Age appropriate elementary school playground games are painted onto existing playground surface.
January 2009
By Chuck Barth
Marana Weekly News – Tucson, AZ
Twin Peaks school playground showcases age appropriate games and markings from Peaceful Playgrounds.
The paved surfaces of Twin Peaks Elementary School’s playground have been painted bright colors and shapes. It’s part of a new way to play that recalls the past while involving current ideas about recess.
Called the Peaceful Playgrounds, the program is a series of age-appropriate games, and learning activities that are painted onto existing playground surfaces using blueprints and pre-fabricated stencils.
According to the district the program has been proven to reduce conflict, increase motor skills, dramatically reduce injuries and maximize playground efficiency.
Thirteen various age-appropriate games are in place at Twin Peaks Elementary including number, letter and circle games; jump rope; hopscotch; beanbag toss; shuffleboard and bowling dodge ball.
“The purpose is to get the kids out to play and have fun and learning rules like playing fair, and you can’t say you can’t play-to include everyone, to cut down on bullying, to help kids make safe healthy choices,” said Shari Attebery, a counselor at the school.
“We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to implement this program at Twin Peaks Elementary,” said Dondi Luce, principal.
“This program will provide a setting to enhance conflict resolution skills, team work and productive positive play.”
Children learn to resolve conflicts. Various effective options for working out disagreements are taught to the children including good old fashioned “rock, paper, scissors.”
“This gets kids actively playing ,” adds Luce.
“We sort of live in a video game culture so they’re out there playing games, being physical, and a lot of the games have learning components so we can incorporate some educational things as well.”
The Peaceful Playgrounds program is funded through the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program (Title IV), which is the federal government’s primary vehicle for reducing violence and the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco through education and prevention activities in schools.
Teachers and monitors immediately saw the whole tenor of the playground change from one of chaos to calm, with almost a total student involvement in the games.
An unexpected bonus, a dramatic decrease in playground injuries, is attributed to the relief and stress of overcrowded areas on the playground.
With activities spread out, children were making use of the entire play area.
Marana Weekly News – Twin Peaks students play on Peaceful Playgrounds
