Two tips for principals who have hired contractors to spruce up their school playgrounds
If you're a school principal and you have decided to use a general contractor's services to help you spruce up your school's playground, you might find this advice helpful.
Be both creative and practical when the time comes to use their school line marking equipment
If the playground is currently a mass of plain tarmac or concrete, then you should have the contractor use their school line marking equipment on it. With a little bit of creative and practical planning, you could add lines to the playground that could make it safer, more functional and more fun for the schoolchildren to use.
For example, if you would like to encourage the children to be more active during their breaks, you could have the contractor use the line marker to paint running track lines around the playground's edges; this would provide the children who want to do a bit of running at lunch with a clear route and would ensure that they do not bump into and bother the other students who are not partaking in this activity. You could also use the line marker to make a hopscotch grid.
Additionally, you may need to get the contractor to use this equipment to add some practical features to the playground. For example, you might want to have them paint an arrow in a bright colour which points to the playground's rubbish and recycling bins if lots of the children have been littering and you want to remind them to dispose of their refuse responsibly. This will not only keep the playground looking good but will also lower the school janitor's workload and reduce the frequency with which the schoolchildren trip over rubbish that's been left on the ground. Speak with a professional who provides school line marking services to learn more.
Set up a vegetable patch in a raised bed on the playground
You might also want to have the contractor help you build a large planter box, in which you can set up a vegetable patch and then place this somewhere in the playground. The reason for this is that a lot of children enjoy the process of gardening and watching seeds transform into plants. In addition to being entertaining, growing vegetables is a very educational and healthy activity as it not only teaches children how to grow their own food but also requires them to be physically active (as tending a vegetable garden involves many activities).
If you set up a vegetable patch in the playground and create a rota that assigns one gardening task every week to each student who wants to participate in this project, you should be able to create a flourishing vegetable garden that will provide the schoolchildren with an active learning experience that will make their lunchtimes a lot more interesting.