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SCHOOL’S SENSORY HALLWAY ENCOURAGES PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

When Deer Creek Elementary opened in fall 2019, the freshly painted white walls in the West Fargo School District school demanded something to make the building more welcoming and friendly.

Color. Shape. Movement. Art.

Thanks to art education students at Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM), the elementary school quickly added those elements. MSUM students collaborated with school staff to create a mural paired with a sensory floor — the community’s first interactive hallway.

Also known as a sensory or movement hallway, an interactive hallway gives students permission to work out their wiggles and take a brain break. Instead of a static image that is passively viewed, the art encourages students to jump, touch and stretch.

MSUM students Katie Sandberg (far left) and Paige Busby (far right) gather with MSUM alumna Lindsay Opp (middle), art professor Brad Bachmeier (middle) and Deer Creek principal Dr. Chad Clark (back right)

“From personal experience, it pains me to see students standing quietly in lines,” says Brad Bachmeier, a professor of art education at MSUM. “Kids need movement and this lets them do that.”

The Deer Creek mural is nature-themed. The branches of a painted tree challenge students to demonstrate how high they can reach. Stickers prompt students to complete activities such as doing a push-up against the wall or tracing a pattern with their feet. Butterflies hanging from the ceiling tempt students to jump.

While students have time to move during recess, sensory hallways allow transitions between classes to be more interactive and fun. For fidgety students, a quick hop or stretch can help them burn energy so they can focus.

Incorporating those activities into art makes a typically practical space more appealing.

“We wanted something that would mark our first year at Deer Creek while helping students identify with the new building,” says Lindsay Opp, the school’s art teacher. She earned a degree in art education from MSUM in December 2018.

“Art makes a school, a school,” she says. “It changes the atmosphere into a more fun, relaxed space.”

Opp designed the nature-based mural after her building principal asked her to add an interactive hallway to the school. She then reached out to Bachmeier to see if art students could help to make it a reality.

Bachmeier encourages art students to explore different settings where they can share their expertise in art education. Members of the on-campus art educators club volunteer in schools. They lead art clubs at Churches United for the Homeless and classes at the Plains Art Museum. They practice art therapy at senior centers and with veterans.

“We want our students to be involved in the community,” he says. “We make sure they have opportunities to experience art in a variety of settings.”

For the Deer Creek mural, MSUM students volunteered more than 100 hours.

Paige Busby, a junior at MSUM, is president of the art club at MSUM. She spent a couple of days painting bushes and trees over her winter break.

“It made me realize that as a future art teacher, it’s my job to bring in artistic events and make the entire school more colorful,” she says. “I loved to see how (Opp) brought the classroom outside into the hallway.”

Katie Sandberg, a recent transfer student to MSUM, also worked on the mural.

“It was a great way for me to build relationships with the other students,” she says.

Before returning to school to complete her art education degree, Sandberg worked as a paraprofessional. With that experience, she quickly appreciated how welcoming and beneficial the interactive hallway could be for all students.

“Art is an equalizer,” she says. “Kids from a lot of different backgrounds can connect to the space.”

The interactive mural at Deer Creek encourages more physical activity in a child’s day, but also can help students practice academic skills. For example, young students can find all the ladybugs in the mural and count them.

In the future, students can contribute to the mural by adding their own details, such as prairie flowers.

“Giving students an opportunity to contribute to public art gives them ownership,” Bachmeier says. “It will be fun for them to say, hey, that’s mine.”