In the Lower School, there aren’t as many activities available during lunch as there are in the Middle and Upper Schools. Not wishing to spend their lunch block sitting and talking, most lower schoolers are forced to choose between two lunchtime activities: playing on the Big Toy—the School’s main play structure—or playing sports out on the blue basketball courts.
When asked how many lower schoolers participate in these activities, and how many do not, Matthew Elias, the School’s Director of Extended Learning, said that “Virtually all of them… maybe there’s five or six who are hanging out on the sidelines or feeding the chickens in the garden, but for the most part, everyone is on the big toy, running around, or over here on the blue courts.”
The blue courts are the most popular spot by a fair margin and is where most lower schoolers choose to play. Kickball has been a particularly popular lunch sport for years now. Fifth grader Sophia Matthews said that kickball is played “maybe every day.” Matthews also noted that many other sports, such as basketball and wallball, were more popular last year. Their popularity has waned, however, and most lower schoolers now play kickball. Though some female lower schoolers play kickball with the boys, there is a clear gender divide. “It’s mostly boys,” said Matthews. Fourth grader Kieran Mactaggart said people playing the “salmon game and stuff are girls.” The salmon game is an activity based on running across the big toy as fast as possible.
Though the majority of lower schoolers spend their lunch playtime on the blue courts, many of them, primarily female students, also go on the Big Toy and play various games. One recently popular game on the Big Toy is Dare-Or-Dare. Fourth grader Ben Coughler described the game as such: “One of us will do something crazy, and the rest of us have to do it or we’ll be punished, like five laps around the big toy or something like that.” However, there are many more games and activities, such as Switch, Four-Square, and Knockout, played both on the big toy and the blue courts. Though there are certain gender divides in the activities chosen, most students are happy to play with students of any gender in whatever game they choose.
Students in the Upper and Middle schools have many options during lunch, such as doing homework, hanging out in the library, or simply wandering around campus. Lower schoolers do not have the same options. But whether running around the big toy after losing Dare-Or-Dare, or getting a home run after sending the kickball over the fence, they know how to have fun with what they have.