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
East Atlanta Playscape DESIGN!
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!!!!)
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
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
Spring Willow Hut Build
[slideshow]This past weekend I had the pleasure of building another great living willow hut…this time in a sweet public park in my own town of Spencer, NY. Local organizer and volunteer extraordinaire, Nicole O’Connell-Avery, is spearheading a natural playscape project for little kids in the park. The first build of the project: a Living Willow ...read more
Thailand Tire-Nature Playground
Winter time here. Grey skies. Ice and snow on the ground. Wood fire keeping things toasty inside. Sledding and skiing as daily fun-time activities. Not bad! Now of course in the southern hemisphere it’s sunny hot summer and I still have a winter’s worth of summery pictures and stories from our New Zealand – Australia ...read more
