An interactive play area has been officially opened at the new £200,000 Grove Health and Wellbeing Play Park in Belfast.

The scheme is designed to encourage children to beat obesity and improve their health by stealth at the 'open air gym', which provides a whole body work-out.

The interactive equipment is aimed at all age ranges and abilities, and forms part of the new park at Grove Playing Fields.

The park, which was funded by URBAN II, an EU Community Initiative, and has been designed to complement the nearby Grove Health and Wellbeing Centre.

The interactive I-Play, one of only six in Northern Ireland, can be adapted for use by individuals and groups and improves physical and mental agility.

Opening the scheme, Belfast Deputy Lord Mayor David Browne said: "The playground is themed around health and features pieces of equipment which aim to get kids active. This concept ties in with our Healthy Places theme which is central to the city's Open Space Strategy.

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"It complements the sporting activities already going on within the park and links to the range of facilities provided in the recently opened Well Being Centre with the children being encouraged to use the computer suite to log their scores.

"This play area is a vital asset to local parents and children. The I-Play unit 'speaks' to children and encourages them to complete physical tasks like running, pushing and pressing within a certain time limit.

"The player is then given a score and encouraged to log it on a website where he/she can see where they stand in relation to others around the United Kingdom and Ireland."

A number of pieces at the park have never been seen in Belfast before. The £27,000 i-play interactive unit was sourced from Liverpool.

A sculptural climbing frame - a challenging new piece of climbing equipment is a first for the city.

Also brand new to Belfast is the skateboard simulator which is good for strengthening children's core muscles.

As well as the brand new pieces, the play park contains many of the traditional items of play equipment that remain popular with children today.

The playground is zoned, with a toddler area and zones that are aimed at older children.

(PR/JM)