Play, Plants, and Learning Flourish on New Playground
With its self-contained creek, mud pit, hobbit holes, tree trunks, boulders, and newly planted native vegetation, Principia Lower School’s new playground is much more than a place for students to take a break from schoolwork.
As pre-kindergarten teacher Rissa Arens (US’91, C’95) puts it, “The playground is no longer just a place to run around and get your wiggles out. It is an extension of our classroom!”
The playground redesign stems from a concerted effort to provide more integrated and creative learning environments for Principia students. It also demonstrates the School’s commitment to incorporating its existing natural resources into the curriculum and to operating in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner.
When learning and recess meet
Of course, adventure and fun are high on the list for any playground—and there is plenty of evidence of the sheer joy of childhood during daily recess. Students clamber over trunks and boulders and dart in and out of the wooden playhouses; they build with large wooden blocks and get messy in the mud pit. Students from all classes have written messages of thanks on a large “We Love Our New Playground” poster, and the creek and logs garnered numerous mentions!
“Having a natural playground allows you to figure out how you’re going to use what’s available,” notes Mary Jane Hoff, the Lower and Middle School science teacher. “Children are having to physically do something different and also intelligently create and imagine . . .”
Hoff worked closely with Upper School science teacher Lynne Scott in coordinating faculty input into the playground design. “From all the different ideas shared,” Hoff says, “it became really clear that teachers wanted to have more than a typical playground with lots of [prefabricated] equipment that ‘tells’ children how to play.” What they wanted was a place that combined fun and a sense of adventure with the development and practice of inquiry, risk-taking, and problem-solving—crucial intellectual skills.
In fact, enjoyment, learning, and discovery were taking place even before the children set foot on the playground. Unforeseen delays with construction permits meant the renovation was still in process when school started in late August. But the children (and teachers) quickly overcame their initial disappointment—thanks, in part, to the thrill of observing crews and big machines at work right outside their classroom windows. The project foreman occasionally hosted “site visits,” too, explaining different aspects of the work, and the students learned a bit about the resources, coordination, and hard work required to take a project from conception to completion.
Families and Friends Add the Finishing Touches
On Saturday, October 10, all Lower School families—and members of the community—were invited to a playground planting session. Armed with trowels and spattered with dirt, parents, toddlers, teachers, and students planted several hundred native species seedlings in class gardens and in the centerpiece “Welcome Garden.” This concentration of native species not only reduces maintenance costs but also attracts animal, bird, and insect life by serving as a corridor for migrating species. Even a vexing drainage issue (which led to the permitting delays) was turned to advantage through an attractive and practical solution—two sunken rain gardens lined with rocks and pebbles and with plants that will soak up run-off and reduce soil erosion.
The rain gardens—and much of the playground—serve as additional science labs that always have something new to teach. “As the weather and seasons change, we will be observing what happens to nature,” says a delighted Arens. “I can envision children discovering caterpillars, worms, praying mantises . . . scooping them up and observing them. We might build a habitat for them and, after some research, even write an informative book about these creatures . . .”
The possibilities are endless—both for play and learning!