Wonder Spelen, or “Miracle Play”
In May of 2021, Julie Paxton from the Wiskus Group in Pella, IA, contacted our National Sales Director at Yalp Interactive, asking for information about the Yalp Sona Interactive dance and play arch. She had recently been to Salina, Kansas. She had seen kids, parents, and grandparents playing on the Sona at Oliva’s Playground at the Salina Regional Health Center. She was amazed at how interactive the games were and how engaging it was for kids of all ages and abilities. She remarked that the Sona indeed provided an inclusive play experience. After seeing the Sona in action, it became her mission to get a Sona installed as part of the Wonder Spelen playground in Pella, IA. This was a playground project that she had been working on with the local community and the Kiwanis Club.
Wonder Spelen, or “Miracle Play” is dedicated to building a fun, safe, and state-of-the-art playground to be enjoyed by people of all ages and abilities. The playground is designed to help people play together and ensure no one is left out.
This playground project was also unique because it was designed with a Dutch theme since Pella, IA, has a large Dutch community. And given that Yalp is a Dutch company, we all knew that a Sona needed to be at the park! To that end, the Yalp team got right to work designing a Dutch-themed “Funky Floor” for the Sona, complete with clogs and tulips. It did not take long after that to get the approval of the playground planning board to move forward with getting the Sona.
It was so very awesome to see the kids play and have so much fun! Their smiles, laughter, and dancing said it all!
A huge success
Since the Sona was installed and turned on in April, it has been a big hit with the kids and community. As you can see from the play stats below, it is getting upwards of 5 hours of play a day.
