Children with 'good hearts' design inclusive playground with Front Porch Alliance, LINC

They’ve won their share of contests over the years. Hauled in awards and prizes.

But these Faxon Elementary kids in LINC’s after-school partnership with the Front Porch Alliance needed no material-world motivation to drive their latest creation.

“We have a good heart,” said Zykhale, 12. So when he and his classmates began imagining making Faxon’s playground accessible for their classmate, Elvis, and other students with disabilities, “we all liked the idea and we went with it.”

A school-year’s worth of work reached a big milestone in May when the LINC kids and their volunteer mentors from the Front Porch Alliance installed their creation — the AccessaBUILDity sensory wall — on the school’s playground area.

“We want to make sure everybody’s included,” said fifth-grader, Jenny, 10. That’s why, she said, everybody was celebrating the installation of the wall.

The school’s patio was set with party food, balloons and music as the children came filing out after school, with Elvis, riding his wheelchair, leading the way.

Even before any instructions to begin, many of the children who had joined in the design and construction of the project began assembling the wall’s intriguing variety of pieces. The wall displays interactive activities for children of a wide range of abilities.

The Front Porch Alliance, a community non-profit organization serving the Ivanhoe Neighborhood in Kansas City, has teamed up with LINC for several years in the after-school space at Faxon to help support families and enrich educational and creative programming for the children.

After taking on many challenges with their robotics teams, the Faxon kids took on a novel task beginning last fall.

Their mission, said Front Porch Alliance Youth Programs Coordinator Hanna Hochstetler, was to “find a thing they love, figure out what prevents people from participating in the thing they love, and then find a solution.”

It was no surprise, said LINC Caring Communities Coordinator Yolanda Robinson, that the kids thought about their classmate, Elvis, and other students who can’t use the playground.

“Our kids here at Faxon LINC Caring Communities love each other,” she said. '“Diversity is real. Being different is real.”

Nor was it a surprise that the kids led the way through the project.

“They led the building of the sensory wall (and) the design,” Robinson said. “They created this from top to finish and the adults just did their part to support them.”

Community volunteer Ben Wilson, whose children went to Faxon, was happy to help out with some of the “physical part of this dream.”

He circulated among the children at work on the installation, helping them with his cordless drill, wrenches and screwdrivers.

“I love being involved in this community,” he said. “It’s great.”

There will be more work to do, because the students also see a need in their designs to make the main playground accessible, starting with a ramp over the outer barrier wall, as well as making the slide accessible.

Elvis, who is part of the robotics teams and the playground design team, appreciates his classmates’ work.

“I can’t go on the playground,” he said. “So they’re trying to make it accessible for all.”

The event culminated with a ribbon cutting, cheering and group photos.

“It’s so amazing to see students out here celebrating, having fun, seeing the pride on their faces and all of the work they created,” Hochstetler said.

“The most important thing about this,” 10-year-old Jenny said, “is that everybody gets to have fun with the sensory wall and everybody can be happy.”

By Joe Robertson/LINC Writer