Improve Accessibility with Design
Design and build a small accessible room or playground model using cardboard, ramps, tactile paths, and clear signs to learn inclusive design.
About this activity
Design and build a small accessible room or playground model using cardboard, ramps, tactile paths, and clear signs to learn inclusive design.
What you need
Step by step
- 1
Step 1
Imagine the accessible room or playground and draw a simple top-down sketch showing where ramps doors play zones tactile paths and signs will go.
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Step 2
Use your ruler and pencil to measure and mark a cardboard base about the size you want for your model.
- 3
Step 3
Cut out the cardboard base using scissors and ask an adult for help if a craft knife is needed.
- 4
Step 4
Cut cardboard pieces for walls or fences to separate rooms or play areas.
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Step 5
Attach the walls or fences to the base with glue or tape where you marked them.
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Step 6
Cut a rectangle of cardboard to make a ramp piece for an entry or play platform.
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Step 7
Bend or shape the ramp piece to create a slope and attach it to the base with glue or tape so it reaches the platform cleanly.
- 8
Step 8
Cut strips of textured materials and glue them to the floor to make tactile paths for people who use touch to navigate.
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Step 9
Cut small signs from cardboard and use coloring materials to draw clear symbols and words for doors ramps and important areas.
- 10
Step 10
Build simple benches or play features using popsicle sticks or extra cardboard and attach them to your model.
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Step 11
Test your ramps and paths by rolling a toy wheelchair or moving a toy figure through the space and adjust anything that blocks smooth movement.
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Step 12
Decorate any final details and then share a photo and a short description of your finished accessible room or playground on DIY.org
Fun facts
How do I guide my child to design and build a small accessible room or playground model?
Start by researching accessibility features and sketching a simple floor plan. Have your child decide the space’s function, then measure and cut cardboard walls and floors. Build ramps with folded cardboard or foam, add tactile paths using sandpaper or textured tape, and create clear signs with large print and simple symbols. Use toy figures to test routes, adjust heights and widths for smooth movement, and supervise cutting and gluing.
What materials do we need to build a small accessible room or playground model?
You’ll need sturdy cardboard or foam board, a ruler and pencil for measuring, scissors and a craft knife (adult use), hot glue or white glue, masking tape, popsicle sticks, and small wooden dowels. For tactile features add sandpaper, textured craft foam, or fabric strips. For signage use markers, labels or stickers, and optional braille stickers. Include toy figures or a small toy wheelchair to test accessibility. Paints and markers finish details.
What ages is this accessibility design activity suitable for?
This activity suits ages 5–14 with varying supervision. Ages 5–7 enjoy simple cutting, gluing, and decorating with close adult help. Ages 8–11 can measure, sketch plans, and build ramps with assistance for sharper tools. Ages 12–14 can lead design choices, learn measurement and inclusive features, and try more precise construction. Always supervise tool use, adapt complexity, and focus on learning empathy and problem-solving rather than perfect finishes.
What are the benefits of making a small accessible room or playground model with my child?
Designing an accessible room or playground model teaches empathy, critical thinking, and inclusive problem-solving. Children learn to consider diverse needs, improve spatial reasoning, fine motor skills, and basic engineering. It encourages communication and teamwork when planning with others, and raises awareness about disability barriers. Testing models with toy figures reinforces iterative design—measure, adjust, and retest—which builds persistence and confidence in creating solutions everyon
Watch & Learn
Need help?
What can I use instead of cardboard, popsicle sticks, or textured materials if those are hard to find?
Use a sturdy shoebox lid or foam board for the base and ramps, fold or layer cereal boxes for walls, coffee stirrers or cut cardboard strips instead of popsicle sticks, and felt, sandpaper, or fabric strips for the tactile paths while masking tape can substitute for glue.
My ramp is too steep or the toy wheelchair gets stuck—how can I fix it?
Make the ramp shallower by lengthening the cardboard ramp or adding support wedges under it, smooth or trim any rough edges, and secure the ramp firmly with extra glue or tape before retesting with the toy wheelchair.
How can I adapt the project for younger kids, older kids, or kids with different abilities?
For younger children, pre-measure and pre-cut the cardboard base and larger pieces and let them glue and decorate, for older kids have them draft the measured top-down sketch with a ruler and calculate ramp slopes, and for kids with fine-motor challenges use larger textured strips, Velcro instead of glue, and bigger signs to place.
How can we make the model more realistic or personal before sharing it on DIY.org?
Add Braille-like bumps with puff paint on the tactile paths, create removable modular walls to test different layouts, draw clear symbols on the small cardboard signs with coloring materials, and photograph the top-down model with a short description of your accessibility choices to post on DIY.org.