FUN AND GAMES AND LEARNING

At a Harbor City preschool, a $3.3-million playground is also an outdoor classroom for kids with little access to green space

- By CHRISTOPHER BUCHANAN

ENKH-ERDENE Altandush, 5, revels in riding a tricycle at Normont Early Education Center, which just got a new playground.

(GARY CORONADO For The Times)

A year ago, the back lot of Normont Early Education Center was little more than a bare, heat-radiating expanse of asphalt. Outside, the Harbor City preschool reflected its industrial neighborhood: scant grass, little shade amid a block of warehouses full of grinding machinery.

To get to campus, parents must shepherd their children through a concrete labyrinth, past auto body shops and steel manufacturers. At times, the noise of grinding gears can obscure the soprano whoops and wails of the preschoolers.

But last week, the children of Normont stepped into a friendlier scene on campus and were off and running on their new $3.3-million playground, a gift that is far more than sandboxes, grass and gardens.

Funded with money from a voter-approved, $9-billion bond and part of Los Angeles Unified’s pledge to increase green space at urban schools, the playground is particularly important to this cohort of preschoolers, who desperately need more outdoor play spaces, said Deborah Aguet, principal of Normont Early Education Center, which serves 2to 5-year-olds.