Boulder Creek Elementary Sensory Path

August 12, 2022November 9, 2023 Julie Hornerbouldercreek, murals, Santa Cruz Mountains, schools, sensory path

Boulder Creek artist and BCE parent Jennifer Wildermuth Reyes brightens the schoolyard and encourages kids’ health with the completion of a “sensory path” at the campus in Boulder Creek, California.

By Julie Horner

On a scorching mid-August afternoon, a sole painter with a clutch of brushes dabs details in acrylic onto a banana slug on a log floating down a river. “Balance with the Banana Slugs” is one of 9 panels painted into a sensory path completed just in time for the new school year at Boulder Creek Elementary School by local artist Jennifer Wildermuth Reyes. The path is located in “Lowers” between the 4th and 5th grade building and the kindergarten through first grade building, and adjacent to the colorful mural painted by Yeshe Jackson in 2019 commemorating the school’s 150th anniversary. The two murals seem to flow together creating a seamless mountain scene.

Jennifer Wildermuth Reyes paints the BCE sensory path near Yeshe Jackson Mural celebrating the school’s 150th anniversary.

The concept for the outdoor sensory path was introduced by Layla Hansen, Behavior Tech at BCE. Reyes, whose children attend the school, was commissioned by the Boulder Creek Elementary Parents Club to do the art. Reyes explained that a sensory path is a series of guided movements for kids to follow, either laid out on the ground or along a wall, to help them work off excess energy and develop their basic motor skills. The various movements on a path are often designed to engage different parts of the body and brain.

“These paths can be especially effective for students who experience frustration, anger, or other sensory overloads during a learning activity,” Reyes said. “Sending them out to the path to work off some of those emotions can help them re-focus when they return to their desk.”

Each activity in the path at BCE features animals, birds, and insects that reside in Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Earlier in the year, Reyes mapped how the panels would look by painting small versions of each scene at home. The path measures 32 feet wide by 17 feet long. Once the area was power washed and the course laid out and painted with primer, she began drawing each scene and applying color. The art work was completed by the first day of school on August 11, 2022. In addition to Balancing with Banana Slugs, activities include Hop with the Brush Rabbits, Climb with the Gray Squirrels, Jump with the Bobcats, Spin with the Butterflies (Western Swallowtail, California Sister, and Painted Lady), Duck Walk with the Marbled Murrelets, Stomp in Puddles with the California Red-legged Frogs, Flap with the Ravens, and Tiptoe Around the Sleeping Skunks.