The site aims to help pupils to develop their understanding of the processes and costs involved in making changes to a school playground. They think about their wishes and dreams, gathering opinions from the school community, researching materials and costs, and the importance of raising money and keeping to a budget.
Whether or not you are actually planning changes to your school playground, the site will give pupils valuable practice in working with financial concepts. The materials also support design and enterprise activities.
Timings
It is estimated that it will take around 5–6 hours to complete all the activities in the module. Please note that this will vary according to how the activities are presented and the age and abilities of your pupils.
The units can be worked through sequentially or be delivered as discrete activities.
Some units are longer than others, and the pupils will probably want to try the Playground planner game in Unit 2 more than once as they try out different design ideas. Allow extra time if you want the pupils to complete the activity sheets or consider using these as homework activities.
There are additional activities in these teacher’s notes and you will need extra time if you are using the module as part of a real-life playground project.