Friday, August 15, 2008; Posted 6.30 pm (CDT)

There are only five days left before Piedmont Elementary fills up once again, but this time school officials say students are in for a big surprise.

"Some of those children had a sneak preview of it, and they were very, very excited they were jumping up and down and screaming," says Shari Zimmerman, Principal for Piedmont Elementary. "They were very happy about it."

More than 7000 schools nationwide are taking part in Peaceful Playgrounds.

"It cuts down on bullying," says Zimmerman. "It cuts down on them being creative and getting themselves in trouble."

"It's educational," says Matt McMullen, a student at Piedmont High School. "It gets them some physical exercise."

McMullen is responsible for helping to turn blank asphalt into an area filled with colorful numbers, letters and games. But how does that promise to cut down on injuries?

"One of the rules is you can't say you can't play," says Zimmerman.

Rules have been implemented for all games. The hope is to keep cliques from forming and, therefore, cut down on emotional injuries.

"The more structure we provide, the safer it is for kids, and the safer emotionally it is for kids, too," says Zimmerman.

Plus, by adding the program, children are evenly distributed instead of huddled around equipment, which helps physical safety.

"Hope they're going to be happy and have fun with it for quite a few years," says McMullen.

Officials say the playground shouldn't have to be just for recess. With Peaceful Playgrounds, they hope to take classes outside to keep children involved and learning.

Piedmont School officials say new playground equipment they bought cost about $6,000. The cost for Peaceful Playgrounds was $1,000. Officials say a big part of the program is teaching conflict resolution: to either talk, walk or rock, as in rock, paper, scissors.