Out in the sunshine Thursday afternoon, the 3- to 5-year-old children at Presby Preschool were enjoying the new playground equipment made possible by a grant from the K21 Health Foundation.
Angela Ayers, director of Presby Preschool, 210 S. High St., Warsaw, said prior to the new equipment, there was some equipment that was either not age appropriate or was worn out.
“It just seemed like it was time to put in something new,” she said.
The cost of new playground equipment isn’t inexpensive, however, as Ayers found out.
“So these few pieces that we have, which include the percussion flowers and everything this way, with the exception of the Buddy Bench and the shade, $56,000 for just these few small - what I consider small - pieces of equipment,” she stated.
The percussion flowers have mallets that the kids can use to play on the flowers.
“That’s great because we have some kids in wheelchairs that can just pull right up and they can actually interact with the playground equipment, which was a goal of mine,” Ayers explained, to make the playground not just inclusive but adaptive.
Then there’s a piece of equipment that spins like a merry-go-round. A child in a wheelchair can be put in the middle of it and spin around like their classmates. It also has ropes on it so the kids can climb on them while the equipment is spinning.
One of the kids in the afternoon class said he liked the spinning piece of equipment because it was a spider web. He “admitted” to being Spider-Man. Another kid also liked that piece of equipment because “you get to spin around.”

    Presby Preschool students enjoy one of the most popular new pieces of equipment on the playground made possible by a K21 Health Foundation grant. Not only does it spin, but the 3- to 5-year-olds also can climb it. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
  

“The lady who designed it from Midstates Recreation in Fort Wayne, she designed sort of a garden theme (for the playground), so it’s got butterflies and the ladybug and the bumblebee and the flowers,” Ayers said. “I also thought it was interesting because I’ve never designed a playground before, but there are different elements of your gross motor skills, so there’s climbing, there’s spinning, there’s sound, there’s jumping.”
She stated the kids love the new equipment.
The playground is for Presby Preschool, which serves children ages 3 to 5 years old. Ayers said the church also does get to use it, but it’s designed for the preschoolers.
Ayers has been the director since June 2023. Currently, Presby Preschool has about 145 students, but is hoping to grow.
“There are a lot more choices in preschool now than there used to be. Presby Preschool used to be the Warsaw preschool, I think, is what I was understanding, with over 300 kids. We’re down to 145,” she said.
For the next school year, Presby Preschool will be offering full-day preschool.
“We’re trying to meet the needs of the community. It seems like the real need of the community is infant and toddler care, but that requires you to have lots of standards in place that we’re just not right now prepared to do. But we thought we could step up our game by offering an all-day class for 3-year-olds and an all-day class for 4-year-olds and part of that was to make some additions to our playgrounds,” Ayers explained.
The new playground equipment, including the application for a K21 grant, the design and installation of the equipment, had been in the works for close to a year, she estimated.
“I will say that they (Midstates Recreation) installed this in one day” about three to four weeks ago, Ayers said. “So I was really impressed with the guys that worked.”
They also helped the preschool with the removal of the old playground equipment.
K21 Health Foundation provided a grant of about $36,000 to go toward the equipment. Presby Preschool and Warsaw Presbyterian Church pitched in about $17,000.
“Without them, it wouldn’t have been a go for us. We’re very appreciative,” Ayers stated.
Jennifer Stewart, K21 grants manager, said, “We were just thrilled. We love seeing children being physically active, so this grant made a lot of sense.”
She told Ayers that when the grant application came through, “You guys had thought things through. Your previous equipment that you already had was so great, so why mess with that, so each piece that you had was - again, going back to inclusivity - it just seemed like such a great space for us to play in.”
For more information about Presby Preschool and the classes they offer, check out their website at presbypreschool.org.
“We have a summer nature classroom program that we’re offering over at Lucerne Park. It’s six different weeks of the summer, so check that summer fun out on the website,” Ayers said. “We have a 3’s preview class, also being offered at the end of the summer for kids that are just coming in as a 3-year-old to a new school environment that have never been to school before.”
To contact the Presby Preschool office, call 574-267-4034.