Lois Hole students got a barnyard surprise this month when a bale-based playground popped up at their school.
Lois E. Hole Elementary students came back from their one week of at-home learning following the Christmas holiday to discover their school had gained a straw bale playground.
Alberta’s Grade 7-12 students switched to at-home learning Nov. 30 last year in response to burgeoning COVID-19 case numbers. Elementary students spent the first week after Christmas learning from home for the same reason. All grades resumed in-class instruction on Jan. 11.
Students have had to play in designated parts of the school yard during recess since the start of the pandemic to reduce the spread of COVID-19, said vice-principal Tammy Schepens. That meant students at Lois Hole sometimes didn’t get to use the playground during recess, as the school had just two sets of playground equipment.
School staffers got some rectangular straw bales from a farm near Morinville and constructed three play areas with them while students were learning from home. When students returned to class on Jan. 11, they found a straw-based maze, floor-hockey zone, and parkour course/obstacle zone waiting for them.
“The kids were thrilled with it,” Schepens said, noting he headed home each day covered with straw.
“It was actually surprising how enjoyable it was for them.”
Schepens said the pop-up playgrounds lasted maybe a week before the kids realized they could rearrange and pull apart the bales, allowing them to build little huts and straw piles in which to hop and hide. Students swept up and bagged the straw during the week of Jan. 20 so it could be donated to a local barn.
Schepens said she wasn’t sure if the straw bales would return.
