Washington Evening Journal
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Playground project moves to phase 2
By Winona Whitaker, Hometown Current
Jan. 7, 2025 9:16 am
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
WILLIAMSBURG — The Williamsburg Kiwanis made a $5,000 donation to further the upgrade of an elementary playground.
Molly Bishop and Kayla Johanson accepted the check for the Williamsburg Parents and Leaders for Students last week.
“The Kiwanis Club is proud to help out with this great community project,” said David Quiram.
PALS are tackling the playground improvements a piece at a time rather than waiting until it has enough money to upgrade it all at one time.
“We’ve done a couple of different phases,” said Bishop.
The first improvement was completed in 2024 and introduced to Mary Welsh Elementary School students this fall.
Williamsburg High School’s industrial arts students built the shed on the playground for kindergarten and first graders. The shed provides storage and holds play materials that students can use to explore their creativity.
Bishop’s Navigation Play partnered with PALS in creating an environment in which children’s imagination can blossom. Play brings people together and is a necessary component of childhood, Bishop says on the Navigation Play website.
The organization believes in child-led play which is free from adult expectations and allows children to choose what to do with items provided. Children make the rules of the games they play and are allowed to take risks and make mistakes.
So the shed contains plastic spools — which the students love — and pieces of plastic gutters with balls the children can roll in gutters and tubes.
“Crates are another one that’s really popular,” said Bishop. The children can draw on the chalkboard or play with pots and pans.
“A lot of kids will … set up a counter with, maybe the crates, and they’ll have a restaurant. They’ll set up a ball run and test it out with the tubes and the gutters,” Bishop said.
“We also just added some winter things as well. Some shovels so they can play in the snow with shovels.”
Phase 1 was funded by Casey’s Cash for Classrooms grants, Bishop said.
PALS is now raising money for Phase 2. “We’re still waiting on a couple of numbers, but we’re looking at over $60,000.”
The playground project started because someone noticed that children in wheelchairs and children using walkers aren’t able to leave the sidewalk.
So the next phase will address accessibility. “We are creating a sidewalk that will go up to a … concrete play area near the shed,” Bishop said. Even children who have difficulty walking will be able to reach the play shed and interact with students who have no disabilities.
The biggest part of cost is the Sway Fun piece of equipment, Bishop said. She thinks of it as a pirate set. It rocks back and forth and has room for a lot of children.
A ramp onto the Sway Fun makes it accessible to children who need wheels to get around. It’s completely inclusive. Great for everybody, Bishop said.
“We’re also adding a communication board for children who might use symbols or pictures to communication,” Bishop said. The playground had a banner with symbols on it, and students used it to communicate, so PALS knows a communication board would be used.
Other sources of funding for Phase 2 were a grant from the Iowa County Community Foundation and a donation from the Schminke family, in memory of their special-needs son Grayson.
The Schminke family is part of the PALS playground committee.
Phase 3 will provide shaded areas on the playground, said Bishop. PALS is applying for grant funding.
“We count on donations and grants.”
PALS has received positive feedback about the first phase of playground improvements, said Bishop. Though Phase 2 requires a lot of money, PALS is optimistic about the timeline.
“We’re really hoping to get some of this stuff done this summer,” Bishop said.
Future fundraisers for the project will be announced on the Williamsburg PALS Facebook page.