Saturday, April 30, 2011
Photo
Lynda Hawkins (left), a teacher at BUMP, painted the lush jungle mural in the new discovery room. Enjoying the new scenery were BUMP students Olivia Maldonado (center) and Gianna DeNiro.
Photo
Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Boardman United Methodist Preschool student Gianna DeNiro enjoyed her favorite thing in the revamped discovery room, a light table that came equipped with clear sheets that displayed things like x-rays and artwork when placed on the light box.
By SARAH FOOR
On April 11, Boardman United Methodist Preschool (BUMP) unveiled its newly-remodeled and decorated Discovery Room, a space where the school’s students can play, explore and learn about nature.
If you ask around the facility, some long-time teachers, staff and administrators will accidentally refer to the space as “The Climbing Room.”
“Well, the habit of calling it one thing is hard to break,” BUMP Director Marilyn Phillips said with a smile. “For the longest time, it was our climbing room. We’ve had many different climbing apparatuses here over many years, but near the end, it was a rather small play zone surrounded by mats. Instead of that drab space, we decided to revamp and think about how we could make it an enriching space for our students.”
In the renamed “Discovery Room,” there is still a corner for climbing, where a two-story plastic tree house is now settled. However, the rest of the space has transformed into a jungle-themed oasis, with exploration areas, including a window garden, reading area and mini-library, zen sand garden, building blocks, and light box.
One wall is completely covered with a mural of a jungle scene, painted by BUMP teacher Lynda Hawkins.
The mural was a breeze for Hawkins, who is used to painting on a big scale.
“I paint scenery for our Bible school every year, so I was happy to help here. In the beginning, a big blank mural is pretty scary, but I think of it as a page in a very large coloring book.”
The scene includes trees and vines blooming with vibrant tropical flowers, a glittering waterfall, with a snake and jaguar peeking out at guests.
“I loved painting the bright flowers and the animals,” the artist said of her creation.
“I like that even on the most ferocious animals in the mural, there are very friendly faces,” Phillips added as she eyed the painting. “It’s really transformed the space. It has taken a spot that was rather empty before and made it into a great area for learning and play.”