Play is the work of childhood. It’s the mantra of child development experts.
What do children need to live a happy childhood? Caring parents, a safe and convenient living environment, toys, games, what else? The answers may be diverse. However, climbing, swinging, running, and sliding on the playground, are for sure all children’s favorite rites of passage.
Playgrounds provide a pleasant place for children to exert their energy and endurance, have fun and interact with peers․ They also serve as a valuable learning environment which enhances imagination, intelligence, and social skills.
There is a lack of safe playgrounds in many village communities of Armenia. There are few parks and entertainment places where kids and community members can spend time and socialize with each other. Being surrounded by nature and having the opportunity to play outdoors quite often is a tangible advantage of rural areas. Still, the playing environment does not often resemble the clean and safe playground we all would imagine.
To date, we at COAF have set up 19 playgrounds and 5 sports grounds in COAF-supported villages including Beniamin, Lanjik, Dzoragyugh, Debet, and others These open-air playgrounds are usually located near schools, kindergartens, or parks.
In May, we established our most recent playground in Vahagni village school, where we had renovated a cafeteria earlier this year. Step by step, we are taking the playground design of rural communities to the next level. Updating a few elements restores the whole image and functionality of the place.
“Our vision is to create playground areas that will become an entertaining places not only for children but also for adults and the elderly,” mentions Artur Ter-Simonyan, the Infrastructure Projects Coordinator at COAF.
Ensuring rural Armenian kids have an enjoyable play area for having fun and entertaining themselves is important to our mission. To build a playground, it usually takes a month or so. Most importantly, the projects would not become a reality without the continuous support of our big COAF family. We thank all our caring donors from the bottom of our hearts for their generous investments that provide our children with a safe and clean playing environment and more joyous moments.
