Students enjoy Imagination Playground

Photo by Amber Sisemore Students from Amber Sisemore’s second-grade classroom posed in a cozy cave they created from non-toxic foam building blocks of the Imagination Playground.
Photo by Amber Sisemore Students from Amber Sisemore’s second-grade classroom posed in a cozy cave they created from non-toxic foam building blocks of the Imagination Playground.

GRAVETTE -- Students at Glenn Duffy Elementary School have enjoyed using a special type of playground received earlier this year. The new equipment is called an Imagination Playground and it was obtained at no cost to the school.

"It's different," said Zane Vanderpool, principal at Glenn Duffy. "It's simply a couple of huge boxes with giant blocks that children get to play with at school. These will be used for special events or rewards for individual classrooms."

The blocks are made of a lightweight non-toxic foam so they can be easily moved around. They're soft so children can play with them without injury. They fit together, so the students can create any number of objects. They're limited only by their own imagination.

"Because Imagination Playground is child-directed and open-ended, it encourages self-expression through deep, joyful play," the manufacturer says.

Two students from Amber Sisemore's second grade classroom wrote letters of support when the school applied for the Imagination Playground.

"The students get to use their imagination to build and create anything they want. They really loved it," Sisemore said.

The grant was available through partnerships with KaBoom, Dr. Pepper/Snapple and the Arkansas CW.

Community on 06/17/2015