16 Jan 2009
Ah, winter: the quiet time of the year for calm, rest, and hot chocolate. But that's not all. It's also the time for dreaming of green gardens and vegetable abundance!
For the past two weeks my mailbox has been stuffed full of enticing catalogs with full-color photos of herbs, flowers, fruit, and veggies. For an upstate New Yorker waist-deep in snow and grey skies it feels great to soak in the glossy green and dream of sunnier days.
Winter is a great time to dream and plan your garden, but it is also the perfect time to plan changes to your backyard that will offer new possibilities of play and nature discovery for your children.
Do you know about the new movement in children's playgrounds? Playgrounds are going back to nature! Instead of metal monkey bars, children's play areas are incorporating hills and "hidey nooks," sand and water zones, pathways and plantings -- all in the spirit of connecting children to nature.
Think about it: when you were a child, where were your favorite places to play? What were the sensory experiences there? What did you do there and how did the play change with the seasons? Today's playgrounds are incorporating the natural play opportunities that many of us remember from our childhood adventures.
I work with schools and childcare centers to design and build "natural playscapes" in their backyards. Together we dream what the spaces will look like, invite local artists to join the project, and enlist the help of community volunteers to build the spaces. We plant trees, bring in boulders, dig out sand pits, and add wind chimes -- all in the name of creating multi-sensory, whimsical spaces for children's play.
These schools and childcare centers are trying to create what you may already have: a homey backyard! Your yard may just be waiting for a few new additions and ideas to make it a natural landscape of playful discovery:
- How about planting a fruit tree tunnel that blossoms in the spring and provides fruit in the fall, or a sunflower house that sprouts tall during the seasons?
- What about a digging area filled with dirt and sand and a hose hookup, or a small hill to climb made from a load of topsoil?
- You can plant shrubs and berry bushes to create "hidey nooks," or groups of flowering trees that will grow into mini-forests.
- Mosaic stepping-stones may lead children to special spots and a smooth boulder or tucked-in bench offer children a quiet place for contemplation.
Ah, winter. The perfect time to dream…
| Rusty Keeler is an artist/designer who works with groups around the world to create one-of-a-kind, natural play spaces for children. He is the author of the book, Natural Playscapes: Creating Outdoor Play Environments for the Soul (Exchange Press: 2008). Rusty lives among the hills and creeks outside Ithaca, NY. His website is www.earthplay.net. |
