These kids revamped their schoolyard. It could be a model to make cities healthier

[Jilly_in_VA]

Late morning on a sunny weekday near the end of the school year, a group of kids shot baskets into a shiny orange hoop in the schoolyard at the Add B. Anderson School in West Philadelphia. A year ago, all these kids had to shoot into was a trash can they would drag outside, one teacher tells me.

"That yard was literally just concrete," says Laurena Zeller, the principal at Anderson. "Broken concrete with a little weeds in between."

Now, the space has been transformed. There's a running track, a basketball court, picnic tables and lots of cheerful blue, new play equipment. Newly planted trees provide dappled shade. There are also two new rain gardens with colorful flowering plants. They're not just for looks – the gardens also keep storm water from polluting nearby Cobbs Creek and the Schuylkill River.

One second grader says her favorite part doing cartwheels in the new swath of green turf. Before, she says, she would've cut her hands on the concrete.

The revamped schoolyard is part of a nationwide initiative to create more access to green spaces in low-income communities and those of color. The program is run by the Trust for the Public Land, a national nonprofit that aims to make parks and outdoor spaces accessible to everyone.

One second grader says her favorite part doing cartwheels in the new swath of green turf. Before, she says, she would've cut her hands on the concrete.

The revamped schoolyard is part of a nationwide initiative to create more access to green spaces in low-income communities and those of color. The program is run by the Trust for the Public Land, a national nonprofit that aims to make parks and outdoor spaces accessible to everyone.

One of the coolest things about the schoolyard transformation projects is that the renovation process is led by students (with adult supervision, of course). At the Anderson School, which has a majority Black student body, that meant third graders took charge.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/06/17/1182556371/schools-parks-healthy-cities-kids

[rsdsharp]

1. When I was in grade school (long about Cleveland's second administration)

we had quite a lot of playground equipment: two swings, two slides, a merry-go-round, monkey bars, a jungle gym and a basket ball hoop.

The playground itself was grass and dirt, and kids would get dirty. So the powers that be set about to remedy that problem. They covered the playground with asphalt. Asphalt! They left the playground equipment, and there were squares of uncovered ground around the trees, so they could get water.

The kids didn’t get dirty anymore, unless you counted the blood. Sliding into second on asphalt will only happen once. Asphalt is harder than grass when you fall off the monkey bars. And the trees died.

I like this school’s approach better.

[malaise]

2. This is lovely

Rec