Discovering Wildlife Through Footprint Playground Markings
Updated on: October 8, 2024
At Fun & Active Playgrounds, we like to keep learning purposeful and enjoyable. Incorporating footprint markings into your playground can spark curiosity about wildlife, encourage physical activity, and encourage a connection to nature. Between urbanisation and our busy contemporary lives, it’s easy to forget the range of benefits wildlife has for our children.
What Are Footprint Playground Markings?
Footprint playground markings are colourful designs of animal tracks placed on playground surfaces. The thermoplastic playground markings can range from paw prints of a lion to the webbed tracks of a duck, inviting children to follow the trails as they explore and play. In addition to being a playful feature, they provide a unique opportunity for children to learn about wildlife in a hands-on, interactive way.
What are the benefits of footprint playground markings?
Children naturally love to jump, hop, and run, and these markings can guide them through playful activities while teaching them about different animals.
Our frog footprints encourage children to hop like frogs from one print to the next. Or our cat footprints could involve creeping and balancing as children follow the pawprints across the playground. These types of activities help develop motor skills, balance and coordination, whilst also deepening children’s knowledge about the animals they’re mimicking.
Footprints can also be placed in areas where the children need to line up after playtime or where they need to walk between lessons. Each animal footprint will provide pupils with clear routes and directions to move around the school building and outdoor areas, ensuring they travel in an safe and orderly fashion.
There’s a number of reasons why wildlife footprint playground markings have many benefits for children’s development – let’s take a closer look at the advantages interactions with wildlife can have for our children.
1. Greater environmental understanding
When children engage with wildlife they learn valuable lessons about the world around them. Animals can teach us so much about ourselves and others.
Why not add informational signs or prompts near the markings, offering facts about the animals, their habitats and how children can help protect them?
2. Increased empathy:
As children make important connections between themselves and others they’ll build important levels of empathy that are essential for all areas of life.
The Wildlife Trusts have suggested all children should spend at least one hour in nature every day. They found children’s experiences, after spending time in nature, equipped them with new levels of empathy and skills that the children themselves felt would aid their academic achievement, relationships and confidence.
3. Opportunities for imaginative play:
Footprint playground markings also open up a world of imaginative play. As children trace the path of animal tracks, they might pretend they’re explorers on a jungle safari or detectives solving the mystery of which animal left the prints. This imaginative play encourages creativity, storytelling, and problem-solving, all whilst keeping children active and engaged.
Incorporating wildlife footprint markings into playgrounds is a fantastic way to combine fun, education, and movement. These markings can introduce children to the wonders of wildlife, inspire curiosity about nature, and help build a love for learning – all while promoting physical activity and creativity.
Contact us today to learn how we can create custom wildlife footprint markings for your playground. Your pupils will love exploring the world of animals right under their feet!
Rebecca Occomore
Rebecca is a seasoned marketing professional with over 10 years of experience. With a diverse background in copywriting and social media management across various industries and sectors; Rebecca brings a wealth of knowledge and creativity to her work.
Rebecca is passionate about Fun & Active's mission to positively impact UK outdoor play environments through advanced playground marking designs and services. Through her dedication and expertise, she strives to create engaging and innovative content that inspires children to play, learn, and thrive in their outdoor environments.
