Sustainable Schoolyards

Sustainable schoolyards are not only good for students and educators, they’re good for the community. These schoolyards serve as dynamic, interactive learning environments and result in healthier, more livable neighborhoods.

The "Sustainable Schoolyards" exhibit, co-sponsored by the American Planning Association, illustrates some of the outdoor classroom concepts, ecological teaching tools, and creative play ideas that can be added to almost any schoolyard in America. The features included in this design are already present in schools across the country and all are easily replicable. Learn how Sustainable Schoolyards contribute to active living, sustainable communities, and smart growth.

Sustainable schoolyards demonstrate interconnectedness and a sense of place. Here children, teachers, parents and residents can learn to create and sustain a place that will grow to become a rich, vital community asset. These schoolyards become a center of learning and growing – not just for children – but the entire community.

All elements of this display are replicable and further resources are available to implement these ideas at home, at work, and in schools and communities. "Sustainable Schoolyards" is part of the free “One Planet—Ours” exhibit, May 24–Oct. 13, 2008, at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C., 100 Maryland Avenue, SW at the west side of the U.S. Capitol.