A Place To Play

By Joel Hawes, Director of Lower School

CLIMBING, RUNNING, OBSERVING, BUILDING, JUMPING, DIGGING, AND PLAYING.

Lower School students requested these actions be included on a list of movement experiences for consideration when designing a new Lower and Middle School Outdoor Space. I enjoyed interviewing each grade level when compiling these responses, including one noteworthy Kindergarten request: “We want laughing to be part of the new playground.”

In 2019, the Lower School faculty began reviewing how a reimagined playground might further enhance our productive teaching-learning paradigm. We began by acknowledging that our current playground didn’t meet our younger students’ needs as much as intended. We also realized that its design was somewhat formulaic in directing student usage. Tinkering around the edges, we developed a “wonder garden” section and added more usable loose parts (e.g. wooden blocks and related pieces) to the area. The work coincided with our evolving outdoor classroom’s teaching-learning efforts.

Through classroom and playground interactions, our Lower School has stayed the course as a distinctly joyful learning environment that respects the power of play and a sense of wonder over the past two decades. Yet, two notable changes have occurred. First, we introduced the Pre-Kindergarten program in 2012 and, more recently, we have given greater emphasis to Place-Based Learning themes. From Project Approach work to Outdoor Classroom ventures to Social-Emotional engagement, my colleagues and I value authentic student learning experiences.

During faculty meeting discussions, a Lower School colleague effectively summed up our outdoor learning goals this way: “When I bring children outside or bring something in from outside, I want to feel like I’m being more intentional about it. Where does it fit into the broader network of goals and experiences we’re trying to realize?”

Faculty-informed goals included:

1 Promote areas for nature-based, creative/flexible play

2 Incorporate native/local plants and ecosystems

3 Develop creative use of water, sand, and other natural elements

4 Create group/class meeting and gathering areas

5 Focus on sustainability in multiple ways, including a playground with limited maintenance, maximum student ownership/engagement, and limited waste

6 Develop a recess schedule that supports active student usage

7 Invite student imagination within the varied playground areas

These ideas suggest a change from viewing recess time and recess activities as a passive break to a seamless indoor-outdoor learning experience transition. Research shows that nature-based curriculum and play supports creativity and problem-solving, enhances gross and fine motor skills, reduces stress, and strengthens children’s connections to their natural environment. Armed with this knowledge, Lower and Middle School faculty began working purposefully in documenting a reimagined playground area and approach.

An important next step involved Berwick’s administration, faculty, and staff interfacing with landscape architect Sashie Misner of Portland, Maine. In one of our initial correspondences with her, the faculty identified several highlights of the current playground: A “hedgie home” (cedar tree) area, a large hillside maple tree, a monarch waystation area, a mini-turf field, playground apparatuses, a wonder garden, and a blacktop, all self-contained outside the Lower School building.

The faculty also documented several current playground concerns, including limited room for children to move and run freely. Although there are many interesting components to the present playground, the faculty noted that the space felt congested and that the hillside slope was often a detriment to student interactions.

Building on all of that prep work, our planning included the important step of circling back to previous conversations with students and asking what elements they would like considered in the new playground design. The expansive list included additions such as water play, mud kitchen, tree clubhouse, marble track, swimming pool, tunnel, hillside slide, monarch waystation, natural swings, plants, sandbox, climbing structure, climbing rocks, pathways, stumps, loose parts, and a stage. Swimming pool aside, I felt confident that these elements could be included in the final outdoor space design in one creative manner or another.

We have made significant progress in designing a new Lower and Middle School Outdoor Space with consideration for the developmental and age-appropriate needs of our Lower and Middle School students. With the thoughtful layout and high-interest elements found within our newly proposed space, we are eagerly anticipating the added daily benefits to our students’ physical, social, and creative experiences. The final step will be given to the children, in the coming year and beyond, as we invite their creative and imaginative real-time play to define the final iterations of our new Outdoor Space.