It didn’t take long for Sawyer Anderson to find some friends to play with at Woodridge Park in Cottage Grove.

Within a few minutes of arriving at the inclusive playground on Tuesday afternoon, the 5-year-old Prescott, Wis., boy was playing “monster trucks” in a sand pit with the Moua boys – Alec, 5, and Eugene, 3. Sawyer, who has a rare neurodevelopmental disorder that causes him to tire easily, lay down in the sand and “vroomed” a small green truck with oversized wheels around his head.

“Hey, can I have that monster truck?” he asked Eugene Moua, pointing to the boy’s orange truck. “You can have this one. You can have your own truck, and I can take this one. That one is yours.”

The playground at Woodridge Park, which features a rubberized surface, sensory features and zip lines that come with chairs so that any child can use them — even if they can’t stand up or hold a handle — has been a godsend, said Mikaela Anderson, Sawyer’s mother.

“It’s been awesome because he loves kids so much,” she said. “He loves just playing with anyone and everyone — and these parks have, literally, everything. He’s very sensory seeking, and this has the sand and then the music and all of that stuff, too. He tires out a little bit quicker than other kids, but there’s still things he can do. He loves to be social. He loves it here.”

Inclusive play

Inclusive playgrounds like the one at Woodridge Park provide children of all abilities the opportunity to play and develop friendships, so no one is left out, according to Matthew Witham, director of child and family services at Gillette Children’s in St. Paul. All children reap the benefits of play in their physical, mental and social health, he said.

“When we think about play and inclusivity, there’s a really cool overlap there,” Witham said. “Play when it is self-controlled, self-directed, in its purest form, we can really see that it promotes that creativity for kids. It promotes the increased ability to problem solve. The ability to have those social interactions that are not mitigated or mediated by adults, but where kids can really engage each other, that promotes that emotional regulation, which is a long-term benefit for kids.”

To that end, Witham and others at Gillette are organizing the state’s first “Inclusive Day of Play” event on Saturday. Staff at Gillette have compiled a list of all the inclusive playgrounds in the state — 31 in all — and are inviting children of all abilities to come out and play together.

“It’s, ‘Hey, let’s come to this space. Let’s engage and congregate together on this day,’ but, hopefully, they do this again and again and again,” Witham said. “We want to give kids and families an opportunity to connect, so that collectively we can work together to reduce some of the stigma and misinformation that’s associated with and connected to disability.”

Gillette officials hope the “Inclusive Day of Play” will become an annual event similar to National Night Out. Holding the event in July is key, he said, because it is Disability Pride Month.

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“I think every local community should be promoting this and investing in this for our kids,” said Witham, who has worked at Gillette since 2017. “The more spaces that we can create where parents are going to feel very comfortable having their kids in those spaces, where they’re going to be able to say, ‘Hey, maybe I can step back. This is an accessible space. Maybe I don’t need to be looking over my shoulder or be really close to my child because this space allows for the structure and support that they need.’ It allows for them to kind of move more freely and in doing so, they can interact with other kids. When those spaces are accessible, it’s going to promote the opportunity for kids to encounter others – whether those kids have disabilities or not.”

For parents too

Hanging out at inclusive playgrounds also gives parents the opportunity to connect, Witham said, in a “common space that promotes the overall good of our community and the health of our kids.”

Nick Hanson, a spokesman for Gillette, said his 2-year-old son Isaiah loves playing at Augsburg Adventure Park, an inclusive playground in Richfield. The playground features a zero-entry ramp leading to the slide, he said.

“Isaiah doesn’t have special needs, but it’s awesome because he can get on it. No problem,” he said. “I don’t have to worry about him going up these huge, rickety steps, you know? But then the kids of all abilities can get up there too. No problem. So everybody gets to play together. It’s the same with the merry-go-round. It’s zero entry now, so you just get right on it, and anybody can get on it, whether it’s a toddler or an 18-year-old or somebody with any ability, you know, which is really cool.”

Sawyer, who has low muscle tone and trouble navigating stairs, has a chance to play on all the equipment at Woodridge Park. “It is so awesome for him to be able to socialize with anyone and everyone,” Mikaela Anderson said. “Honestly, we get to even educate people sometimes, too.”

Sawyer’s neurodevelopmental syndrome is similar to Okur-Chung Syndrome, an ultra-rare genetic neurodevelopmental syndrome caused by a mutation on the CSNK2A1 gene. The syndrome can cause speech and motor delays, intellectual disabilities, behavioral challenges, sleep issues and other neurological problems, according to the National Organization for Rare Disorders.

Sawyer, who will be starting kindergarten this fall, has all the same symptoms except he has macrocephaly, an overly large head, instead of microcephaly, an abnormally small head, Mikaela Anderson said. He also has hypotonia, a condition that causes decreased muscle tone and strength, resulting in floppiness, she said.

Making friends

After convincing Alec Moua to trade trucks, the boys moved to another section of the sandbox.

“He’s good at convincing the other kids, like, ‘Hey, come do this,’ or ‘Let’s do that,’” she said. “It’s a good trait to have, but I’m trying to get him to also be able to follow others. He’s, like, ‘Let’s do this. Let’s do that,’ and some kids will go along with him, and then some kids won’t. I’ll tell him, ‘Sometimes you have got to do what other people want to do, too. You have to take turns’”

Woodridge Park gives Alec and Eugene Moua a chance to get to know friends like Sawyer — meetings that can lead to greater awareness and enhanced empathy, said John Moua, their father.

“It’s good for all kids, kids of all abilities, to have that interaction,” said Moua, who lives in Cottage Grove. “My older guy, he’s not that outgoing, but when kids come up and play with them, you know he’s going to have fun with them. … We try to do our best to have them interact with everyone, but, you know, sometimes the best teacher is somebody that is their own age.”

Anderson said she is grateful for Gillette’s push for an “Inclusive Day of Play.”

“I think it is huge to get other kids to play with kids of all different abilities,” she said. “It helps on every single level — physically, emotionally, socially. The more kids who are just playing together, the better. It makes everybody happy to see kids of all abilities playing together. It should be the norm for all kids to want to play together — no matter their ability.”

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Inclusive Day of Play

What: Gillette Children’s Inclusive Day of Play will be Saturday at inclusive playgrounds throughout the state

Why: To raise awareness about the need for inclusive play areas and to help kids of all abilities join together in play

For more information: inclusivedayofplay.org