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Frog Hollow is a place for all children and adults to come and play, interact and enjoy the outdoors. Children with special needs can play. Adults with special needs can come and interact. It is a place for all to laugh, smile, and explore.
The inspiration for the development of Frog Hollow in the city of Wyoming, Michigan, began with the realization that even though the parks and recreation department?EUR??,,????'???s 20 parks met the basic ADA standards, there were many children with special needs in the community that still did not have an opportunity to play. Further research found this need existed throughout the greater Grand Rapids suburban area. Aware of this need, Ms. Rebecca Rynbrandt, director of parks and recreation for Wyoming, coordinated a committee to focus on this special need and to look for potential locations and funding sources, including an Able to Play grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Ms. Rynbrandt assembled a committee that included members from community leaders, health care providers, therapeutic recreation and mental health professionals, and persons with special disabilities including sight and mobility limitations. This committee worked for three years in making this inspiration and vision a reality. In August of 2005, Frog Hollow opened for fun.
The guidance from the committee and from Boundless Playgrounds, the administrator of the Able to Play grants, provided continuous input into the design. This was key to accommodating and integrating solutions that provided play for all. It was decided that it was key that this playground attract all persons and provide for seamless integration within the design and construction. The overall site design was coordinated by P.M. Blough, Inc., a landscape architecture firm with site engineering by Exxel Engineering. The construction management firm, Skanska USA, provided a vital role in overseeing the community build portion of the project and insuring all of the special materials and details were incorporated into the project construction.
Extensive community input was engaged, including design parties with kids, small focus groups and committee workshops. The theme of the park was determined to be a natural one. Living in Michigan, with lots of water, the idea of water was desired, although no water was available at the park for water play. The park is adjacent to wetlands that in the spring are populated by peeper frogs singing their beautiful songs. That became the focus of the theme.
The three acre park is situated adjacent to the new Metropolitan Health Campus. The park is bordered on two sides by a wooded wetlands with state of Michigan environmentally protected vegetation and ecosystem. The layout of the park required careful identification of the wetland areas to be preserved. The play area is fenced with low-maintenance black aluminum fencing to provide an enclosure to limit access into the wetland and provide a safe barrier for those who might inadvertently wonder into nonplay areas.
The primary play and secondary active play areas provide GameTime modular play equipment with appropriate climbing, sliding and interaction areas. The brown, green and blue color selections tie into the natural theme and allow children to creatively slide down the waterfalls and splash into the ponds. The difference in colors also provide cues to those with sight and mobility impairments to better determine differences in elevations and changes and materials. A third area provides for swings with a variety of seat options including small bucket seats, belt seats and chair seats for all sizes and abilities. Each of these play areas provide for different levels of play, skill development and social interaction.
The primary play area is linked with an elevated walkway designed to resemble a dry riverbed with stamped and stained concrete walk. The pathway winds to the top of a hill which connects with a bridge to the playscape. The pathway is bordered with ornamental grasses which sway in the wind to provide a dry riverbed feel and to assist active kids in keeping visually and physically on the pathway.
?EUR??,,????'??The park is adjacent to wetlands that in the spring are populated by peeper frogs singing their beautiful songs. That became the focus of the theme.?EUR??,,????'???EUR??,,????'??+Pam Blough, ASLA
A fourth significant play area provides for more sensory and imaginative interactive play. Elements include an elevated small garden with nontoxic aromatic and textured plants such as lavender and calamint, a wood drum in the shape of a turtle, musical chimes, telescopes, mirror panels and a council circle of large frogs to climb, join in games and socialize. This area provides a unique play area of lower intensity and a play area away from the central activity play areas. All of these play opportunities are offered fully barrier-free to allow for full interaction of all children and adults.
Under the play areas is a blue soft-rubberized safety surfacing that includes floating green lily pads and swimming orange frogs detailed into the surfacing. This surfacing extends accessibility to those with mobility impairments and provides a stimulating visual amenity with frogs swimming under bridges, lily pads to hop on, and pretend water to splash in. The limited number of colors and the use of large images within the surfacing helped to reduce material and installation costs.
Walkway surfaces were designed to accomplish a number of objectives including aid to those with site limitations and to ease mobility. This was accomplished through the use of Lithotex stamped and colored concrete walks with distinct contrasting changes in color and texture for each play area.
Natural earth colors, such as tan, brown, and shades of grey, were selected with fractured earth and stamped animal prints in the surface. These elements provide fun and creativity, while provide distinctive visual cues. Sample panels were first constructed and tested by committee members with future users in mind so that changes could be incorporated into the final walks. Extremely rough or pebbled surfaces were eliminated due to concerns with potential jarring of chair and walker users.
Additional elements include a shade pavilion with benches at the central hub of the play area. This shade shelter, manufactured by Poligon, has custom cut-metal fish trim and is topped with a frog weathervane. The shelter encourages all persons not engaged in active play to interact within the play area. The shelter acts as a meeting point for families and provides welcomed shade. There is also a picnic pavilion for group outings and picnics. Future plans include a restroom building to be constructed in the fall of 2006.
The parking lot provides for special bus unloading, additional barrier-free parking spaces and a service dog rest area. Many visitors to this unique park travel with service dogs to aid in both mobility and sight assistance.
A special ?EUR??,,????'??dog potty pole?EUR??,,????'?? was constructed adjacent to the barrier free parking to provide an accessible rest area.
The wonder of this playground is that children and adults come to play. There are no separations, but seamless play. In less than a year the park has become the focus for school outings, birthday parties and daytime rendezvous. A normal sight on the playground is adults and kids playing together. Not only can children with special needs find interactive play, but adults with special needs can bring active kids to come and play. Grandparents with walkers, parents in wheelchairs, kids with sight limitations, kids in motorized chairs, kids and adults with service animals and active siblings and adults are all up and playing. No one is left in the car or on the bench.
The vision of this play ground was ?EUR??,,????'??Frog Hollow, Every Child?EUR??,,????'???s Playground.?EUR??,,????'?? It has truly become the vision it was intended to be.
Owner: City of Wyoming Parks and Recreation Department
Landscape Architect: P.M. Blough, Inc.
Construction Project Manager: Skanska USA
Civil Engineer: Exxel Engineering
Francisco Uviña, University of New Mexico
Hardscape Oasis in Litchfield Park
Ash Nochian, Ph.D. Landscape Architect
November 12th, 2025
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