St. Philip Lutheran Church Gets a New Playscape

Community playgrounds are places where children have fun and provide an opportunity to practice and hone key skills, including social, emotional, cognitive, and physical. Recently, St. Philip Lutheran Church in Trenton, a welcoming church to all, including children, has installed a new playscape for St. Philip Preschool, Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and neighborhood children.

First, volunteers had to take down a more than 25-year-old playscape to make room for the new one. Next, six pickup truck loads of mulch, representing 16 cubic yards, had to be spread evenly before the new five-piece playscape set could be installed. It took six adult volunteers and two child helpers to spread the mulch and install the new equipment.

The new playscape set can best be described as a construction themed playground that supports self-directed play. Each piece in the set includes various attributes and features that one would see in a construction site. Children will love moving from one piece to the next in this set, experiencing all of the responsibilities of a construction job site, including a tool truck, a water car, a continuous-track vehicle, and more.

"Our new playground provides the opportunity for children to let their imaginations run free while they develop their gross motor and social skills, all of which are vital for young children,” said Abby Kurlfink, Interim Program Director at St. Philip Preschool. “They have loved playing on it since it was installed. It is hard to get them to come back inside!"

“This new playground is open to all,” said Pastor Jeff Ogonowski of St. Philip Lutheran Church. “Not only will it help children learn and develop new skills, but it, along with Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and youth and family ministries, is a place where children can grow in faith and experience God’s love.”

The new playscape was made possible by a grant from the Southeast Michigan Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

St. Philip Preschool is a nonprofit organization founded in 1974. Its play-based program nurtures young learners and ignites a curiosity for education that will last a lifetime. For more information about the St. Philip Preschool visit: https://www.stphilipelca.com/st-philip-preschool.

St. Philip’s mission is sharing God’s love with one another, knowing Christ, and serving the world. For more information about St. Philip Lutheran Church in Trenton visit: https://www.stphilipelca.com/.