Sensory pathways at Swift Current schools keep students active and engaged
Five elementary schools in Swift Current started the new school year with uniquely designed outdoor sensory pathways to promote play and activity among students.
The project was started by City of Swift Current Community Services as part of the Promoting Healthy Lifestyles in Our Community initiative.
It was carried out in partnership with the Art Gallery of Swift Current, which was responsible for commissioning a local artist to design and paint each sensory pathway.
“Right around COVID we were looking at different opportunities of how we could get kids active and outdoors in a safe environment,” City In Motion Community Facilitator Val Choo-Foo said. “We came across these cool sensory pathways that have been done in other communities.”
The City reached out to the Art Gallery and the schools, and everyone was enthusiastic about the concept.
“The whole idea is that it’s a fun, creative, active way for kids to move when they’re outside,” she explained. “We thought the five elementary or K-8 schools would be a perfect location for them to be. When kids are out at recess or even when they come off the bus or going out to the bus, there’s something where they’re moving along the pathway and they can move their bodies.”
The sensory pathways have multiple benefits for children beyond engaging in physical activity and play.
“One of the huge advantages of these sensory pathways is for young children to practice movement skills,” she said. “Things like hopping and balancing, walking backwards or skipping, and it just makes it a fun way. They don’t realize how much that’s helping their body, especially at school. They get out for a recess, which is a nice break for the brain, and they may want to play games.”
She felt the sensory pathways is a perfect fit with the City’s broader initiative to promote healthy lifestyles.
“We have children and youth that are outdoors and they’ll be active, which promotes a healthy lifestyle,” she said. “It really works on their developmental skills, their movement skills, their gross motor skills too, and it can also help socially, interacting with other kids. It’s a little bit of a break from the stress or maybe anxiety. They can regain their focus before they go back into class and hopefully that will help with their learning.”
Swift Current multimedia artist Chelsea Angell responded to the Art Gallery’s call for submissions in the spring, and she was selected to carry out the work during the summer.
“I love kids and I think creating art and creating games for them is really important,” she said. “That’s what drew me to the project in the first place.”
She was excited to be involved with this project, which was certainly different from her regular work for clients and a great experience.
“I see it as a pretty big deal,” she said. “This is one of the biggest projects I’ve ever done and to be hired by the Art Gallery is just a big honour. … Lately I’ve been seeking bigger projects like murals. So this was just perfect timing for me, something I was wanting to do more of.”
She has been doing client work for over 10 years, varying from tattoo designs to portraits and artwork meant as birthday or Christmas gifts.
“Ever since I was painting a lot in high school, people have been asking me,” she recalled. “I just can’t say no, because I enjoy it.”
She completed two murals before the sensory pathways project. One was a small mural above a doorway on a home’s exterior, and the other was a large mural on a building’s exterior wall at a music festival near Edmonton, which she carried out in partnership with a friend.
Angell recently exhibited three watercolour and charcoal drawings in the Southwest Open, an annual exhibition hosted by the Art Gallery of Swift Current in the West Wing Gallery at Kinetic Park.
“The art I usually create is inspired by nature, animals, humanity, things like human connection and emotion,” she said. “My work is a lot more subtle in terms of colour usually than the pathways were, just visually simple. The older I get, the more inspired I am by Saskatchewan and the calmness and stillness of Saskatchewan. So I’m working that into my pieces.”
The sensory pathways project therefore presented an interesting challenge due to its size, the use of vibrant colours, and the fact that it had to be created for children.
“It’s kind of how you would picture a hopscotch, but more things are added and I would say it’s a bit cooler than hop scotch,” she mentioned. “We put little instructions and then an image to match the instructions that the children could follow. Some of the games are pretty obvious, and some of them are a little bit more interpretative.”
The sensory pathways are located at All Saints Catholic, Central, École Centennial, Fairview, and O.M. Irwin schools.
“Each of them is unique, because we were trying to incorporate the school colours and a little bit of the logo into each design,” she said.
Each pathway is about 12 metres long, but with some variances between them based on design details. The schools provided input with regard to details related to their logo and motto, and they were able to decide on the location of their sensory pathway.
The City received a $2,000 Framework in Action grant from the Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association towards the cost of the sensory pathways project. Funds from this grant can be used towards projects promoting community wellbeing and active living.
Choo-Foo expressed appreciation towards the Art Gallery and the participating schools for their involvement with the project.
“Chelsea did a fantastic job of incorporating the different school themes in there and also just colourful and really fun, where kids will twist around or hop from left to right foot or jump on the leaf petals and things like that,” she said. “That will hopefully engage them and make it a lot of fun for the students when they’re outside.”