MUD! it’s ok, mamas and papas….
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 ...read more
Portland Playscape Park Project
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!!
Playscape Build…in Action!
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 ...read more
It’s Willow Hut Building Time!
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 ...read more
Adventure School meets The Anarchy Zone!
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, ...read more
Earthplay Water Tower
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, ...read more
Brooklyn Swarm Build TIMELAPSE!
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 ...read more
Montessori PLAYSCAPE DESIGN
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 ...read more
East Tennessee SWARM BUILD
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 ...read more
International MUD DAY
Woo hoo! International Mud Day at the new Hands-on-Nature ANARCHY ZONE at the Ithaca Children’s Garden. YEAH!!!! Mud pools, mud slides, mud pies, mud cloth, mud mountains. We got 60 cubic yards of screened topsoil delivered and the Ithaca fire department was amazingly generous and came to soak it all up and make some yummy ...read more
