Play Wishes Granted

Thanks to Maria McGinty, children and families in Brooklyn, Ohio will soon have a new playground. McGinty is the recreation manager for the John M. Coyne Recreation Center. Last fall she attended a professional development symposium presented by Ohio Parks and Recreation Association (OPRA) and PlayCore. During the workshop she learned about best practices for designing active play and recreation spaces, as well as about a funding initiative from GameTime. After the symposium, McGinty submitted a grant proposal with a persuasive essay on why her community needed new playground equipment. The funding committee agreed with her and awarded $40,000 in matching funds to put research into action at Veterans Memorial Park.

Rendering of two new playgrounds designed for Veterans Memorial Park in Brooklyn, Ohio

“The whole initiative involved key elements for play and lifelong learning with healthy lifestyles,” McGinty said. “For the essay, I wrote about how basically our playground has seen better days with its older equipment. We wanted to bring the city upgraded equipment. We wanted to make sure the kids were doing a healthy lifestyle, promoting physical activity and moving forward in this day and age.”

The matching funds grant from GameTime will pay for two PrimeTime Play Structures, one for ages 2 to 5 and the other for ages 5 to 12. The playground will also include fun, freestanding activities like musical instruments, a tire swing, balance beams and more. The entire play space is designed to align with the principles found in PlayOn! - a standards-based curriculum designed to promote healthy play with 125 activities. 

“All of our equipment we’re getting has to have six components involved -- balancing, spinning, brachiating, sliding, climbing and swinging,” McGinty said. “I’m excited, because the children are going to have great new equipment to come together for community play."

Mayor Katie Gallagher said the community’s enjoyment of watching kids play on the playground equipment makes the investment worthwhile. “Brooklyn families and businesses in our community enjoy this park for many months of the year,” Gallagher said. “It’s a true gathering space for our community."

The playground was designed and will be installed by DWA Recreation, GameTime's exclusive representative in Ohio.