Ok. AIHMHB, I'm on a committee for a city comprehensive plan. When I think about the hardest thing about living here, I think about having small children in the intense summer heat, and being housebound. Especially given poverty, single-parenthood, and all the other things that can make life harder.
What I'm picturing is a city facility which functions as an indoor playground for small children, located on the traditionally-marginalized side of town.
However: when I go looking online for a model of such a thing, there's a huge noticeable dichotomy. Anything with a whiff of public funding or best practices is heavily promoting why you should get your child outside and how nothing replaces the value of unstructured time for your child, outside with nature.
Then there are tons of amazing, indoor playstructures and playgrounds, but they're exclusively for wealthy people and charge admission fees of like $10-15/head. (My mother-in-law likes to take the kids to these places.)
So it's like playing outside is like eating your vegetables, and people who can afford luxuries say, "Fuck it, give me air conditioning" all the time. I would really like to find some example of the public-version of an early-childhood indoor unstructured playspace, and I'm totally coming up empty. (Cities must have such things! It needs to be kind of on the cheaper side, and not some amazing Exploratorium or Kidz Museum. Something comparable to a city playground, but with some relief from the heat.)
They turned my what used to be my parents' grocery store into a huge indoor play thing.
1.4: I've seen something like that in indoor malls.
Indoor mall playgrounds! Good idea. They don't require staffed supervision, they're durable, etc.
3: I've been there. The playland used to be giant food, but I guess it wore out.
Community/rec center or Y ? If there's a community college, can arrangements be made for locality to pay to set aside open gym time?
I am still steamed about the regulation change that excluded my workplace from having acess to a military gym that was RIGHT THERE. Walk to workout and play racquetball or swin after a workday.
I wonder if you could do some sort of indoor Adventure Playground (possibly with less fire).
indoor Adventure Playground (possibly with less fire).
Then, where's the Adventure?
Something comparable to a city playground, but with some relief from the heat.
Not the same thing, but we are looking at putting in a splash pad, which apparently is far less expensive than replacing a city pool.
10: I've noticed a bunch of splash pads around Columbus and they all seem to be very popular on hot summer days.
Yeah, we also have hot summer days here. But it's not Texas.
heebie, I meant to mention this last time -- our county has a RAMP tax (and for the life of me I can't remember what the acronym stands for), but it's basically a parks and recreation grant system. Locally people have used it to improve trails (a big deal here), build a beginner bike park,&c.
If you're on a similar kind of committee, I'd be pushing for splash pads. They're relatively cheap to put in and operate, and they're great for accessibility. Kids can wear swimwear but it's also fine to go in in street clothes (if less convenient), no lifeguards or monitoring or check-in needed, and at least ours are operated by pushing a button that gives kids 15-20 minutes of water (and after they they can just push the button again.) Put a couple pavillions nearby for parents, or park it where there are already pavillions, and it's a great way for kids to spend the day outside.
Splash pads are great, and I was definitely picturing an outdoor component where those would make sense.
I swear I was at a publicly funded/subsidized indoor play space with my SIL in London, Ontario. I can't find any trace of it online so maybe it was a COVID or PC-Gov't casualty? Anyway, it was like a room in a community centre filled with toy stations - like a play kitchen, musical instruments, dolls, etc. My mom also ran a toy library when I was little. You could borrow toys or stay and play in a room in the community centre. Our library also had a section with toys, and even some games for older kids.
We have this large-scale splash park near us: https://crpd.com/parks/white-rock-splash-park/
Couple slides, couple large buckets dumping water.
Heebie might want to pursue this, but if you read the directions, she asked for something for days when the sun is too hot to be outside. As a Sacramentan, I know what she means. There are days when the sun exposure is too much even while we're in the pool.
Something something warehouse?
Apparently it's called ChildReach and it's an Ontario program now that started as an NGO.
My mom also ran a toy library when I was little. You could borrow toys or stay and play in a room in the community centre. Our library also had a section with toys, and even some games for older kids.
This is a great idea.
Also: Greg Abbott is a despicable shithead who is hellbent on destroying vulnerable kids' lives.
This was to get in out of the cold, not the heat, but when my kids were toddlers a neighborhood church had an indoor play space. It was one of those big community rooms that you could use as a gym or a theater, and there were some big bins of toys that got dragged out during the play space hours. Is there any kind of community rec center with a basketball court? That's sort of all you need.
DC isn't Texas, but it still gets fairly hot. Are you sure this has to be indoors? Every playground here has shady areas nearby, either actual trees or canopies erected nearby for that purpose, and several of them have functional water fountains. There's one splash park/pad around the corner from my house and I know of a few others.
Pittsburgh used to have a IIRC membership-based, grass roots kind of indoor playground--ball pits and the like, nothing too high tech (or liability). It wasn't free, but it was cheap. I'm blanking on the name, but it was in a former grocery store by the Parkway East.
We also have a toy library that's just a few blocks from here. We didn't;'t get a ton of use from it, but it certainly was a nice outlet and a great spot for play dates.
Actually, I wonder if a toy library with associated open space might be the ideal combination: first, you've got the smaller play space for smaller kids who need closer supervision, and they're playing with regular toys. Adjacent, with a big window for keeping an eye on them, the bigger kids have a mostly wide-open, cushioned space where they can take the borrowed toys that call for more active play*. Maybe you have some platforms/ramps/levels so it's not a totally blank space, and you'll want to enable hide & seek, but I think that keeping it simple makes it both affordable and easier to insure.
*I'm struggling for a less problematic example than cowboys & Indians, but that's the idea-play where you want props. I guess now it would be Avengers or something.
I mean, basically what LB describes in 24.
re: 24
Yeah, the Baptist church at the end of my road does that. They have it open a couple of days a week, and then on a Saturday morning they do one to encourage Dads specifically (or whatever variety of male caregiver) to come along, with bacon rolls and coffee. It's surprisingly well attended.
Are you sure this has to be indoors?
I mean, we have a ton of outdoor options. And I'm imagining this would have a large outdoor component. I'm just remembering how awful it was to get small children out of the house during the July-September window.
Want an indoor, public-financed recreational activity that gets you out of the heat? Ice-skating!
I'm just remembering how awful it was to get small children out of the house during the July-September window.
Yeah, exactly this. Not that I had small children in Texas heat, but I was a kid in Miami. Every minute you're out of the AC, the clock is ticking, and with multiple kids, they're ticking at different rates while the caregiver is being worn down. And then, when the splash pad time is over, you have to pile them back into the hot car, exhausted and cranky, and it's not until long after they're returned to the cool of the house that things settle back down.
Or you just hand them your old iPad.
So far, I'd say the mall play structures are the closest thing to what Heebie asked for: indoors and low cost. I see why you've been racking your brain, Heebie, because this is a hard niche to fill.
Our libraries have lots of kid services, including toy bins and kid programming. Maybe expand through the library system?
So, we passed a bond and majorly expanded the library a few years ago, and we have a great activity center, and a flagship playground in the river park, but they're all located on the wealthier west side of I-35, and the east side is sorely lacking in amenities. So I'm picturing something that doesn't quite compete with those but feels equally grand and useful. A big outdoor/play-integrated-with-nature, a great splash-pad/shallow pool, a toy library and maybe a tool library?, and an indoor rec area which is climate controlled and open to the public for free (maybe on days over a certain temperature or rainy days). Maybe another room or two that can be used for programs.
Talking through all this is incredibly helpful, btw. Thank you all!
what, and just casually undo decades of racially driven housing inequity? unconceivable!
Lots of pay-places around here have what I think of as giant McDonald's -style playgyms. They're often in warehouses, with tables/cafe for the adults and lots of bouncy castle and similar climbing type stuff for the kids. Maybe a community-sponsored version of something like that?
I'm not sure this was really a check-in thread.
I have no idea about insurance/liability, but this science museum is relatively cheap in terms of exhibits, the kind of space needed, and staffing. Kids adore it because it's all super hands-on. You do need a decent community of scientists or science educators who would be willing to help with the initial setup, but it's a very nice place for kids to play. Might be an easier sell than something super athletic like trampolines or a climbing gym.
https://www.scitechmuseum.org/
I found this article about multigenerational parks, which seems really amazing. It reminded me a bit about Megan's link to how to create open spaces that are inviting to teenage girls. I'm thinking that might be a really nice direction to take it in - being intentional about early childhood through senior citizens for this space.
(The other trends in the article - inclusivity, natural playgrounds - are also great, but weren't new to me.)
(Actually I think the last trend - themed playgrounds - is kind of lame.)
44: I'll have to check that out. That was a very explicit goal for the reconstruction of our park (the one that was destroyed, and nearly stolen, by the evil developer), because one of the remarkable things about the old park was that, even though it was pretty small (a bit over 2 acres), its layout and location led to its use by nearly every age group and demographic--probably the only exception was middle aged people without dogs. It will be very interesting to see whether that returns (although we're likely to have fewer seniors, as the rehab/nursing facility across the street is being converted into microapartments for young people).
I'm reading more about multigenerational parks, and it seems that most often the concept is multigenerational play, as in creating equipment that invites grandparents and parents to play with and alongside their children.
I realize that I'm an outlier, but that sounds miserable. I love talking about things with my kids and reading with them, but I don't like playing with them. I want a park where I can do my thing and they can do theirs.
48: yeah, that's a more dubious concept. Maybe if I experienced it I'd get it, but children and grandparents move at very different speeds. I can see that there'd be certain design moves that would enable a little more interaction (at regular parks, it's pretty much limited to pushing kids on swings, plus stuff that's essentially for babies), and I dig the idea of adult exercise equipment that faces the kids' equipment so everyone's being active at once, but what kind of play device suits both populations?
Anyway, sitting on a shady bench and watching your [grand]kids run around and exhaust themselves is fucking great.
But if I tie someone else's kids to the mill wheel, I'm the asshole.
Got lucky my first time playing Semantle. No groovy graphic for sharing, just this:
I solved Semantle #27 in 20 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 14.24. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #7. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 60.03 (998/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org
51: Have you been tested for psychic powers?
Maybe I'm just a g.d. genius. (The top of the graphic makes it look like I didn't get them all, but I did!!)
Daily Octordle #32
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octordle.com
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46: We have a themed playground and it seems pointless. It doesn't make the playing any worse, but I never saw anyone respond to the theme.
When Steady was baby and toddler age, I appreciated the fenced-in parks so much. He aged out of those and then a year later, we met another family in one. It was nice to see them but I was surprised at how happy I was that those years were done.
Anyway, as another hot climate person, I want to reinforce the inside play area, or at least absolute full shade.
Seconding 35. Yes to splash pads, but an outing where the kid gets wet is a different level of commitment (and a different packed bag).
Jumping the gun on the city of Columbus, the local partner-in-charge lifted the indoor mask mandate for our office. Is this legal? In any case not terribly consequential, since the mayor and city council will almost certainly drop the mandate within a week or two at the most. I don't actually care, except that this means my time in an attorney office with a window is going to end soon.
You should already know what Ohio looks like by now.
The High Street.
(As seems to be a street name in several places.)
I just read that the city is planning on dropping the mandate in a couple of weeks, but they are deliberately waiting until after the Arnold (https://www.arnoldsportsfestival.com/) That seems like a good call, as I suspect that this event attracts a disproportionate number of anti-vaxxers.
I'm assuming that's about Hey Arnold!.
Heebie U dropped the mask mandate starting today. I can verify that uniformly, I'd been imagining more conventionally attractive lower-halves of their faces, NTTAWWTheir actual faces. It was especially startling with some students I've had since august.
We're going to have a whole generation of people with mask fetishes. But yeah, only the most attractive people look better without a mask.
It would be a welcome relief from all the jokes about choking fetishes.
Now there's only three posts on the front page.
I found engaging was baffled at the first Semantle I did a couple of days ago, which told me many terms associated with right-wing politics (nationalism, monarchism, fascism) were closer than those more left-leaning (socialism, communism), but when I gave up I found it was a much broader word, "ideology".
But today I got it in 80, and I was rather shocked - I got it after being no more than 500th closest. And this time the distance from each other of two near-synonyms did point me to the answer.