Pine River Elementary preps for Peaceful Playgrounds

Sixth-grader Brett Cumberland; sixth Tiffany Carlson; fourth-grader Cody Booth and eighth-grader Arley Lefebvre volunteered to help paint the new Peaceful Playground.

Eager elementary students skipping back to Pine River-Backus this fall will be able to extend their skipping - and hopping - to the playground at recess.

PR-B's Peaceful Playgrounds - a variety of colorful blacktop games including hopscotch, foursquare, shuffleboard, beanbag toss and more - will be ready for recess in time for the first day of school.

Peaceful Playgrounds - based in California - has a nationwide following of elementary schools (including PR-B) utilizing their playground blueprints, stencils, training and activity guides to promote "peaceful and productive" playtime.

And, with common sets of rules, the students will be able to play together, minimizing conflict.

Denise Koring, PR-B's youth and family services coordinator, rounded up volunteers last week to fill in outlines for a number of blacktop games at the elementary playground.

Koring said that Sherwin-Williams donated paint and Gardiner's Hardware donated painting supplies for the playground.

The Peaceful Playground equipment includes cones for soccer and flag football; flag football pinnies; kickball's and bases; basketballs; hula-hoops; Frisbee discs, jump ropes; bean bags; sidewalk chalk; wiffle balls and scoops; and equipment for tetherball.

Students raised approximately $5,000 for their Peaceful Playground through year-end fundraisers, Koring said.

Kemp's milk caps, Campbell's Labels and General Mills Box Tops for Education also contributed to the fundraising effort.

Koring will meet with the school staff during in-service for Peaceful Playground training so that everyone knows the rules and how all the games are played.

Students will be given three choices when there is a disagreement on the playground: walk away; rock-paper-scissors to settle the argument; or get an adult for help.

Playground monitors will also have laminated copies of the rules for reference, Koring explained.