The Wheelbarrows

This spring, the Primary playground has been fancied up with a few new additions, including several bright red wheelbarrows! These open-ended play items reinforce the loose parts play that experts say encourages more imaginative, child-directed play than fixed structures do. The children have come up with many games and ideas for using their shiny new wheelbarrows.Sometimes they choose to wheel them around the playground empty; the act of balancing the wheelbarrow on one wheel while trying to pivot and turn can be a challenge in and of itself! Backing up, changing direction, trying to wheel backwards, avoiding tipping over, and avoiding obstacles all teach the child the gross motor skills it takes to control a work tool such as this.Another popular activity is to fill the wheelbarrows with shovels full of wood chips, then to transport the wood chips from one area of the playground to another. Sometimes there is imaginative play happening alongside this act; other times, the simple work of filling, transporting, and dumping the wood chips is satisfying in its own right.Wheelbarrows can also double as shields!Cristina Kerr, primary assistant, shared how the addition of wheelbarrows, logs, and wood rounds have changed the dynamic on the playground. "The children play much more peacefully now. There is less conflict overall. We are so glad the lower elementary and Anna and Melinda shared the logs with us!"Thank you, Jackson Tree Service, for donating the small wood rounds to our school. They are greatly loved and played with often!Read this if you'd like to know some of the ideas the children come up with involving loose parts play!