NATCHEZ — New equipment started going up near the playground at Joseph L Frazier Elementary School Thursday, but it’s not for child’s play.

“It looks like playground equipment, but it’s fitness equipment,” said Frazier principal Cynthia Lamkin.

A$26,635 Blue Cross Blue Shield Mississippi Fitness Program grant funded the purchase. The grant was approved at the Aug. 13 meeting of the Natchez-Adams School Board.

Lamkin said the grant covered outdoor equipment, such as monkey bars, and indoor equipment such as balls and hula hoops. The indoor equipment is for kindergarten through fifth grade students while the outdoor equipment is for first through fifth-graders because of height requirements, Lamkin said.

While Lamkin said she expects the indoor equipment shortly, installation began Thursday for the outdoor equipment.

Once the equipment is functinoal, the school is required to monitor weight and body mass index of students and send the data to Project Fit. Lamkin said the school already monitors those statistics.

When installation is completed, Lamkin said, representatives from Project Fit would train P.E. coaches on the curriculum necessary to participate in the Project Fit program.

The school won’t know more about additional curriculum requirements until the representatives come, Lamkin said.

The grant was applied for last March when Ernest “Tony” Fields, Natchez High School’s principal, was principal at Frazier.

“We had to send in pictures of our facilities, and if we were awarded the grant where would certain equipment go, what parts of the campus we would use and, of course, how would we integrate the standards that’s in the grant in our curriculum,” Fields said. “We were able to provide all of that.”

Fields said the program looks for improvement throughout the year in terms of physical education, such as how many jumping jacks children can complete.

“I’m excited for the kids. That’s the most important thing,” Fields said. “They should have an exciting and innovative year with physical education.”

Lamkin said she is looking forward to the equipment and hopes it will encourage children to become more active.

“The new age child, they’re technology-driven, and they’re inside more than they’re outside,” Lamkin said.