Design your own climate adaptive school yard

“A serious game that uses the input of children to green up’ their own school yard”

This dream project developed a game in which children can ‘green up’ their school yards. The idea is to let children participate in climate adaptation by letting them design a climate-adaptive school yard in a digital gaming environment. There is an increased need for climate adaptation in the urban environment. School yards tend to be covered, which ultimately leads to bad conditions. The project aims to support the transition from regular (grey) school yards to a climate adaptive (green) school yard. A climate adaptive school yard has more space for nature (trees, soils, grass etc.) compared to a regular schoolyard. Climate adaptive school yards have a lot of space where children can run, climb, play, hide and relax in nature. The game includes educational factsheets for children to learn more about climate change and its impact.

Children tend to design their school yard in a different way compared to the school itself. There is a range of possible 3D objects, based on the real world. Usually designs are more creative and “out of the box”. Schools can select multiple pre-set adaptation measures and school yard equipment elements. A dedicated designer can use the tool’s outcomes to come up with a realistic design. This project is linked to Province of Overijssel’s ambition to transform all 615 schoolyards into green environments by 2025. Other partners in the project were IVN, Foundation Springzaad, NMO and WDOD.

In January 2020 this project received the audience award of the Vernufting, a contest for consultancy firms on innovative projects.

If you want to get a glimpse of the game itself you can watch the video below (in Dutch).

The following documents explain the use of the tool at home (“voor thuis”) or for teachers (“voor leerkrachten”). The documents are in Dutch.

Handleiding voor thuis Serious Game Klimaatschoolplein

Handleiding leerkrachten Serious Game Klimaatschoolplein

Approved by TAUW Foundation

“Our main reason to approve this dream project was its educational aspect”, says Eefje van Empel by mouth of the TAUW Foundation. “It is aimed at (climate) awareness and action for important themes like heat, drought, water, biodiversity and recycling”. It is important that children understand the impact of climate adaptation on their own environment. This tool helps them to understand the impact of climate action.

Sustainable development goals

TAUW Foundation approved this dream project because it actively involves the creative minds of children. This project is a dream project that relates to the following SDGs:

Contact information

Any questions? We are happy to provide information. For more information you can contact:

Barbara Bekhof
barbara.bekhof@tauw.com