The project is designed to enrich teaching and create a more enjoyable classroom for students and teachers, through play. Transferring activities to the outside areas, teachers are able to deal with many of the demands of present –day teaching. They are required to design activities that lend themselves to multiple intelligences, motivate children or encourage the researcher- instinct of the students. All of which is made easier in an exterior, more attractive and pleasant environment instead of in the normal classroom environment.
The purpose of the ‘Flipped Playground’ is to convert an area which is normally intended for play and leisure-time, into a space that is more dynamic and provides opportunities for more creative activity, while still meeting the objectives of the curriculum.
Some examples of the games included in the playground are;
- ‘Twister’ – a square of geometric shapes – which lends itself to many uses such as the recognition of shapes, colours and the creation of more abstract tasks such as the recognition of symmetry or recognising mathematical or scientific patterns.
- ‘Hopscotch’ – another traditional game, can be used for science activities; the life cycle of the plant or animal world, the study of the states of matter etc.
- A musical stave, mathematical shapes, measurements, angles, maps etc
- Floor plans for houses.
- Metric measurements and other units of measure.
In addition to all the games, we must not forget the advantages of working outdoors, in a more relaxed atmosphere; environments which are necessary for true, permanent learning. Students can move around more freely, talk to each other, draw or carry out investigations – conditions which help to reduce conflicts or frustration and at the same time allow more healthy and fun learning.