Learn-Move-Play-Ground III
The third Learn-Move-Play-Ground took place in one school, from May until June 2014. During this time, architecture students from public and private universities in Cairo worked together with the children, teachers and team to realise a new playing landscape in the courtyard of the Asma Bint Ali Bakr primary school in the area of Ain Shams. The area was choose in cooperation with the Cairo office of UNHCR, partner and sponsor of the project, because of the high density of Syrian refugees.
In the school, a group of children (Syrians and Egyptians) participated to the participatory workshop to define the design and implement the playground. To easily communicate with the children, they were asked to produce a model where they presented a situation taken out from their "perfect day". In addition to this, we asked the children to explain how do they use their courtyard: Where do the girls usual meet? Who is using the big empty space in the middle? Where the football matches take place? Who is supervising the children and from were?
To sum up, the aims of LMPG III were:
- Improve the outdoor quality of a school playground through participation of the children, teachers and community (Egyptian and Syrian);
- Forster communication, acceptance, intercultural exchange through the joint participation in designing and building of the playground;
- Motivate the school staff to use of the outdoor spaces and the new playground for teaching and learning through playing;
- Develop in the school staff - through the participation in the design and implementation - a direct responsibility for the long-term maintenance of the playground, moreover technically coaching the eventual necessary repairs.
The teachers were also involved in a participatory discussion focused at developing ideas about how to integrate the playground in the teaching activities, and in other free-time actions to facilitate the movement and role plays of the children, and thus foster integration.
Images and Plans
