Children Love the New Gan-Reut Playground At the Asper Campus-Rich Family Is Lead Donor
There is a wonderful new playground named Gan Re-ut (Freindship Garden) that was opened recently. The playground is an Asper Jewish Community Campus (AJCC) asset.
Andrea Ritter, Director, Marketing and Communications at Gray Academy of Jewish Education explains that the decision to create a new playground was prompted by a few different factors. “It was 28 years old and was starting to break down and become less safe in some areas. The surface underneath was pea gravel, which resulted in lots of scrapes and scratches during outdoor play time. The previous playground was not at all accessible for mobility devices (wheelchair, walker) or even strollers.”
The Campus worked with Playgrounds-R-Us, the same company that designed and installed the original play structure in 1997. As Ritter says, “We know that children strengthen their minds and bodies through physical play and interaction. Gray Academy educators and other associated professionals provided input to ensure the playground would be optimized for children in Junior Kindergarten to Grade 6.The new surface and several playground assets are now fully accessible to wheelchairs, strollers, allowing more children and families to play and enjoy.”
The blue and white colour scheme of the new playground was chosen purposefully to enhance a sense of community and Jewish pride. The surface is green and blue to provide a calming, nature-like feel.
There is now a Skyway Roof canopy which provides some shade where previously there was none. There is a Communication Board with words and pictures in English and Hebrew which provides a mechanism for young children learning English/Hebrew to communicate.
According to Ritter, students love the new playground. “After about 6 weeks of watching the old play structure come down and the new playground being built behind big safety fences, the children were very excited to play on it for the first time. The new enhancements gives students more ways to play. In addition to climbing, swinging and sliding, they can now enjoy a Cozy Dome to climb onto and into; fully accessible We-Go-Round and We-Saw to encourage cooperative play; Sensory Play Panels and Communication Board to encourage cognitive development and social engagement for various ages and abilities. We can’t forget about older kids! Even some of our High School students have been out to try the new structure and play features.”
The project received a lot of support as it enhances life at the Campus for children. The lead donor was The Rich Family.
Playground Surface made possible by a generous grant from Jewish Foundation of Manitoba.Playground Enhancements made possible by:
- The Asper Foundation
- Gray Academy Parent Association
- Rady JCC
- The Shindleman Family
- Mark and Dorothy Danzker Perpetual Trust
- The Halprin, Klein, Chisick, Gilmour and Lagunov Families, in memory of Susan Lori Halprin.
- The Peretz family, in loving memory of Sami Peretz.
- Allison, Jonathan, Nathan & Noah Strauss
- Benny, Goldie, Raya, Sydney and Max Pollock, in memory of Ray Pollock.
