East Providence: New, all-inclusive playground at Whiteknact Elementary nearly ready

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EAST PROVIDENCE — Even with yellow caution tape around every piece, the new playground at the Emma G. Whiteknact Elementary School still looks like fun.

What started as a paved rectangle marked with spray paint last Monday became the base for a wide array of playground equipment, which was anchored in 37-inch deep holes filled with cement.

By Thursday, concrete was poured, and on Friday, 25 volunteers unpacked all the parts — three kinds of slides, four or five kinds of climbing bars, a see-saw on springs, a pair of spheres for sitting in, a ball toss with three baskets, a ramp, swings and interactive panels that included a scavenger hunt, movement of the planets, cars to race by spinning a spinner, horns to honk, a drum and bells to tap, gears to shift and a construction site enclosed like an ant farm with ball bearings to push around by manipulating gears.

On Saturday, 35 volunteers assembled the giant 3D puzzle by about 2:30 p.m. and tied it all up in yellow caution tape.

Play is prohibited until the cement has hardened and a rubber safety surface is poured and has a chance to set. That should happen by the start of school.

"We were the last school in the district to get the playground," said Joshua Luis Pereira, president of the Whiteknact PTA, a hands-on leader of the project.

The school also has the district's largest population of students with special needs, he said, and all-inclusive play was a high priority from the start, 2½ years ago.

"Probably the biggest part of this playground is a glider," he said on a video posted by Mayor Bob DaSilva as the 5-foot base of the glider was poured.

The Aero Glide, what looks like a boat at the end of a ramp, is big enough for several students in wheelchairs and several without "to just come and they can all play together. ... It's a great piece."

Two spheres on posts create another adaptive play area. Facing each other, they look like aliens engaged in telepathic communication. "Some kids will go on sensory overload," Pereira said. The pods are a quiet place that an aide or a friend can turn slowly like a desk chair in "little circles so you can face different directions."

A spiral slide, a straight slide and a tube slide leave from a landing, and the various climbing bars are arranged so a person can travel in a circle to the slides without touching the ground.

Fundraisers included a pasta dinner that brought in $15,000, plus two years of comedy nights called "Funny for Funds."

"We had to raise $85,000," Pereira said. "And we did. We absolutely did."

With the help of everyone who contributed, right down to the guy who just moved from Boston and helped lug bags of cement.