Adapting the Interactive Sona Arch Games at Castleton SEN School
Prior to the summer holidays, the school decided to renovate their playground, offering their pupils something new and unique that will cater to the differing needs in the school and provide therapy through play during break time. This project included the Lappset Sona Interactive dance and play arch and dynamic, inclusive play equipment.
Inclusive Play & the Interactive Sona Arch
Jupiter Play worked with its leading suppliers; to create a design that provided the school with fun and unique play opportunities.
They decided to incorporate the Lappset Sona Interactive dance and play arch as the focal piece of the playground. The Sona is an inclusive and accessible piece of equipment anyone can enjoy at any age. Combining advanced digital technology with traditional playground fun can provide children a new, exciting way to play. The Sona Arch was developed to use a motion detector camera at the top of the arch to monitor the play below. Allowing children to react to math sums, have dance-offs, and learn a different language through play. As Lappset continues to develop new games, the school can change the games and provide the children with new challenges!
Adapting the Interactive Sona Arch Games
The majority of the games on the Sona are developed to be progressive. As a result, individuals playing have to reach a certain score before passing to the next level. This strategy encourages children to motivate one another and beat their previous scores. After the first week, it became clear the children struggled to reach past the beginning levels.
Some students struggle with information processing disorders, making locating correct answers in the allotted time difficult. After feeding this back to the game programmers, we reduced the speed of levels by a substantial amount. As a result, this provided children with more time to find the answers and progress further. After the amendments, children enjoyed the Sona more, as they could play for longer. Reaching higher levels has also helped with their confidence levels, as it was something they couldn’t do before.
Result of Phase 1
The Castleton school is over the moon with the first phase of their play area. The children enjoy going outside during break and playing on their new equipment together. The staff can monitor Sona through statistics online. The only time the use of statistics has fallen below the average is during the weekend when the pupils are home. Since the project's success, the school is already working on the second phase. Keep a lookout to see what new products will be installed in the school soon.
“The children love the new play area, it is great to see it all finally installed! I’m sure there was little struggle coming back from the summer holidays to use their play equipment again!”
- Castleton school