Hope Centennial Elementary is Palm Beach County Schools first LEED certified green school. It is a showpiece for the district and a testing ground for new ideas to be incorporated into the construction of future school projects.

When we first met with the district, we presented Playworld’s green initiative to them. We also interviewed the school principal to see what he felt were key factors in a well designed play area. We asked him if he would be interested in seeing some designs which incorporated pieces which could be used as teaching tools with the children.. This peaked his interest and he said he was anxious to see how we would pull that off.

We returned with a design featuring custom graphics appropriate for a school specially designed to be environmentally conscious. The Pre-K area featured graphics banners representing different types of clean, renewable energy sources. There is also a small nature preserve area near the playground. The Kindergarten area incorporated graphics showing the life cycles of the butterfly and the frog—two animals found in the preserve area. The Intermediate playground included a deck panel illustrating the water cycle. The artificial grass surfacing we proposed used 65% recycled material (by weight). It is also permeable, allowing rainwater to filter back into the water table, as opposed to the district’s standard of rubber surfacing over a concrete pad which pushes water to nearby storm drains.

The principal loved the designs and later told me we were the only vendor to present a design which had obvious educational features built into it.

Playmore would love to help you create your own green playground. Contact us!