New Playground Encourages Learning through Play at Lickhill Primary School
Playsmart UK have worked closely with Lickhill Primary School to install a playground that will enable children to learn through physical play and develop cognitive abilities.
- (1888PressRelease) May 11, 2011 - The new playground installation at Lickhill Primary School, Worcestershire, was completed on January 31st 2011. Since then, 152 pupils between the ages of three and eleven years have been putting it through rigorous paces as a space to play, learn and explore.
The play equipment was fitted by Playsmart UK, supplying Handmade Places by Broxap. Playsmart UK have a deep understanding of the way children interpret spaces, which is quite different to the way adults do. Playtime is not simply "messing around"; anything and everything plays a role in the development of the senses, communication, physical coordination, cognitive abilities and cooperation. Lickhill Primary School enthusiastically embraced this message, putting their own unique spin on it for the school space.
Storytelling is a big feature of the new playground, with new seating for both teachers and children set up for this year. A maze-like, octagonal construction provides class seating, coupled up with a storyteller's chair. Literacy and comprehension are supported through the use of reading and listening. When it is play time, the children can enjoy the seating as a maze.
Tables and chairs in the playground encourage conversations between children, allowing them to strengthen listening and speaking skills. Part of the playground dedicated to performance, helping to boost confidence, creative thinking and understanding different actions. A new puppet theatre can be used for entertainment at play time as well as to put on educational presentations during lesson time.
All of the new structures that feature in the playground have a very natural feel, encouraging an awareness of the environment and living creatures within. A playful frog sculpture has been a firm favourite with pupils, along with a dragonfly, butterfly and grasshopper. It really is wild out there now! All of the new play equipment is non-prescriptive, but can tie in with stories that are being told, plays or lessons- whilst the children have no difficulty coming up with games and imaginary worlds to make use of them.
Reflecting the children as they play and learn is a new concave mirror, enabling the development of visual understanding through altered images of themselves. The mirrors and sculptures can also form an early basis for science and maths lessons, where shapes can be multiplied and children see how light or images can be shaped and changed.
Throughout the new playground, a tough and shock absorbing surface protects against any falls or jumps involved in active play. In keeping with the environmental awareness encouraged by the rest of the playground, the surface is manufactured with shredded and specially treated rubber tyres, meaning it is completely recycled as well as safe.
Lickhilll Primary School worked closely with Playsmart UK to install the ideal play environment with funding and support from Lickhill Primary Parents and Teachers Association. This first summer term with the new apparatus is sure to be a memorable one for staff and pupils alike.
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