Creating an interactive toolkit
Playing and having fun outdoors are an important part of growing up. However, not all children have access to play facilities, especially in under-resourced areas. To address this, Penreach, with support from the Roger Federer Foundation, developed the Natural Playgrounds Toolkit which provides teachers, parents and communities with practical knowledge on how best to design, create and maintain natural playgrounds.
The book needed to be available in multiple formats and easily accessible. To achieve this, the Electric Book Works team created a fast, low-data toolkit, with a colourful and engaging design created using CSS. Since we use a single-master workflow, where all formats are produced from one source, we could produce the app, website and PDF versions of the toolkit simultaneously.
As with all of our projects, accessibility is at the forefront of our minds. Among other things, we considered the responsiveness of the design across different screen sizes and the ability to access the toolkit with little to no internet access. The website is light and mobile friendly and, after the initial download, the app and all its features can be used offline. When users fill in answers to exercises or complete checklists, their input is saved on their device without needing an internet connection. This also means they don’t need to print out forms and checklists to use them.
The videos and interactive forms let users begin planning their playground immediately. And they can download and print the PDF version, to give to others or use when devices aren’t available. Also, a high-quality print copy lends the project extra credibility.
The toolkit is divided into five sections that represent the different steps of establishing a natural playground. In the toolkit users will find a toolbox of interactive exercises and checklists, downloadable worksheets, sample letters and instructional videos that help them to consider everything necessary to make a success of their project.
You can read the Natural Playgrounds Toolkit online or download it for free from the Play store.