Sustainable Schoolyard: The American Planning Association transforms New Orleans’ City Park
As you know, I’m a big fan of gardening as a tool of youth engagement and education. That’s why I was so proud of the work of two of my colleagues – Rich Lukas and Ryan Scherzinger, who installed a sustainable schoolyard exhibit in New Orleans’ City Park this past April. The sustainable schoolyard is based on a model that began at Brent Elementary School in Washington, DC. The New Orleans exhibit, which had a kickoff on April 9, will remain as one of the park’s permanent installations for the foreseeable future.
Signage is a great educational tool that can be found throughout the exhibit.
The schoolyard, which was sponsored by APA and the National Association of Realtors, has several different “teaching moments” throughout the space. These include an exhibit on edible gardens, a demonstration of square foot gardening (sponsored by LSU Extension), a functioning compost pile, and exhibits on water storage and recycling. There are also what I like to refer to as “fun zones” – these include a bean pole tee-pee, and an outdoor classroom make out of tree stumps.
A clear composting bin shows students how food waste turns into healthy soil.
Children can touch the compost pile behind the exhibit, to get their hands dirty.
The edible garden exhibit.
Rich and Ryan designed and built the entire exhibit (with a little help from Caroline and myself right at the end). Congrats to a job well done, guys!
For more pictures, click here.
[...] in the City This morning, I posted about my employer (the American Planning Association’s) Sustainable Schoolyard initiative. Recognizing the ability to impart knowledge to the next generation, my colleagues designed and [...]
So glad gardening is being passed on to the next generation! Some of my happiest memories include gradening with my Dad and Grandpa. Hats off to the APA!
[...] next week, so the posts might be a little more sparse. I’ll try to check out how the Sustainable Schoolyard is doing and post some [...]
[...] you know, I am a big proponent of Sustainable Schoolyards (such as the projects my organization, APA, installed in Washington DC and New Orleans), gardening [...]