Eastside Elementary’s 5K students got their first official look last Wednesday morning at their new playground, a track where they can ride tricycles and stop at stations that include a fast-food restaurant and the grocery story.
A large climbable butterfly-looking structure stands in the middle, but the lack of climbing objects is intentional. A more traditional playground is nearby, inside the security fence.
The new design is meant to encourage the 5K students to learn the world around them and to have a different kind of play.
“We really didn’t want anymore climbing structures. We wanted things for creative and dramatic play because our kids don’t know how to communicate. They don’t know how to play,” Principal Tonya Wilson said. “We have the most discipline issues in kindergarten just because they don’t understand the structure. We are partnering with PC as well to bring some (Presbyterian College) athletes to come out and play with our kids during Kindergarten.”
Money for the new kind of playground equipment comes from the Indigo Hope Foundation. Eastside wrote a grant proposal to the organization for $15,000 and was awarded $20,000 “to purchase all of these items right here,” Wilson said.
The elementary school sent out an invitation to the official ribbon-cutting with the title, “Champions at Play.”
It said, “Join us as we celebrate the grand opening of our new playground - a space built for fun, friendship, and future champions!”
“With a lot of love from a lot of people we got it installed, so this was our ribbon cutting today. Our school improvement council spearheaded this project,” Wilson said. “The kids love those tricycles.”
A couple of special needs classes also will be able to use this playground, and that has given Eastside Elementary School the idea for its next project. “We are going to write another grant,” Wilson said. “I don’t know if you know how expensive playground equipment is. Just the equipment here and two trikes are $20,000. We want an ADA* accessible playground because we have some children in wheelchairs who can’t play; we have one swing that is handicapped accessible. But it’s $97,000 for a small ADA playground. If there is a benefactor out there, we would love to talk to them.”
-- Vic MacDonald
*ADA = Americans with Disabilities Act
