How to make a park more fun? Ask the kids

When they went looking for consultants to help make a park more fun for kids, Gig Harbor city staff called in some real experts — actual kids.

The children are students at from Discovery Elementary School, ranging from second to fifth-graders. They’ve been studying the Veterans’ Memorial Park and its layout in their classes for several weeks.

Last Thursday, in a field trip to the park, about 40 kids got a chance to scope out the site firsthand.

From their classroom research, they were already well-versed on such things as delivery and installation costs of play equipment, terrain, safety and environmental considerations.

Asked for suggestions, their eyes lit up.

“A spiderweb net would be fun,” said one.

“I don’t know if this meets the safety, but maybe ziplines,” said another.

These ideas were exactly what city staff were looking for.

Officially known as Kenneth Leo Marvin Memorial Park, the 5.57 acre park is located at 3580 50th Street Court in the Midway neighborhood. It’s mostly flat and ringed by trees, with a soccer field, a restroom and a covered picnic area with tables. It has one play structure, a sort of jungle gym with ladders, climbing bars and a slide.

The city has allocated $250,000 for park improvements, and that’s where the kids come in.

The goal is simple: add playground equipment for children ages five to 12.

The approach is unique: let the children who will be using the playground, create the layout and choose the equipment at the park.

“We want to make sure we have experts like you to make sure this playground is as cool and fun as possible,” City Council member Robin Denson told the students.

Classroom project

Lauren Jarvis and Brenda Ortiz, two Discovery Elementary teachers who focus on problem-based learning, have been working with their PACE students and incorporating this project into their normal classes.

“Anytime a student can make a personal connection with their learning, it will be really valuable,” Ms. Jarvis said. “This will teach them much more than us just handing them a worksheet.”

PACE stands for Program of Accelerated Education. It’s a program for students given special attention to encourage them to complete all 12 years of education.

During their 90-minute visit to the park, the kids rotated in groups of five through a sort of round-robin with ten members of city staff who offered tips and hints on what they need to consider when designing this park.

They heard snippets of information from a city council member, engineers, a police officer, a stormwater technician, and many others.

After talking with an officer about safety in a park, and the kids suggested motion lights and video cameras. They talked to a stormwater expert about how water goes downhill, and absorbed the lesson that the play equipment needed to be on high ground. Denson, the city council member, told them how quickly $250,000 can go and how expensive it can be to make playground equipment environmentally friendly.

Among the experts were Paul Rice, the city’s building officer, who has worked on 15 different parks, Brie Ellis, a stormwater technician, Officer Jarab Daniel from the police department, and Kelsey Bujacich, granddaughter of the World War II Marine veteran for whom the park is named.

The experience was “a great opportunity to see the people who work in our community,” Ms. Jarvis said. “Our kids go to parks, they go to these places and they got to meet the people who provide and build these opportunities for them.”

Three choices, and a vote

Now, for the students, it’s back to the classroom, and the drawing board.

The students will narrow down their layout of the park to three choices, and then create a mini movie or commercial arguing why a particular choice is the best. These will be played to each classroom in Discovery Elementary and voted upon. The winning layout will be brought to council in March for approval.

“It fits perfect because in project-based learning we are doing opinion writing right now,” Ms. Jarvis said. “They are trying to sell their opinion on what they think the city park should be.”

(Spoiler alert: It just may just coincidentally happen that the three designs the students choose, with the help of their teachers, come pretty close to designs already approved and budgeted by city staff.)

The new play equipment could be installed in time for the next school year, said Nicole Jones-Vogel, the city’s parks manager.

“The students will provide us their recommendation at the end of February, and then we will go to council in March to get a contract in place,” Jones-Vogel said. “We hope to do a ribbon cutting in the fall, and bring this same group of kids out here.”

Denson said the kids who helped design the park can play on for years, and be proud of forever.

“These kids, as they grow up in this community, eventually raise their own kids here or come back to visit, they can come to this park and say that they’ve had an impact,” she said. “They’ve helped design the park, which is so exciting.”

This story was originally published February 18, 2020 at 12:00 AM.