MOSCOW — A plain sidewalk and blacktop on the playground at Moscow Elementary Center have been transformed into a colorful canvas for games and activities.
Students from North Pocono intermediate, middle and high schools painted outlines for different games at the elementary school Friday afternoon.
The drawings, which students traced with chalk and painted over, included animals and cartoon characters that students can color in with chalk, a basketball court outline, a bull’s-eye, hopscotch squares, a maze, race track and pond surrounded by numbered lily pads.
Principal Jeff Hatala had the idea of painting the sidewalks and basketball court on the school’s playground back when he started leading the school in 2013. He said it is a way to give all students, including those with special needs, more activities on the playground besides the equipment, which was installed six years ago.
“Some kids aren’t into the playground (equipment), some kids are into coloring, jumping and hopping,” he said.
Hatala invited students from the intermediate, middle and high schools as a way for students to help other kids in the district.
School counselor Kaylene Falco said the new features give students more activities and the ability to be creative while playing on the playground.
Students and teachers work at painting sidewalk games on the playground at Moscow Elementary Center in Moscow on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Students and faculty who worked on the new sidewalk games and art at Moscow Elementary Center in Moscow on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Eight graders Chloe Marshall, left, and Kaylee Nalewajkl, right, work together at Moscow Elementary Center in Moscow on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Students add numbers to a hopscotch square outside of Moscow Elementary Center in Moscow on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Student painters pose for a photo at Moscow Elementary Center in Moscow on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Junior Karina Blaine paints on the blacktop outside of the Moscow Elementary Center in Moscow on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. Blaine says it’s nice to do something for the younger students in the district. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Students take a break from painting to play on the playground at Moscow Elementary Center in Moscow on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Students and teachers work at painting sidewalk games on the playground at Moscow Elementary Center in Moscow on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
“It just gives them more opportunities to engage in new activities,” she said. “I think having these things on the sidewalks also allows kids to be more creative and come up with their own ways to play these different games and activities.”
Four art teachers from the intermediate, middle and high schools and Moscow Elementary Center, along with Hatala, Falco and occupational therapist Danielle Alder, oversaw the 26 students as they painted.
Students who painted Friday afternoon liked the activity and saw it as a way to make a difference for other students.
“It’ll make all the kids here happy and make them have more fun,” said fifth grader Frankie Nails as she painted in a stencil on one of the hopscotch squares. “It’s also really fun doing it.”
Fellow fifth graders Brian Werner and Evan Cook liked that their fellow students came together for the project, while junior Kherington Melendez said it gives students more options during recess.
Near the school, junior Rylee Chaffin was busy drawing the outline of a flower. She said she appreciates that she could be creative with the project.
“You can use templates if you want to but you don’t have to, or you can free draw,” Rylee said. “You can be free with it; you don’t have to always follow something, but you can if you want to.”
Hatala said she loves seeing the creativity that the older students showed painting the sidewalk and blacktop Friday.
“They just painted their own ideas, which is cool,” he said. “They’re very creative.”
Officials planned to show the younger students the new areas of the playground during their recess periods Monday.
Originally Published: October 20, 2025 at 12:00 AM EDT