When it comes to equipping a schoolyard, there are certain objects that must be there. We will, for the purposes of this article, be discussing only schoolyards in the United States – anyone who has gone to school in the United Kingdom will know that a schoolyard is no more than a patch of concrete and some chalk. Schoolyards, for many children, are where they will spend some of the best times of their childhood and make memories that will remain with them for the rest of their life. Because of this, it is important that a schoolyard be properly equipped and designed around the children so that they get the best experience out of it that they can.
In this article, we are going to tell you how you can easily equip, design, and sort out a schoolyard so to ensure maximum enjoyment. We hope that by the end of this page you will know exactly how to create a fun, safe, and memorable schoolyard for the children in your school. Remember though, age groups matter. When we discuss a schoolyard in this article, we will be aiming at young children, not adolescents. Adolescents will likely not want to play on a slide or swing.
Rules
It is important to have some rules set in stone when you are designing a schoolyard for children. If you do not adhere to these rules, for starters, you could find yourself in considerable trouble, and secondly, the children may just not use the equipment or enjoy it.
Safety
Safety is important whenever you are doing anything relating to a school and children. If you do not exercise safety and ensure that all of the equipment in your schoolyard is safe, you could be potentially sued if any of the children were to injure themselves. Safety should be your top concern. Children, as we all know, can do very silly things sometimes. If you do not have safe playground equipment, there is a strong risk that one of the children could do something silly and injure themselves. Safety should be at the forefront of your mind, and you mustn’t ever rush into it without having the proper professionals give their opinions and design the playground to be as safe as possible. If you do not ensure safety, you will most definitely regret it.
Practicality
Not only should a schoolyard playground be safe, but it should be practical. You should always design your playground with practicality in mind. A practical feature you mustn’t overlook is commercial park benches, which give the children a place to sit down. Be prepared, however, for there is an almost 99.9% chance the benches will end up defaced and have graffiti scrawled all over them. It’s to be expected, though. Be as practical as possible when you are designing your playground and ensure that you never deviate from this established practicality. It’s a playground which means it must be practical.
Age Appropriate
As we have already mentioned in the introduction, you must ensure that your playground and schoolyard is age-appropriate. Designing a playground to be catered to young children when the people who will be using it are teenagers doesn’t make much sense – equally designing it with teenagers in mind but the age group who will be using it are kindergarteners doesn’t make much sense either. Always design your schoolyard according to the age of the students that will be using it. If you are having trouble coming up with ideas, then you should consult an architect or designer and ask for their help.
What Should A Schoolyard Have?
Swings
Swings are universally enjoyed by people of all ages and backgrounds. They should be a feature in your schoolyard regardless of age. However, if you have younger children in your school, you will want to put an age-appropriate set of swings up and not one designed for adults. Swings for smaller children will have protective padding and the seats will have harnesses to ensure the children cannot fall out, and that if they do, they will be protected and will not be able to hurt themselves.
Slides
Slides should be installed with younger children in mind. Slides are a common feature on playgrounds throughout the world and are a lot of fun. When you install a slide for children, you must ensure you install padding in case they fall off of the slide, and you must never install a slide that is too high that puts children at risk of falling off. If you do not do these things, you could find yourself, as mentioned in our safety paragraph, in a lot of trouble. Slides are a lot of fun, providing that they are installed safely.
Soccer
Every playground should allow for a soccer pitch. You can do this by marking a patch of grass with chalk and setting up a few goal stands. Soccer is a game that can be enjoyed by all, and it is a very safe game for children of all ages to play unsupervised. Soccer will also teach children the importance of fitness and hopefully cultivate a love of staying in shape for the rest of their lives. Soccer is, everything else put to one side, just fun! Be sure to supply the children with an infinite supply of footballs, as they have a tendency to go missing.
Baseball Patch
Baseball, like soccer, is a game enjoyed by children of all ages. In the United States, baseball is one of the most commonly played game. If you are setting up a schoolyard in the United States, you cannot set one up without a baseball patch. Be sure to have the children supervised when they are playing baseball, however, as children can hurt themselves if they do not exercise caution when they are playing baseball. Keep the bats and balls locked away and only allow them to play the game at permitted times.
In this article, we hope to have explained to you how you can properly equip a schoolyard. Equipping a schoolyard, with this page, should be quite straightforward. We thank you for joining us and reading our page, and we hope that you visit us again soon!
