1. Introduction

Most children like to play and have fun during their break after concentrating on their learning in the classroom. Some enjoy chatting and others like to play games such as hopscotch, skipping, elastics and marbles. Building a playground is another source of entertainment for children as well as an opportunity to involve the community in the development of the school and to make the school environment more child friendly. School playgrounds also provide opportunities for children to get some physical activity and develop their gross motor skills such as running, climbing, balancing, sliding and jumping. This is an important aspect of their development.

2. Primary Objectives

• To make the school environment more child friendly
• To provide opportunities for children to develop their gross motor skills

3. Target group

All children from all grades

4. Information on Implementation

Before school improvement planning, each local cluster school committee discusses with the community and decides which schools should build a playground. If the school/community decide this is a necessary activity they will put it in the Cluster Improvement Plan. Once the plan has been approved, schools will be able to receive money through the cluster to build their playground with.

The Local Cluster School Committee (LCSC) considers the following factors in selecting a school:

1. the school must have good leadership in place,
2. the school has funds available for maintenance (e.g., yearly PB funds)
3. the school must have a suitable site for the playground (a shaded area, trees)
4. the community is willing to provide all labor costs in the construction of the playground.

Following the selection of a school, the school principal appoints a time to meet with the community. Since the community has agreed that it will provide the labor for the construction of the playground, it is only fair that the community should manage the funds. The School Support Committee (SSC) appoints several members who will oversee the purchase of all materials (for transparency) and who can forward receipts back to the LCSC.

Note: Playground equipment might include high bars, see saws, swings, slides and playthings made from old tires. It is best to use low-cost, local materials for the construction such as local wood, old poles, old tires, and rope. It is important that all materials used are safe for children (e.g. wood does not have splinters, tires do not have spiders or water that will attract mosquitoes inside).

5. Resources Needed

• Labor costs
• Construction materials