Play-and-learn concept coming to city parks

A day at the park will mean more than just fun and games soon for preschoolers and their parents in Shawano.

New attractions coming to both Kuckuk Park and Memorial Park will allow kids and adults to engage in interactive exhibits that are fun and educational.

Known as “Born Learning” trails, the attractions being installed this summer are designed to make public parks useful tools in early childhood education.

Retired schoolteacher Ruth Newcomb said the assembled exhibits will offer parents a way of introducing their kids to a healthy outdoor diversion from common distractions such as TV and video games.

“You need to keep kids engaged, and this is a fun way to do it,” she said. “They might not even know they’re learning.”

Newcomb joined other volunteers Thursday at Kuckuk Park to launch installation of Born Learning exhibits that will have kids jumping, singing and hopping from one station to another through the park. Signs will guide children and their parents along the trail with messages such as, “Look. Listen. Touch. Think.”

The same attractions are scheduled to be installed at Memorial Park next month.

Promoted by the Shawano Pathways recreational group, the park improvements are being funded by the Mielke Family Foundation and supported by a number of other groups.

Ed Grys, president of the Mielke Foundation, said his organization allocated $13,000 after hearing about the concept from Shawano Pathways. The project combines the foundation’s passion for education with a strong emphasis on supporting families, Grys said.

“It just fit very well,” he said. “We kind of jumped on it.”

Other involved in the project include the Shawano Park and Recreation Department, the Shawano School District, the Shawano-Menominee Counties Health Department and the United Way of Shawano County, among others. City park officials have agreed to maintain the Born Learning trails as part of the public parks.

The exhibits will be installed along an existing path at Kuckuk Park and around an existing play area at Memorial Park.

Although similar Born Learning projects have turned up elsewhere in Wisconsin previously, this is the concept’s first introduction in Shawano County.

Linda Olson, executive director of the United Way of Shawano County, said parents always seem to be looking for something to do with their kids. The new trails offer a way for parents and other caregivers to engage children in a healthy activity that also promotes early development of reading and listening skills.

“They can get outside and they can be active while they are learning,” Olson said.

Artist Angie Schultz, of the town of Richmond, loaned her talents — with assistance from her husband, Merle — by creating animal figures to greet children at each exhibit station.

Schultz said she crafted the hand-painted wooden figurines so that children would appreciate the natural beauty of the parks and the outdoors in general.

“I want them to fall in love with nature,” she said. “I want them to really connect with how wonderful it is.”