Creative Collaborative Cooler Climate Resilient ....... NATURAL PLAYGROUNDS ....... OUTDOOR PLAY & LEARNING SPACES ..................................................................................................... Places to Inspire, Grow, Flourish & Blossom
Natural Elements: Natural playgrounds incorporate materials such as wood, rocks, water, plants, rope, or other natural materials, such as log climbers, rope bridges, and balance beams to create a sensory-rich environment that connects children with nature. Vegetation & Greenery: Trees, shrubs, flowers, and other vegetation are integrated into natural playgrounds to provide shade, promote biodiversity, and create a visually appealing environment. Landscaped Features: These playgrounds often feature landscaped areas with hills, mounds, and berms that provide opportunities for climbing, rolling, and exploring. Water Features: Many natural playgrounds include water elements such as rain gardens or dry streambeds, streams, or pumps and troughs to allow children to interact with water and engage in sensory play. Sensory-rich Experiences: Natural playgrounds provide a variety of sensory experiences, including textures, sounds, smells, and colors, to stimulate children's senses and encourage exploration and discovery. NATURAL PLAYGROUNDS: KEY FEATURES & PRINCIPLES NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR HEALTHY, CLIMATE RESILIENT SCHOOLS SCHOOLYARDS NOVATO’S
Play Opportunities for All Ages & Abilities: Natural playgrounds are designed to accommodate children of different ages, abilities, and interests, with a variety of play spaces and activities that cater to diverse needs and preferences. Loose Parts & Natural Play Elements: Loose parts such as logs, branches, stones, and tree stumps are commonly found in natural playgrounds, allowing children to engage in openended play, build structures, and use their imagination. Multifunctional Spaces: Accommodates multiple purposes, various activities, and diverse forms of interacting and learning through outdoor classrooms, gathering spaces, sports, gardening, and relaxation. Education Across the Curriculum: As outdoor laboratories, science, math, visual and language arts lessons are experientially-enriched through practical and motivational activities: gardening, composting, water conservation, and wildlife observation. NATURAL PLAYGROUNDS: KEY FEATURES & PRINCIPLES NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR HEALTHY, CLIMATE RESILIENT SCHOOLS OPPORTUNITIES
BENEFITS of NATURAL PLAYGROUNDS Overall, natural playgrounds aim to create a dynamic, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable play environment that promotes children's physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development. Increased Physical Activity: Natural playgrounds often feature uneven surfaces, climbing structures, and natural elements like logs and boulders, which can encourage children to engage in more physical activity and develop their motor skills. Enhanced Creativity & Imagination: Natural playgrounds provide an environment that encourages creative and imaginative play. Improved Cognitive Development: Playing in natural environments has been linked to improved cognitive abilities, including problem-solving skills, decision-making, and attention span. Better Mental Health & Well-Being: Spending time outdoors in natural settings has been associated with reduced stress, anxiety, and symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. The complexity and unpredictability of natural settings can stimulate children's minds and foster intellectual growth. Natural playgrounds offer opportunities for relaxation, sensory exploration, and connection with the natural world, promoting overall well-being. Children can invent their own games, explore different textures and materials, and interact with nature in diverse ways.
Environmental Education: Natural playgrounds provide valuable opportunities for children to learn about the environment, ecosystems, and sustainability. Environmental Stewardship: Greater appreciation for nature and a sense of responsibility toward protecting the environment is learned through biodiversity, conservation, recycling, composting, and renewable energy in the context of real-world ecosystems. Holistic Development: Exploration promotes physical health, gross motor skills, and sensory development, and improvesmental well-being, reduces stress, and enhances cognitive abilities. Outdoor Learning Spaces: Lessons and experiments in science, ecology, biology, math, geography, visual and language arts, and environmental studies promote curiosity, exploration, and hands-on discovery. Seasonal Changes: Observing nature’s transformation, such as variations in plant growth, animal behavior, weather patterns, and natural phenomena (leaf color changes and animal migration). Increased Social Interaction & Cooperation: Natural playgrounds often feature open-ended play spaces that encourage social interaction, collaboration, and teamwork among children. Activities like building forts, exploring trails, and playing group games promote communication, cooperation, and empathy. Through hands-on experiences with plants, animals, and natural materials, children can develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the natural world. BENEFITS of NATURAL PLAYGROUNDS
SYNTHETIC GRASS THIS VS. THAT Playground Surface Temperature Source: Green Schoolyards America URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT Although temperatures regularly reach 80 degrees or above in Novato from April-October, NUSD can protect students from excess heat and keep them playing outdoors by investing in natural playgrounds with abundant canopy cover. As temperatures rise, schools have an opportunity to adapt in ways that best support learning and physical activity. Natural playgrounds present an ideal solution by creating cooler and safer play areas for our students. The materials chosen today for playgrounds will have an impact on students for years to come. SYNTHETIC MATERIALS Create Microclimates Within A Climate On a sunny, 81 degree day, rubber playgrounds can reach temperatures of 132 degrees, while asphalt can reach 107 degrees raising concerns about the Urban Heat Island Effect. “California is heading into a hotter, drier future and extreme heat will only become more dangerous. We’re taking action to protect our kids — especially in underserved communities — from hotter temperatures with our best defense, nature.” ~ Gavin Newsom RUBBER SURFACE BUILDING RESILIENCE TO INCREASING HEAT As it has become clear that synthetic materials, like turf and rubber surfaces, raise both the surface and surrounding temperatures (in addition to containing forever chemicals linked to cancer and other diseases), cities have begun restricting or banning their use.
Math students in 4th and 5th grades are re-designing a courtyard at their very own school, Rancho Elementary, where they are learning about engineering design by mapping and planning the space, as well as practicing presentation skills to communicate their designs to school and district staff. They are also gaining an appreciation for math, learning about real-world problem solving, and how to advocate for the sustainable changes that they want to see at their school. The student-driven plans for Rancho Elementary’s new courtyard. plot sketchup schematic Students build their understanding, confidence and ownership when engaged in the planning, design and on-going maintenance of their green schoolyard. They survey their school grounds, research concepts and solutions, generate ideas, and participate in teacher-led conversations. Using grade-specific standards-based curriculum, they also develop proposals and implement action plans to install shade trees and native plants, create vegetable and rain gardens, perform watering, mulching, pruning, monitoring, and harvesting. By actively participating in the aspects of maintaining their green schoolyard, students also develop and learn essential life, executive function and socialemotional skills. An empowering approach to climate science, stewardship, and protecting biodiversity! NOVATO STUDENTS LEADING THE WAY GREEN SCHOOLYARD PLANNING & DESIGN
....................................................................................................................................................................................... www.sustainablemarinschools.org [email protected] This material is based upon work funded by a state initiative through the California Volunteers Office of the Governor. Opinions or points of view expressed in this document are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the official position of, or a position that is endorsed by AmeriCorps. Sources: Green Schoolyards of America Schoolyard Forest Design, Schoolyard Forest Design Lecture Series, Introducing the California Schoolyard Forest System, Community of Practice for Schoolyard Forests, Living Schoolyards Act Lecture Series, Benefits of Green Schoolyard Forests, Taking Green Schoolyard Forests to Scale www.greenschoolyards.org Ten Strands A Vision for Green Schoolyards Across California www.tenstrands.org Childrens Environmental Health Network Playground Surfaces www.cehn.org Grounds for Play What is A Natural Playground www.groundsforplay.com Magical Bridges Foundation www.magicalbridge.org Weather Underground City of Novato Weather History www.wunderground.com/history American Academy of Pediatirics Protecting Children From Extreme Heat www.healthychildren.org Climate Central Heat Index Danger Zones www.climatecentral.org California Natural Resources Agency Protecting Californians From Extreme Heat: A State Action Plan to Build Community Resilience - 2022 Extreme Heat Action Plan www.resources.ca.gov FOLLOW US! @sustainablemarinschools1 @sustainable_marin_schools NATURAL PLAYGROUNDS OUTDOOR PLAY & LEARNING SPACES Places to Inspire, Grow, Flourish & Blossom VOLUNTEER WITH US! ..................................................................................................... Launched in June 2022, the California Schoolyard Forest System℠ is the first state-led under the National Schoolyard Forest System,℠ a decades-long nationwide initiative to increase “child-accessible tree canopy” on public school grounds, and to directly shade and protect PreK-12 students from extreme heat and rising temperatures due to climate change. Schoolyard forest systems acorss the U.S. will be collaboratively established with local partner organizations and state agencies. In California, the movement is a collaboration between the Department of Education, Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire), nonprofits (Green Schoolyards America and Ten Strands), school districts, and county offices of education. CALIFORNIA SCHOOLYARD FOREST SYSTEM℠ Introduced in 2023 in both the House and Senate, the groundbreaking bill directs the U.S. Department of Education to award grants to eligible entities (e.g., local educational agencies) for planning, designing and constructing outdoor learning spaces on school grounds that are dedicated to: Meeting or conducting curriculum-tied activities; Outdoor classrooms with seating and tables for students and teachers to meet regularly; or A place used when the need arises to take learning outdoors. The Department of Education must also maintain a clearinghouse that provides specified information about state and local entities with expertise in outdoor learning spaces and environmental education. LIVING SCHOOLYARD ACT (S1538)