Earthartist

Schoolyard and Natural Playground Planning and Design

The Design Process

Create a small working group
One of the most important ingredients in a project of this nature is commitment, when it is sunny and warm everybody will want to help, what you will need is a small group of motivated people that can commit to seeing the project through for at least one year. Keep it manageable; 3 to 5 people are best. Teachers, Parent Council Representatives, and Custodial staff as valuable additions to the team, if enthusiastic their contribution can be invaluable: if they feel they were not consulted about your plans in their school your efforts may not go far.

Get Answers and Spread the Word
As the primary users of the schoolyard, the KIDS know what works and what doesn’t.
A simple student questionnaire is a fun and effective way to get top quality first hand analysis of the current situation. The entire school can participate and it’s an excellent way to get word of mouth interest about your project. Many teachers will have excellent suggestions for ways to integrate the process into the school’s curriculum.

The Design Team
At this point, you will develop a short list of problems; needs and opportunities based on the information gathered from the questionnaires, this will help you determine the direction that your design energies will flow. Your design team should include the principal and any others who expressed interest in contributing at the design stage. Get everyone together and put the concepts down on paper. The end result may not be all the details worked out, but you will have the foundation of a master plan and a rough order of projects to develop.

Planting Days
All the preparation, hard work excitement and anticipation will soon come to a peak as the first project is planned to begin. Don't underestimate the resources that are available in the community: neighbours, the city, local trade schools, or community colleges, universities, service clubs... This is where a strong public relations or publicity committee is worth its weight in gold.

Leave a Legacy
Each fall brings a whole new batch of faces to the school, new students, new parents and often-new staff. In order to develop successful schoolyard development plans; the ideas, knowledge and experiences need to be passed on through the years. The work you have done up to this point forms a valuable resource for those that follow - don't let it fade away.

Document EVERYTHING. Remember those class surveys and projects you had the children prepare? Consider setting up an area in the school library as an archive, years later when those students are getting involved as parents, the material will be priceless look back at the start of the process.