Play Environments - School Play Areas

This past weekend has been extremely hectic when it comes to everything I have done regarding this project and other homework. I decided to knock some aspects out of the way while I was going about my daily business. First off, I didn't have class on Friday (3/13/09) so I went to my sister's school and analyzed/examined the playground equipment they have available to them. It is an elementary school in Green Bay and the children ages ranged from six to nine. The demographics were a little different than typical because I waited until I picked my sister up from school. The children ranged across Caucasian, Native American, Hispanic, and Asian American backgrounds. It was a better mixture than it would be in one given classroom. Also, there was a sufficient number of both males and females.

The playground equipment is extremely diverse when it comes to the areas the children can play in. There are separate areas in which the children have access to. One is made up of wooden equipment that is extremely old due to it being there before I even attended the elementary school. Another is plastic that is ten-years-old and contains multiple areas for children to utilize. This includes monkey bars, tic-tac-toe area, bridge, swings, and a climbing area. The final area is a large blue plastic jungle gym type that allows the children to crawl up and down and pretend to be whatever they want. The areas for the most part were not used the way they were intended. The children definitely made it their own and only used the equipment to aid in their imaginations. 

Specifically, the playground equipment was used for a game of lava tag. This involves the children staying on the equipment and not touching the wood chips in case the lava monster would get them. The only way in which the playground was used to keep away from the child that was "it." Also, the females definitely enjoyed using the equipment to bring in their own interests. The bridge connected two separate castles that friends lived in. The larger castle had a slide to easily escape any intruders while the smaller one did not. I found it extremely interesting to notice that the equipment was hardly at all used for its intended purpose, unless the purpose was for mere enjoyment, then it was!

However there are multiple aspects of the playground that I did not find to be as well-rounded as I would have liked. Children with disabilities would have an extremely difficult time trying to use this equipment. It was all accessible for those that could climb and run, but for those who cannot, it would be virtually impossible for them to utilize it. Also, when it comes to cultural diversity, I feel that the equipment did not discriminate based on any culture, but it was vague enough to reach across all areas. There was not any specific areas in which a child of any diverse culture could relate to in their home lives. I feel as if the manufactures did not take into consideration all of the children that would be using it, but instead focused on what they could do in order for the majority to purchase it.  Finally, the money put into the playground equipment would not allow it to be accessible for all children to have in their schools. The plastic playground equipment was expensive when they got it ten years ago and now they are continuing to add onto it this upcoming year. I know that schools with lower income based families could not and would not have this equipment in their schools even though it should be equal across the board.