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
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
Another kid loving a creek…
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 ...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
Adventure School Group – in session!
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 ...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
Creativity in the Anarchy Zone mud pit
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.
Creekside Adventure School
Gotta love it: learning about the world by being in the world. Up close and personal style. After all the years of dreaming and designing children’s spaces I finally have a child of my own: Julian James Keeler, born Jan 8, 2012. yay! So what’s a new parent to do but dream up an Art ...read more
Water. You Know What to Do.
Summer is over, but that doesn’t mean you can’t dip in the water a little bit longer. Here is a fun sequence of my awesome niece ZORA enjoying the shallow water at Buttermilk Falls State park in Ithaca, NY. She lives in the big city of Washington, DC, but give her a creek and some ...read more
