{"id":1437,"date":"2016-07-03T17:17:12","date_gmt":"2016-07-03T19:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1437"},"modified":"2016-07-03T17:17:12","modified_gmt":"2016-07-03T19:17:12","slug":"give-your-school-playground-a-new-lease-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/newsandarticles\/give-your-school-playground-a-new-lease-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Give Your School Playground A New Lease Of Life."},"content":{"rendered":"

Young people never believe adults when we tell them that their school years are the best years of their lives; no doubt they will spend the rest of their working lives, like the rest of us, wishing that they could go back. Teaching is vital to a child\u2019s development, but so are the hours spent in the playground, as they learn how to interact, socialise, and the most important skill of all \u2013 how to get across the monkey bars one handed.
\nA good playground<\/a> is essential for any school \u2013 no matter how good the teachers and\u00a0curriculum, it\u2019s vital that children are provided with good facilities for playtime. Many a happy\u00a0memory is made in the playground, so it has to contain equipment that is fun and inspiring as well assafe, of course. So what does a good playground need?
\nSpread out<\/strong>
\nSpace is at a premium, but even if you don\u2019t have acres of room, it\u2019s important to lay out the\u00a0playground so that the different areas are clearly defined. The climbing frame needs to be away\u00a0from the space for running around, for example, so that children can decide what they want to do. If\u00a0you have plenty of space and nothing to define it with, simply paint a hopscotch or square ball\u00a0space. Sometimes lines on the ground are all it takes to inspire children.
\nDecorate<\/strong>
\nIf the playground is looking tired, perhaps there is a wall that the children can paint<\/a>? Designing a mural is a\u00a0great class activity, and unveiling the mural is an exciting event. It will brighten the space up as well as providing the opportunity for a small-scale \u2018community project\u2019.
\nGo green<\/strong>
\nClimbing frames<\/a> are not the only thing that\u00a0make a playground a good place in which to spend time. If you are in an inner city location and grass\u00a0is not an option, you can still make a nature area with some benches and a couple of allotment or\u00a0flower boxes. These will give the playground some colour, but will also provide the children with a\u00a0project to take responsibility for, and they will quickly learn how to care for the plants.
\nInvest in equipment<\/strong>
\nA good quality climbing frame will last for a long time. Monkey bars, a ladder and a slide are all that\u00a0is needed to get children enthused about climbing, and will promote physical and mental\u00a0stimulation. It\u2019s never a climbing frame, after all, but a pirate ship, dungeon, flying carpet, runaway\u00a0train\u2026
\nNot everyone will want to play<\/strong>
\nGood playgrounds have plenty of space for fun, but they should also offer a quiet corner. Children\u00a0get tired easily and can become distressed if there\u2019s nowhere to sit down and rest. At least one\u00a0water fountain should also be available, as hydration is vital for growth and concentration.\u00a0Good playground design<\/a> necessitates working with what you\u2019ve got \u2013 the more space\u00a0you have, the easier it is to design a playtime fantasy land. A good option is to ask the children themselves, although be prepared for some expensive ideas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Young people never believe adults when we tell them that their school years are the best years of their lives; no doubt they will spend the rest of their working lives, like the rest...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-head-gardener"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/newsandarticles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/newsandarticles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/newsandarticles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/newsandarticles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/newsandarticles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/newsandarticles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1437\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/newsandarticles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/newsandarticles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/newsandarticles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}