Four sensory paths have been installed at Muskoka Beachgrove Public School in Gravenhurst.
The paths are the brainchild of the school council and Lisa Salter, the council’s chair. “We’ve been talking as a parent council group for quite a long time on different avenues we could take to improve the school grounds,” she explains.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench in their plans to upgrade the school grounds but, with restrictions lifting, Salter says they’re ready to move forward with some ideas. “One of our baby steps was to do the tarmac,” she says.
“We definitely took the idea of the tarmac with COVID in mind, needing more outdoor play at school,” Salter says.
She explains they were able to get the stencils for the paths and, after a few months of discussion, picked a date when the weather was nice and got to work.
A company was brought in to help the volunteers and a handful of students built the paths.
Salter says the paths are colourful with lots of curves and activities for students to do. “One of the paths, that actually my husband helped me create, is almost an imagination path where you have your first step be a human footprint, then you step into a circle which is a different colour and it presents the idea of stepping out of the circle into another animal, like a duck,” she explains. As the person goes from circle to circle, they have to walk as if they were that animal.
Salter’s sons Kayden, 10, and Lincoln, eight, were two of the students that helped make the path. The pair say they both feel a sense of accomplishment from helping their parents. “It was a lot of fun,” Kayden says.
“I tested one of the paths,” Lincoln adds. “There were no mistakes. We all did it well.”
Students were able to use the paths for the first time Monday.
“The turnout was fantastic and even my boys came home and said they couldn’t believe all of the students that were engaging in the variety of different areas,” Salter says.
Kayden and Lincoln were two of the first students to play on them. “It’s pretty fun,” Lincoln says. He and his brother say they will be spending a lot of time on the paths. “Especially with my friends,” Kayden adds.