Playgrounds

Welcome back PlacenTinkers! We kicked off our 2021-2022 PlacenTinker makerspace by reading The Rulers of the Playground by Joseph Kuefler. An amusing story that shows being ruler of the playground is less fun than playing together and sharing.

Using the book as a jumping off point, our Placentinkers were charged with designing a prototype of a playground using empathy for the students who will play there. The supplies were cardboard, pipe cleaners, craft sticks, pom poms and a LOT of tape.

As always, collaboration and design thinking was key - we had to agree upon a plan before building could begin. We talked about empathy and how we might design a structure based on the students’ favorite playground areas: climbing wall, sand pit, swings etc.

Halfway through the process, we had to adjust our designs when it was announced that new students were joining our playgrounds.

Adapting and tweaking our already-formulated plans was no easy task! We then shared our revised prototypes and discussed how empathy impacted our designs.

In the end our playgrounds were designed to ensure children of all abilities and interests can play together!