Bringing Peaceful Play to the Elementary School Playground

The kindergartners’ eyes grow big as they walk through the door at Cottonwood Elementary in Paola on Tuesday and catch sight of their colorful new playground.

Cottonwood Elementary School kindergartner Shelia Kreusch enjoys the playground’s new colorful hopscotch design during recess Tuesday afternoon.

After lining up along a row of red, yellow and blue shapes surrounding the blacktop, the eager students listen to their teacher, Niki Cash, explain why the playground was painted. The young faces light up with excitement when they hear about all the new games they’ll soon learn how to play.

Once Cash gives them the okay to go play, the students spread across the playground and let their imaginations run wild. Some choose to play on the traditional playground equipment, while others toss balls to each other while standing in the new large colored squares.

Many of the students choose to play hopscotch, while others skip along the squares and count the numbers or read the letters printed on each one.

Cottonwood Elementary teachers and administrators are hoping that same type of friendly, imaginative play will increase with the implementation of the Peaceful Playgrounds program.

A New Type of Recess

Peaceful Playgrounds was implemented by Dr. Melinda Bossenmeyer, who is a former elementary school physical education teacher and principal in southern California. Bossenmeyer has written several books on recess, playgrounds and play, and schools across the country have implemented her Peaceful Playgrounds program.

Cottonwood Principal Janis Grandon said the school had some money to spend thanks to an impressive recent stretch of success in the Kansas Teacher of the Year program. Cottonwood reading teacher Beth Slawson was a finalist for Kansas Teacher of the Year last year, Cottonwood teacher Julie Miller was a finalist the year before that, and Cottonwood teacher Erin Capettini was a state finalist the year before that.

For each finalist, Cottonwood received $1,500, and Grandon said staff was looking for a way to spend it that would benefit as many teachers and students as possible. Peaceful Playgrounds fit the bill, and teachers and volunteers have spent the past few weeks preparing to kick off the program at the beginning of November.

Teachers and community volunteers were busy last week painting the blacktop on the playground using stencil designs provided by Peaceful Playgrounds. The school also received several pieces of game equipment and instructional material about how to implement the program.

Grandon said the idea is to give students a more structured game play experience during recess. Students will learn how to play the games during their physical education classes, and they will then get to choose which one they want to play during recess. Students will still have the freedom to play on the traditional playground equipment if they want, but there also will be a variety of new game options for them on the blacktop.

Exercise is an important part of the program, and Grandon said teachers are encouraged to no longer withhold recess as a punishment for bad behavior. Instead, Grandon said Cottonwood likely will create new consequences, such as taking away a student’s freedom to choose which game he or she wants to play during recess.

Paola USD 368 physical education instructors James King and Dallas Armbruster are both on board with the new program, and they helped paint Cottonwood’s playground last week.

Finding Peace on the Playground

The program is more than just game play and exercise, though. Grandon said it also has a big focus on peaceful conflict resolution. She’s hoping Cottonwood will see success similar to Trojan Elementary in Osawatomie.

Trojan Principal Jeff White said Peaceful Playgrounds was implemented last year thanks to funding from a grant. One of his favorite aspects of the program is the emphasis on “walk, talk or rock” for conflict resolution. The phrase refers to walking away and getting help from a teacher, talking it out together with the other student or doing rock, paper, scissors to resolve disputes during a game.

“It’s just been wonderful,” White said. “Disciplinary office referrals are down about 80 percent.”

White said with more than 100 different games, the Peaceful Playgrounds program encourages the children to try something new each time they head out to recess. The variety has helped keep the lines down to play popular games like tether ball and four-square, which used to be some of the only games played, White said.

The students at Trojan also have the option to play on playground equipment, but White said almost all of them choose to play the games on the blacktop with more defined rules. It helps prove White’s theory that children are happier and healthier with organization in their lives.

“I’ve always said kids enjoy structure,” White said. “Most people don’t think they do.”