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Earthplay Blog

Alex’s Playwork Notebook: How to Use Play Types to Increase Play Opportunities

April 7, 2017

cardboard fort

For more from Alex, check out her blog, PlayBound.

The best play spaces for kids are often accidental and undesigned (or, at least, not designed for play). Think of vacant lots full of makeshift baseball bases, forests with kid-built lean-tos, even public squares that youth use for skateboarding.

That said, sometimes those spaces aren’t available. What then? It’s too easy for us adults-in-charge to settle for “good enough” playscapes that we’ve designed for what we think children like, rather than their actual needs. One of my favorite ways to evaluate the play opportunities on a playcape is through asking myself, “What can children do here?” and, more importantly, “What can’t they do?” It can be hard to pinpoint things children can’t do on a site because you don’t see it! I like to use Bob Hughes’ “16 Play Types” to check if there is a wide variety of play happening.

Bob Hughes created a list of different play types for playworkers to use to think about play. It’s just one of many ways play has been divided into categories. I’m working from the list from fellow playworker Morgan Leichter-Saxby’s blog here. Bob Hughes’ play types are not always clearly defined, and I will not be using this document to talk about the subtle differences, rather, I hope to suggest some broad ideas to prompt further thinking.

Here are a few ideas to jump-start your own thinking about how to provide for a wider variety of play types:

Symbolic Play – play which allows control, gradual exploration and increased understanding without the risk of being out of one’s depth.

Symbolic play involves open-ended materials: pretending a pinecone is a baby or a pool noodle is a sword. If you don’t see symbolic play happening you might take a look at what loose parts you have available for play and if it’s clear to the children that they may pick them up and use them. Sometimes putting objects in a different context can help! For example, pinecones on a piece of cloth or chalk by the blocks of wood.

Rough and Tumble Play – close encounter play which is less to do with fighting and more to do with touching, tickling, gauging relative strength. Discovering physical flexibility and the exhilaration of display.

Rough and tumble play can be a tough one for some sites. I love Teacher Tom’s realization that if he was spending his day saying, “Now is not the time for wrestling.”, then as the teacher his job might be to take the children’s cue and make some time for wrestling happen! Educating staff about rough and tumble play is a start. Having enough space is a great help too – and I’ve seen some schools bring out wrestling mats as a designated wrestling area to help manage the play if that’s what’s needed to help staff feel more comfortable with it.

Social Play – play during which the rules and criteria for social engagement and interaction can be revealed, explored and amended.

Communication Play – play using words, nuances or gestures for example, mime, jokes, play acting, mickey taking, singing, debate, poetry.

I’m putting social play and communication play together. Social play is just play where you are talking with others. It has more of a focus on communication as a means to an end, such as when communicating in order to build a fort. With communication play, on the other hand, the communication is the play such as with rhyming, teasing, riddles, and even texting and emailing!
I’ve found that the most helpful element for social and communication play is enough time spent playing that you don’t feel rushed and can settle in for a long play with your friends. Anything that is helpful for spoken communication can help social play: making sure the playspace isn’t overcrowded so kids can hear each other and find a place to be, seating and semi-private areas (either made by children or provided) for hanging out.

If we’re talking older kids who can write and read, add a chalkboard (or a whole chalkboard wall!) where they can write and joke. We sometimes use “The Sharpie Test” in playwork as a way to talk about a playground truly belonging to children: if they can write on it with permanent markers with no repercussions (from anyone other than their peers!) then it is getting close to being truly theirs. If that is truly the case on your site you will see lots of writing as part of the play (but it’s not possible everywhere)! Chalk is a great middle ground because it easily washes off.

Communication play: passwords.

Creative Play – play which allows a new response, the transformation of information, awareness of new connections, with an element of surprise.

One element of creative play is creating things. Again, loose parts are helpful! Especially the tools you can use to change the things: tape, paint, string. Add paintbrushes near the mud pit (or water source) and you might see painting; add surfaces, like wood scraps or logs on which to create masterpieces.

Socio-dramatic Play – the enactment of real and potential experiences of an intense personal, social, domestic or interpersonal nature.

Role Play – play exploring ways of being, although not normally of an intense personal, social, domestic or interpersonal nature.

Fantasy Play – play which rearranges the world in the child’s way, a way which is unlikely to occur.

Imaginative Play – play where the conventional rules, which govern the physical world, do not apply.

Dramatic Play – play which dramatizes events in which the child is not a direct participator.

I’ve put socio-dramatic play, role play, fantasy play, imaginative play, and dramatic play together (this .pdf document gives examples of the differences between them). They all have the common thread of imagining things that are not there. Costumes (or cloth and scissors to make costumes) and loose parts are helpful. A stage can be a great addition for children who want to play out their stories for an audience. Similarly, ways to make small structures or providing small structures that can house the play lends itself well to imagining different realities whether they be house, grocery store, wedding, dragon lair, castle, or army base. With loose parts, generic items and structures can be modified by the children for what they need that day.

Socio-dramatic play: hidden kid-built fort of cloth, pallets and tires.

Deep Play – play which allows the child to encounter risky or even potentially life threatening experiences, to develop survival skills and conquer fear.

Are there places the children can climb high enough to feel their hearts beat faster? Or go fast enough to forget anything else exists? Hills, heights, and things that can move fast help provide for some kinds of deep play. Deep play – even mild deep play – can be difficult to incorporate when your own fears get in the way! But knowing that it’s important might help you allow sledding in the winter or jumping off of the climbing structure.

Exploratory Play – play to access factual information consisting of manipulative behaviours such as handling, throwing, banging or mouthing objects.

For exploratory play it is helpful to have a variety of materials, especially real materials: stones, pieces of wood, pots and pans, cloth. Variety in texture and sound will make objects more enticing to explore.

Locomotor Play – movement in any or every direction for its own sake.

Locomotor play is the play that most fixed-equipment playgrounds were designed for: sliding, jumping, hanging – moving. If you’re reading this, I can trust you already realize that a playground needs to provide for a variety of play types, not just locomotor! On the other hand, it’s increasingly common to take out swings and merry-go-rounds, seesaws and monkey bars because of safety concerns, effectively reducing the variety of movements the children can do. An easy way to add some of that back is to use cloth to make temporary swings. They work well spun up and also swinging side to side. Ropes can also be strung between trees or posts to hang on. Planks are also a great loose part for all sorts of uses; for locomotor play, they can be balanced on or turned into a seesaw. Hills and topography change is also a great element for rolling down or running on.

Locomotor play: sand hill sledding.

Mastery Play – control of the physical and affective ingredients of the environments.

When I think of mastery play and space my first thought is digging. Sand and water and dirt and stones can be moved and engineered to change space. Constructing shelters also falls under mastery play, so, depending on your site: wood and nails, cardboard boxes, sticks and rope, cloth, etc. You can also think creatively about the elements of the environment – how about rolls of streamers when it’s windy, or kites? Pieces of clear colored plastic are fun in the sun, or magnifying glasses to burn designs on wood or leaves.

Mastery play: cooking in a giant sand pit.

Mastery play and communication play with loose parts: walking on a plastic culvert tube.

Object Play – play which uses infinite and interesting sequences of hand-eye manipulations and movements.

I left object play separate even though it is very related to other types of play because this is often one that is undervalued by adults. You know water-bottle flipping? That’s object play! Object play can often look like doing the same thing over and over but the more you look, the more minute variations you will see. And since it’s play, it’s worth providing for! Design-wise, allowing materials to flow from one area to another can increase play value: for example, balls down the slide.

Recapitulative Play – play that allows the child to explore ancestry, history, rituals, stories, rhymes, fire and darkness. Enables children to access play of earlier human evolutionary stages.

I quibble with the definition of recapitulative play as its own distinct play type, but it brings up fire, which wasn’t mentioned yet. If it’s possible it can be so amazing to have fire incorporated somehow. I’ve seen fires for cooking and warming oneself, little candle flames and matches for fire play, fire contained in metal bowls and fire to melt pots of crayons into wax. It’s not possible everywhere, but when it is, fire can be very special.

Recapitulative play, creative play, and mastery play: melting crayons over a fire.


It is important to note that just because you do some of the things above won’t mean you’ll necessarily see that kind of play, neither is it considered play if you run adult-led versions of any of these. These interventions are intended to broaden the array of options. The choice and possibility are the important parts.

The above are just a few ideas to get you started thinking about play types. Often, the children will be your best guide to what kind of play they want to be able to engage in: follow their lead! Sometimes, a change in perspective or a change in the environment is all you will need to make it possible to say, enthusiastically, “Yes!”.

Categories: Earthplay Blog

Alex’s Playwork Notebook: Playing in the Cracks, USA

March 13, 2017

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By: Alex Cote — For more from Alex, check out her blog, PlayBound.

“These rocks were never intended for climbing but some of the kids can and I convinced the rest of the staff that it was okay.”

“One of the kids started a store this morning and there were no other kids to buy things so we announced over the walkie-talkies to all the staff that there was a store and he got a steady stream of customers the rest of his visit.”

“The kids are out there in the tall grass. Last I heard they were catching crawfish. Not sure what they’re doing now but they’re having fun and they know where I am if they need me.”

These were things the playwork staff said at three different play sites across the country: a zoo, a children’s museum, and a school adventure playground. After having driven across the US from Ithaca, NY to Val Verde, CA I am so inspired by the quality playwork that’s happening in unexpected places – places that are not as conducive to playwork as adventure playgrounds – and yet, there playworkers were, making room for play in the cracks.

North Carolina Zoo kidZone, Asheboro, NC

At first glance, the play area, “kidZone“, at the North Carolina Zoo seems ordinary – there’s a chalk wall and a labyrinth and a recirculating creek. All lovely, but at a zoo there are often so many rules about how to use the areas that the play is constantly interrupted and restricted by well-meaning adults. Enter Linda Kinney, who manages the playspace at the zoo, and her deep understanding of supporting play guided by her Masters in Playwork from the University of Gloucestershire in the UK. She and her staff make sure the site is stocked with loose parts and make sure that caregivers know that it’s okay if their kids climb the giant boulders, sit right in the stream, and chalk the playground walls. Linda is working constantly to find the gaps where play can exist in an institution where animal play is usually more of a priority than human play.

The New Children’s Museum, San Diego, CA

The New Children’s Museum in San Diego, CA is a beautiful space with children’s exhibits designed by modern artists. Those of us in the adventure play world might immediately write off an adult-designed playspace, but, I’ve come to find that playwork can make even highly designed spaces more conducive to play. The museum playworkers, led by Megan Dickerson who also has her Masters in Playwork from Gloucestershire, help visitors connect with the different spaces through play. They rely on knowledge of many of the same playwork concepts as those of us who work in more flexible spaces use: play cues, the play cycle, etc. especially in the new exhibit “Make/Shift” which is a loose parts play area. Other than their interactions with children, much of their work is advocating for play with adult caregivers who visit and working with adult artists to make their pieces more play-friendly.

Adventure Playground at The Parish School, Houston, TX

At the Parish School in Houston, Texas, Jill Wood runs Adventure Playground (AP) – an after-school program on its own lot where the children build their own structures and decide what to do with their time – whether it be catching crawfish out in the tall grass, or battling bad guys with sticks, or many other games we don’t know about because it’s their play, not ours! Adventure play and playwork as an after school program work so well because these kids really own this space; even the adults who work there have no idea what half the creations have been used for. Many of the kids who attend spend hours and hours immersed in play there every week for their entire childhood. The space grows with them as they change it to suit their needs. The time there feels slow and full of possibility.

While playwork was born at adventure playgrounds and is easiest to implement when the space is as child-controlled as possible, it is possible to practice playwork in other settings. The playworkers’ vow is to provide for play; sometimes in order to do that, they have to find the cracks.

 

Categories: Earthplay Blog

Anarchy on the Katie Show

May 23, 2014

Rusty Keeler with Katie

rusty-katieSo there I was, hanging out with my 2 year old son JJ on his favorite railroad tracks down by the river. We’d been throwing rocks in the water, crossing the railroad bridge hand in hand, and gleefully running down the tracks hollering for the train. I felt a buzz from my iphone, eventually checked it and it said, “hi my name is _______ and I am a producer for the Katie Couric show and I’d like to talk to you about being a guest for an upcoming show.” Huh?! It turned out not to be a friend pranking me but indeed a producer for the Katie show. They had been inspired by the recent cover story in The Atlantic, The Overprotected Kid and wanted to do a segment about this subject. (Have you read it? you really should. Go ahead. You can stop reading my post and check it out. I don’t mind) The article talks about many things we in the playground world care deeply about — from playgrounds being dulled down through standardized safety regulations (with most injury rates not actually going down), to the insanity of cutting school recess, to the myriad of reasons parents are petrified to let their kids go out and play, to all the thoughts and comparisons of the kinds and ranges of play we might have experienced as kids compared to “kids today”. This is all stuff we’ve been talking about for years, but this article was a new eye-opener and call to action because it also remarked that all this protectiveness and the “safety at all costs”  philosophy is not only not working, but in fact has awful costs and consequences. Ouch.

And would you believe what the article points to as a remedy to the overprotectedness of kids’ lives today? You guessed it: the rootsyness of Adventure Playgrounds! The author visited a now famous one in Wales called The Land. Have you seen pictures? It is pretty dang ugly. The first adventure playgrounds in Denmark in the 1940’s were called “Junk Playgrounds” and that name certainly fits The Land. A rugged lot with trees, mud, a small creek flowing through. Then storage sheds and junk, junk, junk. Old couches, mannequins, laundry baskets, tunnels, bits of anything you could imagine. And it looks just plain ugly…until you see the kids playing on it. And then, like all adventure playgrounds, it becomes amazingly beautiful. Kids freely playing, directing their own play, accessing and assessing their own risks, making mistakes, having triumphs, being kids and living a kid culture. Really, doing all the things you and your friends probably did when you were a kid. The article ends touting adventure playgrounds but like so many discussions on European adventure playgrounds it to asks “but could it happen in the USA?” US filmmaker Erin Davis is currently in production on a documentary about The Land called The Land. When asked if it can happen in the USA Erin says of course…and it’s already happening!

And that’s how Katie Couric found out about my adventure playground work with The Anarchy Zone at the Ithaca Children’s Garden. Erin pointed them to us as an example of a successful new american adventure playground, and after a long Q&A with a producer, before I knew it there I was—along with an Ithacan mom they selected to talk about who she appreciates her son playing at the Anarchy Zone — on a plane, then in a limo, then in a fancy hotel in NYC trying to get a good night’s sleep before we were set to shoot early the next morning. I won’t go into detail about the green room and makeup and nervous producers and nervous us and getting wired up then getting ushered through hallways and elevators and back rooms and back stage to finally getting to our places and waiting for Katie and the show to begin. Then it begins and there’s Erin Davis and Katie Couric talking about adventure playgrounds and all the wild shenanigans that go on, with pictures of adventure playgrounds and clips from Erin’s film and it’s like I’m having an out of body experience because this is really happening: national television, day time US talk shows, are highlighting adventure freaking playgrounds. I’m not making this up—I’m not. There was an earlier hayday of adventure playgrounds in the USA back, oh, in the 1970’s. But were they highlighted and talked about on the Merv Griffith show? Did Phil Donahue show images of kids sawing cardboard and playing with fire and climbing trees? I don’t remember seeing that. But it’s happening now. It’s so amazing! National debate about this is good. There needs to be a change. Children need to play. We need to do everything we can to help make that happen.

So then it was my turn. Katie turns to me and asks the questions. Like a deer in the headlights I do my best—talk about the Anarchy Zone and the amazing things that kids do there, answer the difficult question of why adventure playgrounds haven’t been as accepted in the US as they have been in Europe by gracefully saying essentially that the time is NOW, then my segment ends with me offering Americans suggestions of what they can do at home to promote more adventurous play. (“Give them shovels and let them dig holes in the back yard!”) Boom, done, over, and we’re rushed to the side of the stage for photos with Katie, ushered back stage to get the microphones off, then dumped back into the green room to collapse on a cushy couch. My goodness. An exciting experience to go through, an exciting opportunity to be a part of. But what is most exciting to me is that the play pendulum is finally swinging back to reality. The country, no, the world is talking about the mistake of overprotecting our children and we’re now collectively, collaboratively reaching for the answers to fix it. I’m on board. I can feel the tide changing. Can you?

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(this story first appeared in the Play and Playground News Center)

Categories: Adventure Play, Earthplay Blog Tags: adventure play, adventure playground, adventure playground movement, adventure playground renaissance, katie couric, rusty keeler, the anarchy zone

The Smoldering Fire of Progress….

March 26, 2014

adventure play

So there I was, heading to the Hands-on-Nature Anarchy Zone at the Ithaca Children’s Garden. It was winter play camp week during the winter break and I was coming to hang with the kids and see what sort of fun things were happening. I arrived mid-morning and was excited to check out the scene. Much to my surprise as I pulled up: nobody was there. It was a beautiful sunny day — the perfect day for outside winter camp — but where was everybody? I could see a small drift of smoke from the where the campfire is located—but no one there? I don’t get it. I gather my stuff and get out of the car and head to the fire and picnic table, all the while trying to solve this puzzle. Nobody was in the garden anywhere. “They wouldn’t have left. No way! What the heck is going on?” I set my things down, poke the fire a little bit then stop and look up and there’s the answer: everybody—the kids and all the playworkers— were across the way sledding and having fun. Perfect! Of course!  Mystery solved! Too funny. Eventually everybody makes their way back to the garden, happily pooped and ready for lunch: hotdogs roasted over the fire. Perfect timing, Keeler!

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What a relaxed and happy scene. Some kids roasting the dogs, some kids taking a break, one kid in a tree, playworkers sharpening hotdog sticks and blowing on the fire. After lunch kids played games in a willow tunnel while a group of playworkers made a humongous snowball and rolled it to a central location. Much fun was had climbing on the tall snow sculpture, jumping off, and finally sliding down the snow slide we built—an idea of one of the kids. It wasn’t until I got home and started looking at pictures from the day that it dawned on me: something special is going on. A change is underway. More than a decade ago I visited a number of adventure playgrounds in Germany and took loads of pictures of what I saw. These were amazing places filled with kid-built wooden structures, farm animals, wild gardens, and loose parts. One of my favorite shockers in the slideshow would always be the one of an untended fire, smoldering away with nobody around—as if audiences would think it was crazy and totally impossible to imagine that happening in our country. And yes, back then it was a bit shocking. Conversations were just starting about how to bring plants and dirt to children’s spaces. But with this fire i realized how far we have come and that we’ve taken it to the next level. At this moment in time there are adults everywhere rethinking the “safety at all costs” attitude and finding ways to apply common sense to children’s play opportunities.  Adults everywhere are finding ways to say yes to children’s play—yes to climbing trees, building fires, growing food, tending animals and kids building their own worlds with loose parts and tools.

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Now, saying yes is great, but it’s not that simple of course, is it? (at least not that simple for we adults. it’s quite simple for kids: we say yes and the kids go play) There are many factors to consider and many hoops to jump through for us to feel comfortable with yes. But that’s ok. We’re ready. And together we’re making doing it. We’re making great strides and inspiring each other to support children’s play in greater and more interesting ways. At the recent US Play Coalition conference at Clemson University in South Carolina much of the talk revolved around communities working together to increase children’s play opportunities and at the same time actually looking at the benefits of risk, rather than only the management and removal of risk. How refreshing! How interesting. And how beneficial to the lives of children.
I’m inspired, amazed, and excited to watch this adventure play renaissance unfolding. But don’t get me wrong. Leaving fires unattended is not the end-all be-all goal of this movement. The goal is freedom to play. What excites me about that fire is what led up to that fire’s very existence:

  • Interested adults committing to enriching the lives of children through play
  • An organization willing to create host a site for adventurous play
  • Thorough conversations about play and risk benefits
  • Intensive playwork training and self-reflective practice
  • Financial support – from both governmental and non-profit organizations
  • Community support in building and visiting the space
  • Trust and communication with children (and parents)
  • Interest in not just summer camp but winter camp too
  • Interest in having fires to cook on and support for children around the fire
  • Trust in community, kids, and the site to have a fire and even be able to leave it unattended from time to time

When you see children in free play it seems so obvious, natural, normal. And it is. But to make it happen today it often takes thoughtful conversations and careful planning by adults. And while that hasn’t necessarily been the natural thought process adults in recent times—in schools, parks, neighborhoods—the times they are a-changing. And we’re finding more ways every day of saying yes to children’s play.

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Categories: Adventure Play, Earthplay Blog Tags: adventure play, adventure playground, children and fire, natural playground, natural playscapes, nature play, overprotected kid, rusty keeler

Ice Laboratory

February 12, 2014

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Hello fellow earthplayers! Are you having a fun winter? (or summer, for those of you soaking in the sun “down under”)  Here in Ithaca NY it’s been cold! Really cold. Almost pushing the limits of our favorite saying, “no bad weather, just bad clothing”. But not quite….there have still been plenty of days to go out and play, explore, build, and create. What do you do in winter? Sled? Build snowmen? Eat snow? There is a lot to do and it’s such a contrast to summer activities it’s a bit mindblowing. (really: where I live it is so different from summer to winter it’s crazy. all on one planet. all in one place. From our human perspective, our planet floating in space creates a big shift in temperatures and light and yet…and yet…from a planetary geologic perspective it is a quite subtle really.  temperate enough to sustain life — our lives! A little more heat in the summer and we couldn’t take it. And if the temperatures tipped just a bit more frigid in the winters, forget it. But, we’re lucky. Our planet is a good host for us. Thanks Earth!) But I digress!

So how about that winter and children and outdoor fun? Ever try freezing stuff to play with? Making ice sculptures? Pulling out the ol’ food coloring? At the Hands-on-Nature Anarchy Zone in the Ithaca Children’s Garden we’ve been having lots of fun in winter, especially at our recent Fire and Ice Festival. One of the highlights was our now famous “Ice Lab” — something you could totally try too. We asked folks ahead of time to freeze water in fun and funky molds (water balloons, plastic leftover containers, ice cube trays, bowls, buckets, even kiddie pools) and we did too. (The Ithaca Water Department even got in on the fun and did a bunch of frozen ice pieces for us!) Then we set up a designated area for all this stuff and staged it with empty bowls, spoons, cups, and squirt bottles filled with food coloring and water. What a blast! So many yummy food coloringy concoctions. Some many grand ice experiments. Try it! (and if it’s too warm to try it where you live, it’s not: you have freezers, right?)

 

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Categories: Earthplay Blog

Building a Mini Playscape “River”

October 14, 2013

Last month I had the fun pleasure of building a mini “River” with volunteers during a great natural playscape community build at The Butterfly House on the campus of the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA. I thought y’all might be interested in the process. Take a peek!

Here we are starting out on a gradual hill about 18″ above the tricycle track grade. We ran a water line extension to this point to plug in our earthplay Water Tower as the water source.

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I raked a 6″ deep  x 3′ wide path for the river to take and we put down a gravel base and shaped metal “hardware cloth” over top as the reinforcing for the concrete. (the round rocks you see were just to hold the cloth down as we pinned it in place)

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Here comes the concrete. We had one team mixing, a wheelbarrower bringing it to the river location, then a team of concreters smoothing and troweling it in place, followed by a group of folks getting to do the fun work of adding marbles boulders and designs in the wet concrete!

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Here you can see the back of the EarthPlay WATER TOWER. (and here you can see more pictures and a video of it in action!)

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Kids adding fun marble-mosaics too!

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a couple of the fun up-close marble design details:

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Stay tuned for further pictures of “The River” in action!

Categories: DIY, Earthplay Blog, step by step Tags: childcare center, community built, creeks and kids, design, early childhood, natural playground, natural playscapes, playscape, water feature, water play, water pump, water sculpture

my little JJ, away!

July 23, 2013

I just dropped my little 18-month old son JJ off  at “childcare” for the first time. My heart is overflowing with emotions. We had been keeping his care “in the family” so to speak, so far splitting childcare time between myself, my wife, and my parents who live nearby (plus close friends and neighbors – it takes a village, right?). But for various reasons during these next two weeks we needed extra help. Actual “childcare”. Whoa.

The place we found is beautiful: “The Magic Garden“, totally rootsy, rural, and relaxed. Wild gardens, berries, hills, fruit  trees, chickens, cats/dogs/horses/sheep + super kind and loving people. It’s totally the type of place I would want to see him at….but oh my heart! I can’t help but sob, both recognizing a marker/milestone in JJ’s (and our) life and that’s he’s “somewhere else” with “other people”. But also sad to be missing it; missing watching him explore and grow, to be there along with him for the ride and adventure. oh life! I’ve been working with childcare places for so long; seeing kids, caregivers, and parents picking up, dropping off … but now it’s here for me up close and personal. From the inside. What a heart-string pull… so many feelings…

 

(here’s a little look at his first wanderings of the place)

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Categories: Earthplay Blog Tags: childcare center, early childhood, natural playground, natural playscapes, nature, nature play

Rainy Day with BUILDER BOARDS

June 6, 2013

Too much fun!  Another Tuesday and another Adventure School gathering. But this time it was a dark and rainy day. So what do we do? Well, first we all tromp through the woods in the downpour to visit a neighbor’s farm with sheep, horses, and a donkey of course! (there’s “no bad weather, just bad clothing”, right?)  Then we decide to head back to our barn-studio, crank up the little wood stove (this is June in upstate New York remember) and have fun inside. We made a giant blanket fortress, played with clay, cranked funky music by The Meters, then broke out the BUILDER BOARDS!! Yeah!  Check out the fun with these beautiful wood building boards. Kids love them. Adults do too. And all ages can get in on the fun. Nice! Did I mention we make and sell Builder Boards? We love them and want to share them with the world. What you see here is a mini kit. We also sell a huge kit. Endless possibilities for construction, collaboration, and creativity. You know you want a set of these! (I especially love the wacky 3D sculpture at the end) What do you think?

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Categories: Adventure Play, Earthplay Blog Tags: adventure play, construction play, loose parts, loose parts play

MUD! it’s ok, mamas and papas….

May 14, 2013

natural playscape

So we all know kids love mud and puddles and jumping in mud and puddles. And yes, we parents know it too – but do we like it? Not always! And now schools and childcare centers are intentionally allowing and encouraging children to explore the mud and mess? Oh my goodness! How do teachers handle that? How do they talk about the positive impact on children’s learning and exploration to parents? How do they help parents understand? How do they make it work??

Check out this fine example of a “we love mud’ flier recently posted for parents to see at the wonderful Center for Child Development at Kansas State University. Not only do they share the positive learning potentials with parents, but they even invite the parents to join in the process. Nice job!

Categories: Adventure Play, Earthplay Blog Tags: adventure play, childcare center, early childhood, mud, mud day, mud play, natural playground, nature play, playscape, water play

Portland Playscape Park Project

May 1, 2013

natural play

Wow!  Check out this great new video about a great new project we are working on in the city of Portland, OR. My playscape partner Leon Smith is leading it and working with loads of kids on the design doing field trips, brainstorming, drawings, model building and more. Exciting stuff!!

Categories: Earthplay Blog, playscape workshops Tags: community design, design, kids, natural playground, natural playscapes, play, playscape

Springy Adventure School

April 24, 2013

natural play

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check it out, loads of fun at this week’s Adventure School Group!

Categories: Earthplay Blog

Playscape Build…in Action!

April 18, 2013

It’s playground building season again and this time I’m down in Atlanta, GA working with the amazing Rukia Rogers to create a wild space for city kids at her soon-to-open childcare center, The Highlander School. We’ve got carpenters, concrete water feature-makers, tree specialists, children’s garden workers, and a load of volunteers all coming together to build this fun space.

I showed you the design before. It’s this one:

But now I thought it would be fun for you to see the build in action so I’m documenting the process on Instagram. You can follow along here.

(and if you’re near Atlanta, come check  in person! Our volunteer build will be happening all day on saturday!!)

Categories: Earthplay Blog Tags: childcare center, community, design, early childhood, natural playground, natural playscapes, playscape

It’s Willow Hut Building Time!

April 16, 2013

That’s right folks: early spring is the perfect time to plant the willow hut you’ve been dreaming about. If you live in the northern hemisphere this means now! Hooray!

Ready to build? Here is the How to Build a Willow Hut piece from my book Natural Playscapes.  : )

The best way to get the “bush willow” varieties is to harvest it from the creeks or wetlands in your region. It’s a fun nature experience  in itself: scouting the rivers for bush willow, getting landowner permission to cut,  then hanging out in a wild patch of landscape and cutting willow whips for your kids’ willow structure. Awesome! (Bring your kids along of course. You never know what you’ll get into!)

If you can’t locate willow in your area we sell willow. The good stuff, too!

Here is a time lapse video of friends at the Dodge Nature Center Preschool building a living willow hut.

So grab those shovels and pruners and twine and go for it! Building a willow hut is a fun project that soon sprouts into a magical natural play space for your children…

 

 

Categories: Adventure Play, DIY, Earthplay Blog, step by step Tags: adventure playground, living willow, living willow hut, natural playground, natural playscapes, nature play, play, playscape, willow hut

Another kid loving a creek…

April 9, 2013

Another kid loving a little creek… but this time it’s my own 15-month old JJ!  Out on a family hike we passed a tiny drainage creek flowing under the trail. JJ heard the trickle  and immediately wanted to get down and investigate. Amazing. We know kids love water, and feel connected to the elements. A kinship even. And here it was happening anew with this little guy. Together we checked the creeklet out, listened to the burbling, threw little rocks in, then of course it was time to step into the flow. Sploosh! Kids want to investigate water and see how it works. They love squishing and touching. You know it’s true. All we need to do as adults is create opportunities for children to connect with water and  the natural living world. (oh, and provide  mud boots!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories: Adventure Play, Earthplay Blog, water play Tags: adventure play, creeks and kids, nature play, play, toddler play, water play, woods

East Atlanta Playscape DESIGN!

April 5, 2013

hey y’all – check out our fun new design for The Highlander School in Atlanta, started by the amazing Rukia Rogers! We’ll be doing a volunteer construction day in 2 weeks – if you’re in the neighborhood stop by. The more the merrier! (and yes: those are SHEEP you see grazing!!!!)

 

Categories: DIY, Earthplay Blog Tags: adventure play, community, design, natural playground, natural playscapes, natuyra, play, playscape, rusty keeler, swarm build, water play

Adventure School meets The Anarchy Zone!

December 2, 2012

So if you remember, I’ve been working with local friends to create a day-a-week traveling “forest school” for our preschool-age kids — “Adventure School” . Each week we pick a different family’s land to visit where the children can explore, play, create, construct, balance, and build fires. We’ve visited forests in fall, creeks in summer, farms, fields, hills, and hollows with more kids and families joining the crew each session.

“Who’s place this week?” is the normal question we pose on our email list.

“How about The Anarchy Zone??” someone recently suggested.

YES! The Anarchy Zone and Adventure School: a perfect meeting of philosophies and ideas: a place to explore and dig and balance and take risks (careful about falling in the chilly deep mud puddle!) while celebrating children’s natural curiosities, creativity, and connection to the natural world. Success! Take a peek….





Categories: Adventure Play, Earthplay Blog Tags: adventure play, adventure playground, forest kindergarten, natural playground, natural playscapes, nature play, playwork, wonder

Adventure School Group – in session!

September 13, 2012




Friends and I have been dreaming of starting an adventure school and this week we began the first Tuesday of the Adventure School Group’s 2012-13 school year. Yay!  Inspired by forest schools and nature kindergartens we are starting with a one-day-a-week morning adventure session rotating between various locations. (some families live by a creek. others on a farm. others in the forest.) Each week a different location but with a common theme: child-led adventure and discovery. Ages range from 8 months to 7 years. Here is the post-adventure write up from Miss Maggie, adventure leader extraordinaire, day one. And check out our blog. Fun stuff!

 

As the first adventurers showed up to play, so did a tiny, baby chipmunk!

The morning was chilly, but Nick had a bonfire going to welcome everyone.

We walked down to the creek, fished and climbed all over the rocks.

Then we took a nice, long walk up the creek and found more fallen trees to climb on.

Some of the folks scrambled through the woods back to the house,

while the others walked back down the creek.

We ended the morning with a picnic in the sun to dry us out!!

“JJ chased, and pet, and chased again the chipmunk we saw.”

Taryn, “I caught a fish”

Coulter, “I was fishing too!”

Alden, “I got a fish too. I just holded on and one bite-ed onto it!”

Nimah, “We got WET!”

“EmmyLou touched the fish in the bowl.”

Amani, “I was holding the fish.”

Alden, “I was holding the fish too!”

“JJ tasted lots of rocks and dipped his toes in the water. He also touched a fish.”

We all had a wonderful morning! Can’t wait for next Tuesday’s Adventure!!

 

Categories: Adventure Play, Earthplay Blog, water play Tags: adventure play, adventure school, forest kindergarten, natural playscapes, nature play, outside, water play, wonder, woods

Earthplay Water Tower

September 12, 2012

natural playscape

Here it is!  One of our new Earthplay Water Features: the WATER TOWER!

For the past year I’ve been working to create simple, durable water play items that people can add to their natural playscapes. I have a friend with a large stand of Black Locust trees which are perfect for children’s play areas: beefy, beautiful, and naturally rot-resistant. So I thought: what if you take a log, plant it in the ground, add plumbing to it, then simply hook it to a hose to give children the opportunity to trickle a bit of water into a bucket,  sand area, or mud pit. No water flows until a child toggles the faucet (and teachers have the ultimate shutoff at the building!) Take a peek. What do you think?  More pictures at our store.

EarthPlay WATER TOWER from rusty keeler on Vimeo.

 

 

Categories: Adventure Play, Earthplay Blog, water play Tags: black locust, childcare center, early childhood, natural playground, natural playscapes, outside, rusty keeler, sand play, water play, water pump, water sculpture

Anarchy Zone: one, TV: zero.

August 30, 2012

adventure play

Here’s a glimpse at some of the funky fort building happening at the Anarchy Zone at the Ithaca Children’s Garden. Notice the negotiation between the girl in white and her mom to stay (inside the den) a half hour longer. At around 1:40 of the video the mom says “this half hour is instead of watching your show” into the hole in the straw bale fort, and the girl happily stays inside. Anarchy Zone: one, TV: zero. That’s what we’re talking about, right?

Anarchy Zone: one, TV: zero from rusty keeler on Vimeo.

Categories: Adventure Play, Earthplay Blog Tags: adventure play, adventure playground, den building, fort building, natural playground, natural playscapes, playwork, rusty keeler

Vintage Adventure Playground Film

August 29, 2012

natural playscape

OK, my absolute new love is ADVENTURE PLAYGROUNDS. You know about these, right? Started after WWII – children playing with loose parts, rubble, scrap building materials to build their own play and playgrounds. The phenomenon caught on first in Europe and is still going strong in many cities. (Berlin has over 100 adventure playgrounds today). One of the key components to the adventure playground is the adult PLAYWORKER – being mostly hands-off, but keeping a careful eye on the goings-on. There were adventure playgrounds all over North American way back when too. Now there is only a few…. but they are coming back. The Adventure Play Renaissance is happening! Let’s do it!

check out this amazing vintage film of a British Adventure Playground back in the day:
(click to watch)

HOME-MADE PLAYGROUND

vintage-thumb

Categories: Adventure Play, Earthplay Blog Tags: adventure play, adventure playground, play, playwork

Brooklyn Swarm Build TIMELAPSE!

August 27, 2012

Hee hee – fun times in the big city. Here a group of spirited volunteers got together to plant themselves a hillslide. Nice!  Shoveling, pickaxing, gathering free woodchips from a local cemetery,  light carpentry and heavy comradery added up to a fun day of work and a great new 4′ hillslide planted in the community’s sweet children’s play courtyard. Yeah!

Brooklyn Swarm Build TIMELAPSE from rusty keeler on Vimeo.

Categories: DIY, Earthplay Blog, playscape workshops, step by step Tags: build, community, embankment slide, hill slide, kids, natural playground, natural playscapes, nature, play, playscape, rusty keeler, swarm build

Montessori PLAYSCAPE DESIGN

August 13, 2012

Here’s the current project I’m working on at a wonderful Montessori school in Newport News, VA. Located in a business park, the current play area is on top of an asphalt parking lot. Well, let the transformations begin! When I visited earlier this year the kids and staff shared amazing ideas and visions for their new yards. Here they are incorporated into the Master Plan….

Categories: Earthplay Blog Tags: design, montessori, montessori playground, natural playground, natural playscapes, nature, nature play, outside, playscape, rusty keeler

East Tennessee SWARM BUILD

August 6, 2012

Here we are: another volunteer community “Swarm Build” — this one at the East Tennessee State University Child Study Center in Johnson City, TN.  Fun! We timed it to fit in with the ETSU Early Childhood conference and offered conference-goers a chance to step away from the air-conditioned conference center, put on work clothes, roll up their sleeves, and add some great new features to an already neat outdoor playscape. Together we planted new plants, added bamboo vine climbing poles to an arbor, constructed a boulder-marble-concrete water feature (complete with a kid-controlled water barrel trickle), and created a beautiful tile mosaic mural on a long concrete block wall. Check it out:

ETSU Swarm Build from rusty keeler on Vimeo.

Categories: Earthplay Blog, playscape workshops Tags: build, childcare center, community, design, early childhood, ETSU, natural playground, natural playscapes, rusty keeler, swarm build, water play, water pump, water sculpture

Creativity in the Anarchy Zone mud pit

July 18, 2012

You could simply call this “play”, or like Morgan Leichter-Saxby, you could also call this “building, engineering, balancing, experimenting, splashing, and focusing”– all in the Mud at the Ithaca Children’s Garden’s ANARCHY ZONE.

Mud Constructions at the hands-on-nature ANARCHY ZONE from rusty keeler on Vimeo.

 

Categories: Adventure Play, Earthplay Blog Tags: mud, mud day, natural playground, natural playscapes, nature play, rusty keeler, water play, wonder

Playscape Log Gathering, Community Built Style!

July 16, 2012




 

Here’s one way to do it. During a natural playscape build at Faith Childcare and Nursery School in Rochester, NY we had a big space designated as “log climbing area”. Great. But then we needed to get some logs to fill it. We put the word out to parents and sure enough: one dad  just that week had a large tree in his backyard cut down and was getting ready to have it hauled away. “We’ll take it!” There. Simple as that. Except now we had to figure out how to move it, cart it, drag it, and get it to the nursery school in one piece (or at least in a couple pieces!) After a bit of head scratching, calculating,  figuring and refiguring we were ready to try our schemes (after one dad declared, “impossible!” I knew we’d be successful.) So, with tarps, rope, a lawn tractor, duct tape, chewing gum, and some push carts from the school we coaxed the giant logs inch by inch from the back yard to the front yard where a friendly contractor would scoop them onto his truck and bring them to the playscape site. Yes!

ASK for what you need (logs!), get HELP, be CREATIVE,  and have FUN. That’s what community built is all about…

[FMP width=”640″ height=”360″]http://earthplay.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/IMG_0462.mov[/FMP]

 

Categories: DIY, Earthplay Blog Tags: community, community built, early childhood, natural playground, natural playscapes, rusty keeler, swarm build

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