Recess at Washington School just became a little more fun.

With no classes scheduled on Oct. 25, the staff scheduled a Community Action Day and achieved a project that was long overdue. Teachers and parents added a splash of color to the school playground.

They painted the blacktop with fun and engaging activities such as four-square, bean bag toss, sensory paths, and a track for bicycle riding.

The project was part of an existing wish list, developed by the teacher committee that sponsors wellness at Washington. Dr. Gabrielle Devlin, Washington’s principal, wanted to empower the staff and asked for their suggestions in order to execute this project. They already had the paint and supplies. All that was needed was a few volunteers from the District 75 PTO, some willing staff members and a few eager children. The work was completed in a couple of hours. But there was quite a bit of thought and strategy that went into planning the project.

The idea was to refresh  the playground blacktop in order to make students more involved and engaged during recess time.

“What we know about students is that the period after they have recess, they perform better on academic tasks. So we want to make sure their recess time is as active as possible with these high-interest activities,” Devlin said.

That would certainly make a few gallons of paint and a couple of hours of work all the more worthwhile.