• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Who We are
    • Client List
  • Services
    • Playscape Design
    • Community Builds
    • workshops
    • Keynote Presentations
    • Consulting & Coaching
  • Portfolio
  • Resources
    • Audio
    • Video
    • 5 Nearly Free Do-It-Yourself Playscape Projects
    • Articles & Handbooks
    • Natural Play Stories
  • Store
    • Hill Slides
    • Books
    • Sand & Water Play
    • Music Play
    • Loose Parts
    • Living Willow
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Newsletter
  • Cart

Earthplay

Nature - Adventure - Play

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo

Helping you create the nature play area of your dreams!

You are here: Home / Archives for creeks and kids

creeks and kids

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.

IMG_4415

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)

IMG_4419

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!

IMG_4441

IMG_4444

IMG_4450

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!)

IMG_4454

Kids adding fun marble-mosaics too!

IMG_4459

 

IMG_4461

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

IMG_4463

IMG_4464

IMG_4465

IMG_4467

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

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

Creekside Adventure School

May 16, 2012

[portfolio_slideshow]

 

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 Farm Forest Adventure School with best friends, right??

So, here we are enjoying a creekside kid adventure day on Taughannock Creek outside of Ithaca, NY. Four adults, seven kids ages 4 months (Julian!) through 9 years old. It’s all about discovering new things (salamanders, water spiders, how to catch a crayfish, which bark boat floats down the current fastest) taking risks (ankle deep, knee deep, fall in? no!), and enjoying the environment with all the senses. And swinging on vines. And building fires. And stacking rocks. And pouring water out of your rubber boots.

We all have much to learn every time we step outside. Especially children. So why not give them the opportunity to experience the world firsthand. Got a creek? A nearby woods? A meadow? A yard? A garden? Nearly any natural place will do.

Bring on the adventure!

Categories: Earthplay Blog Tags: alternative school, creeks and kids, early childhood, earthplay, forest kindergarten, forest school, freeschool, Ithaca, natural playground, natural playscapes, nature and kids, nature play, outside, rusty keeler, unschool, water play, woods

Copyright © 2021 · Earthplay · All Rights Reserved

Site Design by DeSio Studios

Copyright © 2021 · Earthplay Theme Candidate 1 on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in