Playground designer gets input from Bullard kids

Homepage

Related Photos

Peyton Vorheese would like the proposed playground to have a “Wonder-ful Wet-lands” theme. Photo courtesy of Bullard ISD

Discussion

May 9, 2012

Playground designer gets input from Bullard kids

Faith Harper Jacksonville Daily Progress The Jacksonville Daily Progress Mon May 14, 2012, 07:11 PM CDT

BULLARD — Spaceships, rock climbing walls, slides and fun houses — Bullard students shared their ideas on what would make a great park with the designer of a proposed playground on Tuesday.

Jane Holman, a designer with Leathers and Associates, visited with Brook Hill and Bullard ISD students to gain ideas on how to design a place where their imaginations could run wild. Students filled out questionnaires, drew pictures for the designer last week and were able to voice their opinions on Tuesday.

“My company does not have a catalog that you can flip through and pick things out of,” Holman told students. “We don't do it like that. We build from scratch, so we try to get some of the most unique and interesting and fun ideas that we can for each one of the playgrounds that we do … We figure we are pretty good at designing and building stuff, you guys know how to have fun, and when we put those two together, we come up with really neat designs.”

Holman said certain equipment are always asked for.

“Swings and slides never get old,” she said. “They have been around forever. I played on them when I was a kid. My mother did too, but they still don't get old and the kids enjoy them and they always bring it up.”

Many students wanted the park to have a large centerpiece with slides cascading to the ground. Bullard ISD second-grader Jasmine Bonner wanted to see a castle with a slide going into a boat like a waterfall. Second-grader Edie Padwill said she wanted to play on a giant elephant, where the trunk and ears of the animal were slides.

Deseret Raggway, second-grader, wanted a dragon theme.

“(I want to see) a dragon with a slide of fire going down and you land on a trampoline, and you bounce into a dragon's mouth, and then you go on a real long, swirly slide,” he said.

Sage Gonzalez, second-grader, wanted a unique way to look at the sky.

“My idea was, if the theme of the park was a castle, you can go up these stairs and when you get at the top, there is this kind of there is a telescope,” Gonzalez said. “One of those kaleidoscopes at the top instead of a normal telescope.”

Fourth-grader Elijah Allen suggested there be a section for toddlers. Holman said students were considerate of those with special needs and asked for ramps and handicap accessibility.

“We live in a generation now where all kids play together — kids of all abilities — and I like that kids are looking at that,” Holman said. “They are hearing about it and they are making it a part of their reality.”

After listening to the students suggestions, Holman spent the afternoon drawing a preliminary sketch which was presented to the public Tuesday evening. She said it would take about 10 days for her to complete a final drawing, with CAD drawings and a materials list.

The new playground was proposed by the Bullard Rotary Club, and construction is expected to begin in late fall. It is slated to be placed on the south side of the tennis courts, in the middle of the walking track near the city's current playground.

Larry Morgan, city manager and Rotary Club member, said it will be placed on a little over an acre of city land. He said it is going to be built by Bullard residents in five days.

“It's not a Rotary project, it is a community project,” Morgan said. “The Rotary Club is sponsoring the cost of getting Leathers Inc. down here and working with (the designer) along with a good number of people from Brook Bill and BISD. This this is going to be huge, and it's going to take a lot of volunteers.”

Text Only

Homepage

Search Results

Related Photos

Discussion

Playground designer gets input from Bullard kids

Site Map

Contact Us