Kindergartens, Schools and Playgrounds


Book Description

This book gathers a selection of international day care centers and schools designed by renowned architects, combining functional, technological and construction features creating imaginative and evocative atmospheres.




Learning and Connecting in School Playgrounds


Book Description

Play is critical to children’s well-being and development. All students should have access to and adequate time for positive play experiences every day. Learning and Connecting in School Playgrounds invites parents, teachers, principals and education administrators to take another look at their school playgrounds as spaces crucial to learning, well-being and development. This book combines research findings, commentary and the authors’ personal experiences and observations together with the views of teachers, principals, parents and students related to play and play spaces. Key content includes consideration of the role of adults in the school playground, the influence of technology on play, the challenges experienced by children transitioning to new school environments and consideration of strategies to support students’ access and participation in the playground. Cases are presented to illustrate the use of an audit tool to enhance school playgrounds. The future of school playgrounds is also considered through the reported hopes and dreams of adults and students and a range of recommendations are made for the review and development of schools’ outdoor play spaces. Learning and Connecting in School Playgrounds is written with a sense of urgency, calling for the recognition of positive play experiences as invaluable to children’s education. It includes important and challenging insights to inform and guide decision-making and will be an essential resource for all stakeholders who share responsibility for children’s participation and learning during school break-times.




Children on Playgrounds


Book Description

This book focuses on key issues and current research evidence of links between children's behavior in outdoor play environments and children's development. Specific attention is given to ways that outdoor play environments are extensions of other development settings, like the classroom or family. Since most work up to this point has focused on development in indoor classroom settings or in other developmental contexts, this book makes an important contribution.




Be Nice. the End.


Book Description

On the ideal playground, all kids are equal. They take turns on the swings, play fair during kickball, and help each other up when someone falls and skins their knee. In all areas of life, we have much to learn from the playground kids. Be Nice. The End. distills the wisdom of the playground kids into seven simple values: Inclusion Empathy Acceptance Courage Perseverance Perspective Kindness Featuring thought-provoking messages from inspirational speaker Bryan Skavnak and darling, diverse faces illustrated by Wendy Kieffer Shragg, Be Nice. The End. teaches us that all the playgrounds of life are better when everyone--no matter their age, skin color, ability, shape, or size--is nice.




Resilient Playgrounds


Book Description

While recess provides children with a time to play and take a break from the school day, research has shown that it is also a necessary and vital part of their social, emotional, and academic development. This book provides tools and strategies for school mental health professionals, teachers, and administrators to evaluate and improve the recess experience in order to ensure that children benefit as much as possible from this important time. Using a data-based problem solving strategy, the author presents methods for assessing playgrounds, identifying features that may negatively impact students and their social interactions, intervening to modify and strengthen these features, and monitoring to guarantee that the interventions have created successful outcomes. An accompanying CD contains forms, examples, PowerPoint presentations, and other resources to support the procedures discussed throughout the book.




Play Today in the Primary School Playground


Book Description

This text examines the free play of children in middle childhood, exploring their actual play activities in the school playground. It counters the widespread concern about the supposed decline in children's play with fresh evidence from Australia, Canada, France, Israel and Britain of the vibrancy, creativity and variety of free play activities, particularly in the school playground. The detailed case studies discuss the many aspects of children's play traditions, including the use of playground space, the ways in which children learn and adapt games and rhymes in multicultural and monocultural settings, children's creative and subversive use of mass media items, and gendered dimensions of play. Emphasis is on children's own perceptions, the importance of free play at a time when it is increasingly under threat, and the benefits that an informed appreciation of contemporary children's play can bring to teaching, the management of school playtime, and intercultural and intergenerational understanding.




The Science of Play


Book Description

Poor design and wasted funding characterize today's American playgrounds. A range of factors--including a litigious culture, overzealous safety guidelines, and an ethos of risk aversion--have created uniform and unimaginative playgrounds. These spaces fail to nurture the development of children or promote playgrounds as an active component in enlivening community space. Solomon's book demonstrates how to alter the status quo by allying data with design. Recent information from the behavioral sciences indicates that kids need to take risks; experience failure but also have a chance to succeed and master difficult tasks; learn to plan and solve problems; exercise self-control; and develop friendships. Solomon illustrates how architects and landscape architects (most of whom work in Europe and Japan) have already addressed these needs with strong, successful playground designs. These innovative spaces, many of which are more multifunctional and cost effective than traditional playgrounds, are both sustainable and welcoming. Having become vibrant hubs within their neighborhoods, these play sites are models for anyone designing or commissioning an urban area for children and their families. The Science of Play, a clarion call to use playground design to deepen the American commitment to public space, will interest architects, landscape architects, urban policy makers, city managers, local politicians, and parents.




Coding as a Playground


Book Description

Coding as a Playground, Second Edition focuses on how young children (aged 7 and under) can engage in computational thinking and be taught to become computer programmers, a process that can increase both their cognitive and social-emotional skills. Learn how coding can engage children as producers—and not merely consumers—of technology in a playful way. You will come away from this groundbreaking work with an understanding of how coding promotes developmentally appropriate experiences such as problem-solving, imagination, cognitive challenges, social interactions, motor skills development, emotional exploration, and making different choices. Featuring all-new case studies, vignettes, and projects, as well as an expanded focus on teaching coding as a new literacy, this second edition helps you learn how to integrate coding into different curricular areas to promote literacy, math, science, engineering, and the arts through a project-based approach and a positive attitude to learning.




The Ultimate Playground & Recess Game Book


Book Description

Over 170 fun, safe, and ready-to-use activities to help create meaningful play experiences for children.




playground


Book Description