New Nature Play Space: A Breath of Fresh Air

by ADRIENNE (OTTUM) PETERSON ’04, PRESCHOOL TEACHER

Nestled in the heart of the Lower and Middle Schools, with stunning views over the new all-weather field and beyond across the Puget Sound, is a special outdoor space. Surrounded on three sides by Annie Wright’s iconic brick walls, the area, bisected by a path for Middle Schoolers to travel from one wing to another, was transformed last summer into an imaginative natural play space and outdoor classroom.

This initiative was faculty-led, the brainchild of a Curriculum and Practice group called Play Spaces. Focusing primarily on the needs of Annie Wright’s youngest students, but considering the need for all students to play and learn outside, we challenged ourselves to determine how we could meet students’ needs in our play spaces and update them to reflect the latest research and the International Baccalaureate’s enhanced Primary Years Programme.

We spent our Monday meetings dedicated to designing an environmentally and economically sustainable natural play space. Our goal-setting led to a commitment to construct an explorative and enticing outdoor space philosophically in line with Annie Wright Schools’ mission, which enhances the student experience, addresses the needs of the whole child, maximizes students’ year-round outdoor play, and utilizes and repurposes current outdoor space. Our meetings were packed with engaging conversations, and we felt excited and hopeful that our group could implement positive change for our students.

The area between the Lower and Middle School wings, an extension of the Lower School playground with a rarely used artificial putting green, needed love, and it emerged as a perfect spot to reimagine in the most student-centered way. We conducted research and observed our own students’ behaviors and needs, and these shaped our goals for a space to play.

Studies on physical movement for young students show easier school adjustment, enhanced cognitive performance and improved classroom behavior.

The need for increased outdoor learning led to an outdoor classroom using natural colors and materials. Lower installations for safety, natural climbing structures for appropriate risk-taking, and a place to dig and explore address the needs of our youngest students.

Thanks to a tremendous fundraising effort as part of the 2019 Gator Gala Fund-a-Need led by Annie Wright parents Wendi Cook, Stacey Guadnola and Katherine Steuart, our dream became a reality. Generous donors in our community provided the resources we needed to completely revamp this space.

The reward: fourth graders enthusiastically gathering in the outdoor classroom for collaborative exercises, preschoolers imagining sharks in the blue waters, and all of the exciting and imaginative adventures to come.

Adrienne (Ottum) Peterson ’04, an Annie Wright lifer, teaches Preschool 3-4 at Annie Wright Schools. She led the Play Spaces Curriculum and Practice faculty group and currently leads the School Culture Curriculum and Practice group.