Preventing Obesity by Design

A playground is transformed into an outdoor learning environment!

Building Blocks, a 4-star child care center in Charlotte, NC, was awarded a $2,500 grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) Foundation administered by Smart Start of Mecklenburg County. Mecklenburg County was one of ten counties in North Carolina chosen to receive the Preventing Obesity by Design grant (POD). The grant was designed to encourage physical activity, imagination and natural play in an outdoor learning setting. (Photo to left is a before reconstruction.)

Through this initiative, the center’s backyard playground was transformed into an exceptional outdoor learning environment that encourages active play while learning. Director Stephanie Grennan reports, “We wanted to provide an environment that would introduce the children to the earth and how things grow, to create a hunger in them to eat healthy and challenge them to exercise and encourage interaction”. (Photo to the right is of the same dry creek bed after reconstruction.)

The grant provided opportunities to attend workshops in Raleigh and Chapel Hill on Natural Learning Initiative and Natural Play and Environments, as well as Designing, Building and Programming for playgrounds. Staff met with landscape architects, child psychologists, and education specialists to determine their vision and goals for the outdoor learning environment. (The photo to the left is of the puppet theater.)

This project was truly a community-wide effort. The center scheduled a “Plant A Seed Make a Difference Day” that included over 70 volunteers consisting of parents, grandparents, and community leaders. In addition to the POD grant from the BCBSNC Foundation, Building Blocks also received donations of mulch, rock materials, boulders, lumber, concrete, plants and foliage from community businesses as well as food for their workers. Building Blocks participated in multiple fundraisers selling cookies and desserts in the community which brought community donations to $10,542.00. (The photo to the right is of the backyard before reconstruction.)


The event was educational for staff, children, and their parents as well. One mother had never seen zucchini before and was so fascinated that she stayed to learn and ask questions about the vegetable. That night she cooked zucchini for her family for the first time. (Photo to the left is the backyard during construction of bike path.)

The new outdoor learning environment consists of a dry creek bed with a water pump play area, a bike path, a fruit orchard, multiple arbors, a deck with a roof, a puppet theater, a maze of ornamental grasses, and rain, butterfly, herb, and vegetable gardens. (Photo to right is of finished bike path.)

Grennan is very pleased with how well the children play and interact. She reports it has made a huge difference in how they spend their outdoor time. Building Blocks is now being used as a model for tours and for other centers that would like to create a similar outdoor learning environment. (Photo to left is playground before reconstruction.)



The photo to the left below is during reconstruction where the children are planting. The photo to the right below is of the completed rain garden.