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Tiiim-ber! Norgate welcomes new playground

The job of Norgate Elementary vice-principal isn’t a lifetime appointment, but at least one former VP seems to have treated it that way.
playground

The job of Norgate Elementary vice-principal isn’t a lifetime appointment, but at least one former VP seems to have treated it that way.

As children clambered up the log structures of their new playground, Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds CEO Adam Bienenstock attributed the smiles to one man: Victor Elderton.

The plastic-free playground was part of a temporary Vancouver pop-up. But when the pop-up ended, “the idea of just taking that to the chipper is grotesque to me,” Bienenstock said.

He soon crossed paths with Elderton. “He said, ‘Well, why don’t you move that to Norgate when you’re done?’”

“I can’t think of a more deserving group,” Bienenstock decided.

The playground is meant to reshape the children’s notion of what they need to play and to provide teachers with an outdoor classroom.

More than a $30,000 playground, Bienenstock views the playground and ampitheatre as treatment against nature deficit disorder.

“It’s sad but true that kids are spending less time outside,” Bienenstock said. “The solution isn’t to ban the screens, the solution is to make the outside space where they play more interesting.”