A Trim Trail will help children understand key topics across the curriculum

A Trim Trail is widely recognised as the perfect playground addition for active play as they provide children with a variety of physical challenges that cover balance, core stability and gross motor skill development. One function of a Trim Trail overlooked by many, is its ability to be an excellent resource for teaching subjects across the curriculum.

Outdoor learning is now seen as an integral part of children’s educational development but with that being said, it’s important that teachers to take advantage of resources that they have available in their schools grounds.

School playground equipment can be used effectively to give children an enthralling learning experience whilst also getting more ROI on the equipment purchased.

Here are a 10 ways to incorporate a Trim Trail in your lessons:

Mathematics

Timing how long it takes children to finish the course.

• Number recognition as they have to tell the time taken on the stop watch
• Comparisons using greater > smaller concept
• Addition to collate total time taken by a team
• Subtraction to work out time differences between individuals or teams

Measuring the length of the trail

• Introduction of metric measurements as they work out distances in centre metres  or metres
• Addition to add the length of all individual sections to find overall length of course
• Conversions from centre metres to metres

Literacy

Writing out the sequence of the course

• Introduction to punctuation as they learn how to use colons to begin a list and commas between items etc.
• Introduction to adjectives for descriptive writing as they write a story about their trim trail
• Introduction to the framework for writing instructions by getting the children to write an instruction on how each challenge is used

Reading out the instruction cards as described above

• Reading each instruction out loud to the rest of the class/small group before they tackle a particular section

Poetry for creative writing

• Write out an acrostic poem, using the words TRIM TRAIL

"Tricky obstacles

Really good fun

Irresistible to play

Much laughter

Talented climbers

Race through challenges

Amazing Balance

Intelligent thinking 

Love my trail"

Science 

Introduce forces by establishing the relationship between effort and speed/time

• Children putting in variable effort levels as they complete the trail and note how increased power/effort directly effects speed/time.

Understanding the importance of equilibrium/oppositional pull

• Children stand on a balance beam or stepping log noting the effect on balance when arms are held in perfect symmetry with the same oppositional pull  compared to when the arms are uneven in placing or pull

Establishing the properties of materials

• Carefully examine each section of the trail and see how the characteristics of the material used help its purpose/design i.e. thick wooden posts (natural product) don’t bend and therefore used for its supportive properties while the rope components (manmade product) are pliable and therefore used to make movable parts

Art

Drawing the trail

• Let children practise their drawing skills and maybe even incorporate a 'Best Picture' competition

Introducing the concept of perspective so as to make parts of a drawing/painting appear closer or further away

History

Re-enact a famous scene from history

• Use elements of the trail to act a moment in history to help children have a better visualisation of what happened and also enjoy the subject more.

The list of lesson possibilities incorporating a Trim Trail is endless and it’s down to using creativity and outside the box thinking, when implementing a Trim Trail into a lesson plan.

So as you can see, a Trim Trail brings more learning benefits to your playground than many would have initially expected. Remember to make full use of the trail, as it can be an effective method to introduce core subjects especially for children who are less engaged inside a classroom.

If you’re considering adding a Trim Trail to your school, we have innovative Trim Trail designs that are suited for EYFS, KS1 and KS2. We also have the option to bespoke particular designs to suit your needs.

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