← Menu

Tool 5 Issue Finder

Resources
A supply of money, materials, staff, volunteers, and other assets that can be used by the project to effectively achieve its aims.

Explore the legal and practical issues of creating a natural playground by examining policies, regulations and access to resources.

Needs Assessment
A systematic process for determining and addressing needs, or gaps between current conditions (where we are now) and desired conditions or ‘wants’ (where we want to be).

This tool forms part of your needs assessment.

See Section 1 for playground safety regulations and a useful checklist to guide you through this tool.

When do you use the Issue Finder tool?

The Issue Finder tool helps you to plan for the practical implementation of a playground that meets the safety regulations and standards prescribed by your local authorities.

This tool is designed to be used together with your local guidelines and laws that exist to ensure inclusion and safety in the playground. While we want to offer an exciting playground for children, we also want to make sure that we have considered the guidelines and laws that will help reduce the risk of injury to the children who will be playing there.

Any plan has practical issues that will affect how we implement it. Considering this in advance will prevent us from getting surprised, discouraged or overwhelmed when we start to build our playground.

Who can use the Issue Finder tool?

How do you use the Issue Finder tool?

Work through the tool and answer each question as best you can. You can do this exercise on your own or with small teams or groups at a community participation workshop. The more people who contribute to the worksheet, the more ideas you will have.

Remember that there are no right or wrong answers. Just come up with as many ideas as possible. When you plan, you can decide what to use or not to use.

Issue Finder

Age groups Different age groups have different developmental needs. How will your playground address this? Enter your ideas here.
Capacity How many children can be using the space and equipment? Enter your ideas here.
Zones How much space is there between equipment? Enter your ideas here.
Equipment Does the equipment meet the requirements in terms of height and design? Enter your ideas here.
Installation and maintenance Will this be done by staff, volunteers, or paid for? Enter your ideas here.
Resources What do you need to build the playground? Don’t forget about transportation of the new equipment to the playground. Enter your ideas here.
Other Are there any other rules, regulations, or issues that need to be considered? Enter your ideas here.