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In order to keep things safe, sessions were held to teach kids how to fall without hurting themselves. They were also told that they have to immediately back off if a student says ‘stop,’ Bernier said.

She said the school started the project as a way to let rambunctious students get their energy out.

“There are certain students for whom it isn’t enough to simply go run in the schoolyard,” she said in a phone interview. “They need a little more to get out their energy.”

Bernier said only about 15 students play in the zone each recess period, but the project seems to be having a positive effect on them so far.

There are certain students for whom it isn't enough to simply go run in the schoolyard

“We see in class that those children are calmer, and they’re more focused,” she said.

Bernier said that while most parents have been supportive of the project, a few have expressed worries. She reminds them that participation is voluntary, and there are plenty of other schoolyard activities for kids to do.

Bernier believes that, rather than encouraging violence, the project actually prevents it by showing kids how to expend their energy in an appropriate way.

“We’re not seeing (violence), because we ban violence,” she said. “The kids who are there to hit are immediately taken out,” she said.

Lenore Skenazy, a New York-based author and speaker who founded the website Free Range Kids, said humans and almost every animal species, have been play-fighting since the dawn of time.

“To act like that is automatically aggressive and evil and cruel is to misinterpret a basic stage of childhood,” she said in a phone interview.