New Playground Equipment Greets Happy Hollow Students

Students at had new classrooms, new teachers and, thanks to the school’s PTO, new playground equipment ready to greet them when they headed back to school Sept. 6.

Two new pieces of equipment, a sky-rail climber and pods, were installed on Happy Hollow’s playground over the summer break. The sky-rail climber adds a new option in play equipment and the pods replace a piece of equipment principal Jim Lee said simply had to go.

“The trolley was just dangerous,” said Lee, talking about the equipment replaced by the pods. The trolley was a sort of zip-line that allowed kids to hang from handlebars and glide from one side of the structure to the other.

“It was an older one; kids kept getting hurt on it,” Lee said. “The equipment probably isn’t dangerous itself, but in a playground situation – we had kids go halfway across and then they’d fall. We had some broken bones. It just was not good.”

Lee said the PTO provided funds from its “wish list” program for the trolley to be replaced. There was then some money left over to add an additional structure to the playground, the sky-rail climber.

“The wish list is a wonderful thing that the PTO does here,” Lee said, adding that wish list funds have purchased pianos and various other items. “It’s a phenomenal support for the school. It’s the way the parents support the schools in saying, ‘What do you wish that you could have?’”

Lee said the school worked with Nancy White at O’Brien and Sons to choose appropriate equipment. White, Lee said, was able to provide guidance on what pieces of equipment would be both safe and “developmentally good” for the students.

The two pieces selected are particularly good at developing kids’ upper body strength, Lee said. It’s a muscle group that most playground equipment neglects, but that elementary-age children need particular help in developing.

Perhaps even more importantly, the pieces are designed to entertain the children while helping them develop coordination and other skills.

“What we want to do is encourage creative play,” Lee said. “Kids do a lot more creative play when they’re on a structure. As we get more kids here, we want to have more options for the kids.”

Recess and lunchtime, Lee explained, are two of the most important parts of the day for elementary students. It’s during these times that students are able to practice the social competency skills taught in classrooms as well as develop their gross motor skills.

Plus, they are most likely the first parts of the day a child talks about when a parent asks, “How was your day?” Lee said.

“Recess or lunch can make or break a day,” he said. “We recognize that it’s a really important time in kids’ day.”