Retiring Teacher Leaves Behind the Gift of Play

A retiring high school science teacher wanted to leave behind a gift for four elementary schools in the district. After much searching it was decided that the Peaceful Playgrounds Program "fit the bill" not only in cost but need as well. Superintendent Linda Hicks told the elementary principals to “dream big” and come up with something special.

And that they did! “We said what could we get that would be good for all four schools and it was Mr. (Brian) Galdes at Fisher who came across the Peaceful Playground, so we started pulling it together,” said Syndee Malek, principal at Vandenberg.

Peaceful Playgrounds provides schools with a kit for making blacktop school yards into productive play areas during recess. The kit contains stencils for game layouts; rules for dozens of games as traditional as four square and hopscotch and as new as world geography; all the balls, hoops, beanbags and other elements to play the games; and even a conflict resolution guide.

“The concept is for peaceful playgrounds,” said Malek. “If the kids are busy, they have things to do, they understand the games, they're playing by the rules, you're going to have less behavior problems on the playground. In three weeks with just the pieces we have painted, we've seen a lot of that decline.”

More on Gift of Play.

Revised from: HometownLife.com By Hugh Gallagher • OBSERVER STAFF WRITER • May 31, 2009

Grants take kids a hop, skip and jump from video games

Health: Childhood games revived to encourage outdoor play

By Beth Gollob
Published: NEWS OK

For many adults, hopscotch and jump rope seem like games every child should know.

But with a computer or video game system in nearly every household, outdoor physical activity has become increasingly rare during the past decade, said Wendy Jones, executive director of the child wellness advocacy group Schools for Healthy Lifestyles.

"These are just things kids really don't play anymore,” she said.

Nearly 30 teachers from area elementary schools met Monday at Oklahoma City's Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary to help turn around that trend by revisiting conventional playground games and teaching students how to play without fighting.

Schools for Healthy Lifestyles awarded $2,000 grants to 10 schools to provide training, equipment and supplies to bring the Peaceful Playgrounds program to the schools in March. Funding is through a federal grant for physical education programs by the U.S. Department of Education, Jones said.

Oklahoma City elementary schools receiving the grant money are: Fillmore, Heronville, Horace Mann, Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., Stand Watie, West Nichols Hills and Willow Brook. In Mid-Del Public Schools, Steed and Tinker elementary schools won grants.

Rock, Paper, Scissors
Created by Melinda Bossenmeyer, a former physical education teacher and school administrator from California, Peaceful Playgrounds is a nationwide play curriculum designed to get children moving during recess while avoiding injuries and preventing fights.

Standardized rules are set for the more than 100 games included with the program. Teachers will teach children to work out disputes over broken rules by playing decision-making games such as Rock, Paper, Scissors, Jones said.

"We have more than 500 kids and we'll have about 150 kids on the playground at a time, so this will give them more activities to do during recess,” said Felicia Dorsey, first-grade teacher at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary.

Stencils will be used to paint permanent outlines for games like four-square and hopscotch when the equipment is delivered, Jones said.

The headline reads, Active Video Games may be as healthy for kids as active games? The controversy of video game benefits continues to fester.

Health advocates blame computers and video games on kids expanding waistline. But some researchers are pointing out that they may be helpful. The active video games like some of the wii sports and fitness games may be changing some thinking or at least requiring a second look. The September 2008 issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, reported that elementary school children who played video games for 35 minutes a day could burn around 150 calories, enough to prevent weight gain in an average-weight child.

Here's some links to other studies on the issue of video game:

Effects of video games. Preparing surgeons.

Study fings Wii games equals wee exercise.

What are video games good for? Possibly improving eyesight.

Lego Children's Fund Grant

The LEGO Children’s Fund will provide quarterly grants for programs, either in part or in total, with a special interest paid to collaborative efforts and in providing matching funds to leverage new dollars into the receiving organization. We will give priority consideration to programs that both meet our goals and are supported in volunteer time and effort by our employees.

The Foundation awards grants to qualified tax-exempt organizations (as determined under section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue code) including educational organizations as defined in USC 26 § 170 (C) with specific, identifiable needs primarily in these areas of support:

* Early childhood education and development
* Technology and communication projects that advance learning opportunities
* Sport or athletic programs that concentrate on under-served youth

Grant Amounts:
There are no restrictions on grant amounts up to the quarterly allocation. Typical awards, however are between USD $500 and USD $5,000.

Application Procedures.

Coach Free Zone

The Positive Coaching Alliance, a non-profit organization from California is spreading the word that playing should be "fun". In fact, at a weekly gathering recently in Virginia "coaches put down their whistles, parents rested their vocal cords and children played not for points, not for victory -- but purely for fun," according to a Washington Post article entitled, "Its not whether your kid wins or loses."

The Positive Coaching Alliance is growing. They are providing coaching clinics for parents and coaches aimed at spreading the message that kids play for "fun" and parents and coaches mess things up by throwing up scoreboards and high expectations for "winning."

Moral Habits of the Heart: Teaching Social Responsibility

The May issue of Educational Leadership is devoted to articles on teaching social responsibility. One might question if it is schools' mission to teach the practice of putting individual interests aside to work together for the common good?

Charles Haynes calls skills associated with social responsibility "the moral habits of the heart". What are your thoughts? Is it schools' job to teach about social responsibility?

When guiding students to become responsible citizens are we infact teaching about social justice? It's an interesting question. Can we do one without the other?

Students today are more cognizant of world affairs than previous generations have been. Author Rahima Wade reminds us, "Technology has brought the injustices of the world to our students' doorsteps." Student's access to information, politics, and injustices are unavoidable. The Educational Leadership articles make the case for beginning to tackle these issues with students in a supportive and informative environment of open discussion.

Our job is to make sure they have the knowledge, the courage, and the habits of heart to take on the injustice and concerns they are confronted with on a daily basis in this new age of mega information and technology.

No Child Left Inside

How about this for a summer motto, "No child left inside"?

No Child Left Inside urges families in Connecticut to get out and get active in nature. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection has started this initiative to revive interest in their state parks and other natural attractions. Parents and children are encouraged to get outside together and be active while enjoying nature.

Although this initiative is unique to Connecticut, the ideas behind it can easily be adopted to any part of the country. Look for parks, forests, and waterways in your area. Make it a family vacation or a family outing.

I'm off on vacation to Bass Lake in Northern California. We'll spend most of the time at Yosemite National Park. Three generations for hiking, fishing, biking, rafting and roller skating.

Eatricious ABC's

Cute video on eating healthy.




Related Blogs:
School Lunch Program Struggling to Meet Demand

Parent-Child Eating Behaviors Differ


Healthy Food, Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds

New Policy Guide for Health, Physical Education, Nutrition and Physical Activity

New Recess Before Lunch Study Released

Childhood play critical to normal development

A play-deprived childhood disrupts normal social, emotional and cognitive development in humans and animals. “Free play,” as scientists call it, is critical for becoming socially adept, coping with stress and building cognitive skills such as problem solving. Research into animal behavior confirms play’s benefits and establishes its evolutionary importance: ultimately, play may provide animals (including humans) with skills that will help them survive and reproduce.

That finding is based on three key concepts:
1) Childhood play is crucial for social, emotional and cognitive ­development.
2) Imaginative and rambunctious “free play,” as opposed to games or structured activities, is the most essential type.
3) Kids and animals that do not play when they are young may grow into anxious, socially maladjusted adults.

More on the Serious Need for Play.

Recent Peaceful Playgrounds Featured Articles on the topic of play.

Why Play?

Recess on the upswing.
Low Cost High Activity Playgrounds.

Joint Use Equals More Opportunities to Be Active

Do you think school playgrounds should be open after hours for public use? Does your community need more practice space for youth sports teams? Would you like to take your child/grandchild to the local school playground instead of across town to a public park?

If you support this type of change check out the new website and information on Joint Use Agreements where community agencies and schools share their facilities. Newsletter sign up for Joint Use.


Here's one such example of a joint use agreement.
San Marcos: City, school district reach agreement on shared facilities

by Andrea Moss, North County Times
June 13, 2009

The city and the San Marcos Unified School District are making what was little more than a handshake deal official. The two agencies have been sharing their sports fields, gyms and other facilities with each other on an informal basis for years. In recent months, however, city and school officials sat down to work out a joint-use agreement that puts the sharing arrangement in writing.

How to Have a Peaceful Playground-Webinar questions

June 16, 2009
Webinar Questions for How to Have a Peaceful Playground.

Q: The Peaceful Playgrounds Implementation Guide recommends buying water-based striping paint at local hardware stores. Some companies no longer sell the bright colors (IE green and red) do you recommend another kind of paint
A: Yes, you can ask for a masonary paint to be mixed in any color you prefer.

Q: What is the lifespan of the masonary paint?
A: It depends on a number of factors. First the weather. If you live in an area where the playground has snow piled on it for 4 months of the year the game markings need to be repainted more frequently than if you live in Southern California where it never snows and rains infrequently. But generally, properly applied paint will last about 2-3 years or longer in most places.


Q: Do you recommend having separate primary and intermediate areas or combining the two blueprints into one master plan?
A: Most schools don’t have enough area to paint ALL of the markings from the designs. The answer is no you don’t NEED to separate the areas. Most people pick and choose markings from EACH design. They pick the number of markings depending on how much space they have and what age groups they want or need to represent.

Q: What is the best way to combine both?
A: One thing to note is that the blueprint designs have built in safety areas between game markings. Pay attention to the amount of space in between the games. Also you can recruit either a PE teacher to help you pick games, or a classroom teacher from each grade level and have them pick 1-2 designs they’d like to see added to the playground. That way you are also getting them involved which will allow for more “staff buy-in” to the program idea, as well as increase the likelihood that they will take their class outside for interactive learning.

"For the Good of the Group"

In both sports and life some people surface as "team players." They are the folks that sacrifice individual interests for the good of all members of a team or group.

In life these folks might be labeled, "consistent contributors." A new study identified those folks as people who consistently give even when others don't. It seems these folks play an important leadership role and their example influences others to give monetarily, as well as, personally.

A new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, provides reassuring implications that even in a tight economy consistent contributors step forward.

The Power of Play at Work

Want more innovation, creativity, and general job satisfaction? According to a new book entitled, The Red Rubber Ball at Work: Elevate Your Game Through the Hidden Power of Play, what we learn in childhood—to be spontaneous, resourceful and full of imagination—offers us lifelong lessons for creativity and problem solving at work.

Why as adults do we lose our sense of play? Author Kevin Carroll suggests, " we dumb down the role of play, and we marginalize it and push it to the weekends. But the new generation growing up—the microwave generation—to them, play and work are one and the same. Their play comes with them in the form of a handheld device, and they can plug into play even in the middle of classes. They are going to challenge the standards of behavior."

Recreation Plus Education = Winning Formula for Movement

Students assist school counselor in adding 28 activity stations and games for recess through playground markings offered by Peaceful Playgrounds.

School lunch program struggling to meet demand

U.S.A. Today reports that record numbers of children have applied for free and reduced lunches in America's schools. The increase in enrollment in free lunch programs jumped almost 17% in California, and several states — Arizona, New Jersey, Utah and Vermont — also saw more than 10% growth.

The federal government reimburses schools $2.57 for each free lunch served. But the average food and labor cost for each meal is about $2.92, according to the School Nutrition Association. With the tight economy schools across the nation are struggling to make up the difference.

New Study: Playground Markings Increase Physical Activity

Another study shows the benefits of adding playground markings like those encouraged by Peaceful Playgrounds.

Implementing simple, low-cost interventions during recess could help increase children’s activity according to a study conducted by the Centre for Educational Research and Evaluation, Ministry of Education and Culture, Nicosia, Cyprus.

The research investigated the effects on playground markings and jump ropes in increasing children's physical activity during morning recess compared to a control group. Physical activity was measured using pedometer step counts.

The study was published in the Feb. 2009 issue of Preventive Medicine.

Parent-Child Eating Behaviors Differ

You've hear the saying, "like mother like daughter" or "father like son" but that may not be the case when it comes to eating behaviors. A study released on parent-child dietary intake found variances in eating habits both in food groups and nutrients. The study was conducted by Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Center for Human Nutrition, Department of International Health.

Safety of ground up tires as playground surfacing questioned

For years, the Environmental Protection Agency has endorsed the recycling of ground-up tires to cushion the surfaces of children's playgrounds and sports fields — the same material used for the Obama family's new White House playground.

Now, the agency appears to be having second thoughts.

Three articles point out the concerns:
Legal Briefs: EPA Reconsidering Safety of Ground-Up-Tires as Playground Surfaces

Common Dreams.org: Safety of Shredded Tires in Playgrounds Under Question

News Report: Government studies playground safety

The EPA scientists cited gaps in scientific evidence, despite other reviews showing little or no health concern. They urged their superiors to conduct a broad health study to inform parents on kids' safety.

Results from the agency's limited study, which began last year, are expected within weeks.

Fundamental Movement Play Space Grant - Value Added Package

The Head Start Body Start Play Space Grant Applications were released last week from the Head Start Body Start Center For Physical Activity and Play. This short video introduces you the the Fundamental Movement Program which is a Value Added Package for the Head Start Grants offered by Peaceful Playgrounds, Inc.



For more information contact Peaceful Playgrounds, Inc. 877-4449888 or Andrea@peacefulplaygrounds.com

Exercise benefits body and brain

It wasn't until recently that researchers turned their interest to children -- in whom exercise may have more impact. The brain's frontal lobe, thought to play a role in cognitive control, keeps growing throughout the school years, says Charles Hillman, associate professor of kinesiology and neuroscience at the University of Illinois. "Therefore, exercise could help ramp up the development of a child's brain," he says.

In a 2007 study published in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, Hillman put 259 Illinois third and fifth graders through standard physical education routines such as push-­ups and a timed run, and he measured their body mass. Then he checked their physical results against their math and reading scores on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test. "There was a relationship to academic performance," says Hillman. "The more physical tests they passed, th­e better they scored on the achievement test." The ef­fects appeared regard­less of gender and socioeconomic differences, so it seems that no matter his or her race or family income, the fitness of a child's body and mind are tightly linked.

The bigger the dose of exercise, the more it can pay off in academic achievement. In a study published the same year in the Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, researchers found that children ages 7–11 who exercised for 40 minutes daily after school had greater academic improvement than same-aged kids who worked out for just 20 minutes.

Edutopia: A Fit Body Means a Fit Brain by Vanessa Richardson

June Play Nice Newsletter Released

The June Play Nice Newsletter is now available.

This month's newsletter provides information on the Peaceful Playgrounds Right to Recess Campaign. During the past year we have prepared a powerpoint presentation, a speakers guide and gathered resources for making the case for the importance of recess. Now is the time. Once the school year begins it is nearly impossible to get schedules changed. Begin today with our Right to Recess Toolbox. We provide step-by-step guidance and resources on our Right to Recess Webpage. Watch for a Right to Recess Webinar coming soon.

You may want to consider taking advantage of the Year-End Sale. Prices to increase on September 1, 2009.

Follow Peaceful Playgrounds and the Recess Doctor on Social Networking sites below.

Congratulations to U.S. Map Stencil Drawing Winners!

Walking in nature benefits the brain.

A "walk in the park" may be just what the teacher ordered. A recent study suggests that walking in nature might actually benefit your brain.

The study published in Psychological Science and conducted by University of Michigan researchers, found that when people spent time in nature, as opposed to an urban environment, their attention and memory improved. The authors argue that nature captivates people’s involuntary attention while allowing them to rest their directed attention, freeing up mental resources to concentrate on other things. On the other hand, urban settings are filled with stimuli that vie for one’s attention and demand a reaction, from honking cars to giant advertisements.

Active kids appear to be "happier".

A new study suggests that kids who exercise aren’t only in better physical shape; they’re happier, too.

Canadian researcher Mark Holder and colleagues asked 375 children, ages 8-12, about what they did for fun, paying special attention to the amount of time the kids said they spent in “active” leisure activities—physical activities such as sports and exercise—or “passive” activities, such as watching TV, talking on the phone, or playing on the computer or with videogames.

Holder found that the more kids engaged in active leisure, and the more important active leisure was to them, the happier they were and the more positive they felt about themselves.

Even though the study does not necessarily prove that active leisure directly increases kids’ happiness, Holder and his colleagues theorize that physical activity may make kids happier because it provides opportunities both to boost self-confidence and to develop stronger social relationships, which are key to happiness.

10 Ideas for Playing Outside

These tips come from the National Wildlife Federation. Be Out There™ - the National Wildlife Federation's initiative to inspire families across America to open the door and get outside! A daily dose of the outdoors improves children’s physical, mental and emotional well-being. Join the Be Out There movement to get children outside, connecting to nature. The benefits of outdoor play are real: healthier kids with a life-long appreciation of wildlife and nature.

1. Engage the Senses
2. Enjoy The Simple Pleasures
3. Host a Backyard Campout
4. Go On a Photo Safari
5. Buddy Up with the Birds
6. Walk and go on a Family Nature Hunt
7. Grow a Green Thumb. Plant a home garden.
8. Get Dirty! Kids love to dig in the dirt.
9. Bug Off! Tips for catching bugs.
10.Build a sheet Fort

Bill could change playground safety requirements

An interesting situation is developing in North Carolina. Advocates say that if the playground is "safe enough" for children to use during the school day then afterschool programs should have the same requirements. As a result, they are pushing for a bill that would exempt public elementary school playgrounds from regulations that private child-care facilities that operate afterschool programs must abide by.

Savitt a lobbist disagrees, he said that out of 700-plus elementary afterschool programs in North Carolina, about 280 have some sort of problem with playground equipment. Examples of problems at the playgrounds include rusty nails, a broken swing, and high slides or climbing bars with inadequate surfacing to brake a fall.

"The majority of incidents generally arise out of misuse or inadequate supervision," Jennifer Svenstrup, director of child care services for the YMCA of Western North Carolina. "Training is what's important." I think the correct statistic is that supervision is a "contributing factor" in playground injuries and unsafe equipment and surfacing still account for a fair number of serious injuries.

Instead of fighting an important regulation geared at preventing playground injuries the afterschool folks might better serve children by advocating for playground improvements that keep all kids safe. I don't know about you but I don't want my grandkids playing on a broken swing, with rusty nails, or improper surfacing beneath high slides and climbing bars. It's important to recognize that over 200,000 children each year visit emergency rooms as a result of playground injuries. That's 200,000 too many in my book.

Dr. Bossenmeyer is Founder of Peaceful Playgrounds, Inc. It is a research-based playground curriculum emphasizing "peaceful play" and it currently in 8,000 elementary schools across the nation. Peaceful Playgrounds has no affiliation with either surfacing or structure companies.