While you may think kids in their middle school years are too old to play, the opposite is true. Middle schoolers need to play just as much as they did when they were younger — they just need stimuli that better suits their age group.
If you’re considering building a playground at your middle school, we’ve got you covered. Our guide will provide tips for designing middle school playgrounds and suggest some age-appropriate playground equipment to consider.
Play is an essential part of kids’ lives, even throughout their preteen years. But play involves more than what can be observed among groups of small children. For older kids, play is an opportunity to engage their interests on their own terms.
The three foundational elements of free play include:
The child must be able to exercise all of the above faculties free from pressure or stress. This idea translates into the classroom, where teachers can better facilitate learning by incorporating elements of play into their lessons.
This is especially important for middle school kids, who are experiencing a time of dramatic change and high stress. Unfortunately, kids today often lack opportunities to engage in free play, resulting in adverse effects like decreased mental and overall health.
Here’s why middle school kids need safe places to play:
Providing a safe space for kids to engage in playful physical activity encourages them to get moving, which is essential for their well-being.
Equipment that presents preteens with age-appropriate physical challenges helps them build muscular strength and endurance beyond what they already developed in their early childhood years. Other benefits include improved cardiorespiratory fitness, increased bone density and a reduced risk of developing chronic conditions such as heart disease and Type 2 Diabetes.
Physical activity is also known to contribute to improved mental health. Studies have shown that, on average, adolescents who engage in regular exercise experience lower levels of depression and anxiety and higher levels of self-esteem and body positivity than their sedentary peers.
Middle school is when kids really start making decisions for themselves, which is vital for learning how to function as an individual.
In correlation with this decrease in free play, middle school educators have noticed an increase in children lacking executive functioning skills such as mental flexibility, multitasking and self-control. Instead, kids spend more time participating in preprogrammed activities and screen time, with their only opportunities for free play arising late at night.
By providing a safe, low-stakes environment where kids can challenge themselves, you allow them to exercise their minds along with their bodies in fun, interesting ways.
Play spaces provide a safe area for kids to spend time with their friends, which is typically limited during classes and extracurricular activities. By middle school, kids have already developed many of the basic social skills they need to successfully navigate the world.
However, interacting with their peers on the playground provides kids with many opportunities to further hone critical social skills like patience, sharing, communication and cooperation. Social interactions with kids of different backgrounds and abilities help middle schoolers become more accepting and supportive of diversity, which is critical for navigating the diverse world we live in.
Adolescence is a difficult time for many kids. At this age, kids begin focusing more intensely on academic and adult-directed extracurricular activities, reducing the amount of free time they have to pursue their own interests. With less chance to exercise free choice, kids can easily feel stifled, contributing to mental health challenges like anxiety and depression.
Free choice is one of the foundational elements of play, where kids have complete freedom to choose the activities they participate in. Whether kids play on their own or team up with classmates, they grow emotionally.
Letting kids exercise this choice gives them a chance to:
When designing a playground for older students, you need to consider your student body’s needs and the playground’s overall aesthetic. These tips can help guide you through the design process to create an exciting, attractive playground:
The best playgrounds are designed with inclusive play in mind from the beginning. Keep in mind that inclusive playgrounds are a separate category from accessible playgrounds. All playground equipment must legally comply with the standards established in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which makes them accessible to kids with disabilities. However, meeting these standards does not necessarily mean the playground is inclusive.
An inclusive playground goes beyond ADA standards to provide equipment that lets kids with varying emotional, intellectual and mobility needs play together. By considering how you will incorporate inclusivity from the start of your project, you’ll better meet your student body’s needs.
By breaking your playground into distinct sections, you can provide a space for kids of all ability levels to play. Here are several suggestions for how to distinguish between play areas:
Middle school kids play in many different ways. Designing a playground that allows for these different types of play gives kids the opportunity to play at their own speed and pursue their interests.
Consider the following types of play when choosing equipment:
Site furnishings are the finishing touch on any playground. They make playgrounds more comfortable for kids, further encouraging them to play and spend time outside.
Consider the following options for your campus:
Playgrounds for schools need to have equipment and activities designed for school-aged children, and if you have children from kindergarten through teenage years, you may need separate play areas for each to ensure safety and adequate challenges. Activities and school play equipment that is safe and fun for older kids may not be appropriate for younger children.
Consider pour-in-place, loose-fill, and other surfacing options. All have their advantages when it comes to safety and budget, and all can prevent injuries caused by impact and falls from playground equipment.
Another consideration is shade. Shade can protect children from burns and can also keep your school-age playground equipment from getting too hot, which can help protect your investment.
Safety is a top consideration for school-age playgrounds, so you will want to make sure the equipment you buy meets or exceeds standards established by organizations that set standards and create regulations for commercial playground equipment. These organizations may include the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Canadian Standards Association (CSA), American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM), and many others.
Even the safest school playgrounds need careful supervision to ensure safety. You can help by considering playground design elements to make caregivers’ jobs easier. Make sure each piece of playground equipment can be clearly seen and is visible to someone standing outside the playground. Also, provide site furnishings such as benches so teachers and other adults can supervise children comfortably.
An inclusive playground is one that is accessible to children of all mobility levels and engaging for children with varying abilities. Building inclusiveness into your playground means creating enough space around playground equipment so caregivers can help children who need it. It can also mean creating quiet and cozy spaces for children who may need quiet time to decompress. When considering design, you will want to ensure children of different abilities can use the equipment.
Middle school students need playground equipment that is more mentally and physically challenging than equipment for elementary schoolers.
Consider incorporating some of the following elements in your middle school playground design:
Outdoor fitness equipment gives older kids an opportunity to move their bodies of their own free will. It can also double as equipment for physical education during class time, further maximizing its value for the school.
Consider equipment geared toward school-age kids, such as:
If you plan to include outdoor fitness equipment in your design, be sure to keep playground zones in mind. Establish fitness areas separate from your main playground equipment to better enforce proper equipment usage. Adding signage explaining the different areas can make the distinction clearer for kids.
At Playworld, we’re dedicated to creating enriching play spaces for kids of all abilities. Our school-age playground equipment is designed to promote social interaction, encourage healthy habits and challenge kids physically and mentally.
If you’re in the process of building a playground for middle school students, we’re here to help. Contact us online or request a quote today for more information.