Last update - 00:00 25/10/2006
First playground for the senses to be inaugurated Wednesday
By Yulie Khromchenko, Haaretz Correspondent
The first playground devoted to the senses is to open Wednesday in Jerusalem. Located in the Elwyn vocational center for people with special needs in the capital's Kiryat Hayovel neighborhood, the playground consists of four play areas, each highlighting the experience of a different sense.
In the sight section, for example, people can look at the world through
colored glass, experience the hypnotic effect of colored spirals and a mirror that increases and decreases sizes. In the hearing corner, visitors can play a pipe organ or wind chimes or sing into a fan. In the area devoted to touch, visitors can walk barefoot on paving stones
with differing textures or on artificial grass, and play at a table the underside of which has areas to which brushes, straw and rubber are attached. In the olfactory area, various spices and herbs have been planted, and people can also scratch and sniff boxes that release the
fragrances of anise, cinnamon, cloves and coffee. All the facilities are
wheelchair-accessible.
Miri Amister, 24, who comes to the Elwyn vocational center every day, has already tried out the new playground singing "Happy Birthday" into the fan, and playing the bells to the applause of other visitors. "This is wild," she said. "I love it."
According to Tova Pinkas, a social worker at Elwyn, the initiative for the playground, which is sponsored by the Jerusalem Foundation, came first of all from the center's clients. She says that for many of them, their lives are limited to their homes and the center. "And because many of them suffer from complex disabilities, their families find it difficult to bring them to playgrounds."
The playground, built with contributions by members of the Manchester Jewish community, was planned very carefully and in close consultation with experts. "When we wanted mirrors that give the illusion of increasing and diminishing size, we were told that people with disabilities night be frightened by the distortion the mirror creates. We therefore put in only one small mirror."
The playground is also suited to people with autism and Pervasive Development Disorder in that it does not overload the senses. The auditory corner is also suited to the hearing-impaired; even those who cannot hear can sense the vibrations produced by sounds.
The playground was designed by landscape architect Ilana Ophir and industrial designer Ido Bruno.
In the near future it will also be open for visitors who are not clients of the Elwyn center. Elwyn executive director David Marko said he also hopes to involve children from the mainstream educational system so as to create interaction.