An interactive training kit, online and offline

Playing outdoors is an important part of growing up, but many children have no suitable play facilities, especially in under-resourced areas. To help them address this, Penreach and the Roger Federer Foundation asked Electric Book Works to turn their training materials into an interactive publication called the Natural Playgrounds Toolkit. It provides teachers, parents and communities with practical knowledge on how best to design, create and maintain natural playgrounds.

The toolkit is divided into five sections that represent the steps in establishing a natural playground. In its pages, 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.

We created a fast, low-data website and app, with a colourful and engaging design. Since we use a single-source workflow, 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. For example, we carefully 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 data-light and mobile friendly and, after an initial download, the app and all its features can be used offline. For trainers working in large groups, they can save data and setup time by loading the videos onto devices from an SD card.

When users fill in answers to exercises or complete checklists, their input is saved on their device without needing an Internet connection. This means they don’t need to have paper or a printer at training venues – there is no need to print out the forms and checklists to use them. The videos and interactive forms let users begin planning their playgrounds immediately.

The publication also needed to be available in print, so that it could be downloaded and printed out.

Users can download and print the PDF version, to give to others or to use when devices aren’t available. And, when training funds allow it, organisers can use the print-ready-PDF version to produce a high-quality print copy that lends the project extra credibility.

You can read the Natural Playgrounds Toolkit online or download the app for free from the Play store.