By Madison Plaisance
The LSU AgCenter and Health Communities teamed up to travel to different schools, libraries, parks, community centers, and various other public locations where children are likely present in order to introduce and apply the stencil project.
The stencil project is a way to help children remain active during the pandemic by playing various educational games drawn using chalk and stencils.
Earlier this month, the stencil project came to Dubach Elementary School to create a colorful playground for children while promoting physical activity.
Volunteers use stencils to create eye-catching stencils with chalk that create interactive games for the children to participate in such as mirror me, hopscotch, four square, and many more.
Cathay Judd works for the LSU AgCenter and for the past five years has been in charge of contacting schools to introduce the stencil projects.
“One of the reasons we started stenciling was for children to have more activities at school,” Judd said. “We want to encourage our children to participate in physical activity but it also gives them the opportunity to learn.”
Through these activities created by this project children can practice letter awareness, rhyming, color and number recognition, counting, patterning and measurement.
Although children participate in physical activity and learning during recess, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools were unable to use their equipment for protection reasons so the stencil project was a safe and healthy replacement during this time.
“It is a community service for sure and we have to have volunteers, it takes about 30-45 minutes to paint a stencil,” Judd said, “We can reach so many more people with volunteers… I love when they step up and want to help.”
As more volunteers begin to help, the stencil project will be able to expand across the state by allowing more schools and different communities to become aware of this project.
To view the results of Dubach’s stencil project click here: Dubach School Stencil Project – YouTube
To find out more information or to volunteer email healthycommunities@agcenter.lsu.edu or visit Healthy Communities (lsuagcenter.com)
