness equipment can be placed within natural settings, and on surfacing such as bark and sand.

The girls who visited our stand loved the items of equipment. The Vitality fitness station and the Double Perch seesaw, in particular, proved popular. These items are great for encouraging active involvement and fitness but also provide informal social areas where you can chat and meet up with friends.

Featured at this years Playfair was the new Playscape Feature, exclusively designed for the first time by 4 separate Outdoor Play Companies. It offered API members a chance to show what they can do when not constrained by the public procurement processes.

Proludic were one of the four companies involved in the design. Jeremy Lord, our Senior Designer undertook the project with employees from Kompan, Eibe and Sutcliffe Play. This was the first time that several competitive companies have worked together on a design.

Based in a natural setting, Playscape demonstrated some great design ideas that can fit easily into many public parks.

We were also fortunate enough to be included in the Playfair product session seminars where we spoke in length about the issues (exclusion, obesity etc) that our teenage girls are facing. The presentation was called ‘Bringing Girls into Play’ and was presented by Anne Parkin.

Other seminars topics on offer were Design by Inclusivity by charity Kids, Adam White’s Designing, Managing and Maintaining Playful Landscapes and Play England presented about Playbuilder and the new design principles.

If you are interested in learning more about the ‘Bringing Girls into Play’ presentation then please email Proludic for more information.

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