The Playground
A scrubby surface of play reimagined. The playground.
Eyota’s playground.
“This is not-how DO you play.
This is-just play. ”
The wish list: to engage the children in various movement of play, to move the body, ignite the mind and unite the children in forms of game.
From follow the Leader around the activity loop, balancing walking along the lines and running the bases around the lot to playing tag around the safety bases. This imaginative space sparked was sparked with color.
There were seven zones in the project. Basketball courts, Quad Scotch, Follow Me, Four Square, the Movement Activity Loop, line-up squares and running bases.
The activity loop:
Perhaps one of the most challenging part of the project.
Featured “Don't break the ice” an intricate array of shattered glass in two tones of blue paint where you step between the lines from end to end on the 16 foot long span. Running basses for jumping jacks and squats.
My personal favorite, the foot prints. Whimsical footprints marking the direction and spacing of the jumps.
Another serviceable area of the playground was requested by the teachers, red squares for the children to line up on. While extremely functional for the morning they became a lily pads islands for the kids to bound merely across.
Basketball courts:
This one's a must in the project-it took a specialized template purchase from Amazon and patience of a saint to line it up and install it correctly.
Quad scotch:
Not just one person but teams of people race from edge to edge corner to corner on color-coded squares.
Follow me:
a game where one is the leader and others mimic the movements.
Foursquare:
This one's easy however made to fit within 8 foot squares there was a
2 foot interior boarder to add to the challenge.
This idea seems easy but took aerial views and measurements of the lot with some guesstimate planning. I have to say “guesstimate” as everything was being chalked out things started shifting around to allow for adequate movement space between the activity zones. It's not a 3 foot rule as a kitchen would use in a workspace but needed close to six-eight feet and more between each of the areas.
Scout volunteers racked up their community hours on site during a beautiful evening. Children over the ages of 8 are able to help with easy tasks.
Let's talk about the paint templates.
As a large format designer in the sign industry it was easy to create custom paint templates produced locally. Integrated with alignment keys these templates were used repeatedly throughout the process. It's good to know what these templates must be stored with special care, flat. Between each use they should also be cleaned off as best as possible.
About that paint.
Purchased locally, the paint managers and I at Home Depot and Sherwin-Williams have a great relationship after this experience. Inverted Commercial striping paint was critical for the basketball courts and don't break the ice. All other commercial concrete roll on paint was mixed specially for this project. Common colors handicap blue, white and yellow are readily available. Red, purple green and subtle orange were tricky and a custom mix request. This commercial cement paint will dry in the matter of a few minutes on a hot summer morning on black asphalt.
Let's talk about the asphalt and prep.
The asphalt was sealed earlier in July and left for several weeks to off-gass. In the video you can see the dynamic duo install team power washing and cleaning the surface prior to painting the large 8 foot tall letters. The step was essential to ensure there were no oils on the surface and the paint will adhere.
How about that install?
Installed over the course of seven days running two shifts. This allows us to rest and the asphalt to cool off from the radiating heat of the high sun on black top surface. Powerwashing the surface was about 2 hours prior to the beginning of the project. Shifts were run in the morning from 10:00 am until approximately 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Evening shifts ran from 7:00 pm -8:30 pm. Night shifts were talking and prepping for the next morning paint install. As you can see much of these elements within the video takes teamwork one person to paint and one to hold the template and assist. Chalking and measuring takes three people.
Materials:
Concrete paint, 1 gallon per color
Inverted Striping Paint, Qty 4
Basketball courts purchased from Amazon <link>
Paint trays, small one per color, Qty 7
Small Rollers
MDF plywood 4x8 sheets, qty 2
Rags, Small swimming pool, qty 2
Jumping Template, custom designed and locally produced.
Take away points to note (the fine print):
Volunteers will be your best friends
Areas of this paint lasted well past two years of use. Heavy use areas and standing water will Break down the paint faster.
Always plan for paint spills happens-hence the swimming pools used to carry all the gear.
Will this project happen again?
Maybe, hands down the best memory, kids on the sidelines watching the paint process and dry for the quad scotch. Then when complete they raced to the edge to test it again and again.