VILLAGE GREEN TO BE SITE OF UNIQUE CHILDREN’S PLAYGARDEN

The Great Neck Park District is about to embark on the creation of an entirely new kind of play space in the Great Neck Village Green. Aptly named the Children’s PlayGarden, it promises to provide a far richer experience than traditional playgrounds.

Instead of conventional swings and slides, it invites play with thoughtfully designed recreational modules that flow from one to another in a beautiful garden environment that is fully handicapped accessible and will serve the needs of children with all abilities.

The modules will be designed with customized activities to encourage the use of the senses, challenge and encourage decision-making, enhance small and gross motor abilities, and develop social and interactive skills. 

The PlayGarden will encourage outdoor horticultural education in its year-round gardens, and heighten the appreciation of nature.

The concept of providing the enriched recreational environment of a PlayGarden is so advanced that only a handful of such parks currently exist in the United States.  The Children’s Playground developed by the Great Neck Park District will be a proud first for Long Island. 

The Children’s PlayGarden is a project of the Great Neck Park District and funded additionally with tax deductible contributions to the Friends of the Parks Foundation.  The first phase of the PlayGarden is scheduled to open in the fall of 2008, with a groundbreaking ceremony planned for Sunday, June 22nd at 11:00 AM in the Village Green.

The Great Neck Park District has been working with a Children’s PlayGarden Committee formed in 2006 to explore the possibilities of establishing this one-of-a-kind PlayGarden.

The committee is made up of parents, educators, members of the Great Neck Garden Club, Rotarians, business people, Friends’ foundation representatives with consultation from the Great Neck School District. They have worked with landscape architect Spencer Levine and Vince Cangelosi of Creative Design Associates designers of the PlayGarden

The Children’s Playgarden is part of the Great Neck Park District’s effort to restore and revitalize the Village Green.  The Village Green and its Rose Garden were originally designed by famous Victorian landscape designer Beatrix Farrand in the 1920’s.

Fortunately, the Park District was able to obtain her original designs and is working hard to retain the original design throughout the park. The goal of the restoration is to create a centerpiece for the “Old Village.”

Restoration will include new lighting, two designed entrances, a new, expanded Veteran’s Memorial, a fountain, and of course the Children’s PlayGarden.

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