The Learning Landscape playground at Denver's McMeen Elementary celebrates the community in which students live, learn and play. The theme of “Sense of Place” was developed to compliment the school’s curriculum where each grade studies a different level of their community.

"When Lois Brink’s kids were in elementary school, she remembers being struck by how uninviting their schoolyard was. She described it as 'scorched earth' — little more than a dirt field coated in 'I don’t know how many decades of weed retardant' and some aging play equipment. But Brink, a landscape architect and professor at the University of Colorado Denver, didn’t just see a problem. She saw fertile ground for a solution. Over the next dozen years, she helped lead a transformation of nearly 100 elementary school grounds across Denver into more vibrant, greener spaces, dubbed 'Learning Landscapes.'" - Claire Elise Thompson

ARTICLE: How Greener Schoolyards Benefit Kids — and The Whole Community