Investigating Rotation

The boys play with their bikes in a myriad of ways. Friday they turned them upside down along with a wheel barrow and a toy truck. At first it seemed that the challenge was just to get the wheels spinning. Next, they discovered if the wheels touched one another you only had to spin one wheel and the second wheel would spin as well. Finally, they made observations about speed and how many rotations different size wheels made in the same amount of time. A playful moment:emergent scientific discovery.
We certainly are relishing the start of spring with lots of unstructured play.

Forts, Structures and Ice Cream Shops

Today the boys and a friend built an The Three Bears Ice Cream Shop using scrap wood, bricks, a piece of fabric and a few other odds and ends found about the yard.  They gathered writing materials and tape for their sign.

Although the structure is not fancy the children felt very proud of their work. It took a bit of guidance to actually get the idea going in a solid direction but as the kids started to explore the idea and manipulate the materials they quickly owned it. They made a freezer of ferns and were looking all around for roofing material which I eventually helped them with by suggesting fabric. In retrospect maybe I should have let them come up with that idea.

They were figuring out how to make ice cream as the day wrapped up and it would have been fun to see what they discovered. Sadly, the players may not all be gathered together tomorrow to continue the idea- but we will see what may transpire.

Reflection on the Movement

My posts often coincide with the developmental stages of my own children so if you have a younger child you may want to read older posts.  However, embedded throughout I have tried to list resources from my own journey as a parent and educator which can pertain to anyone interested in urban nature play and human development.

I began this journey when my boys were two almost three years ago.  At that time there was much less access to outdoor preschools and natural play areas were not as widely discussed.  It now seems like there is a large community conversation about these issues and also the benefits of unstructured play.

Research continues to come out showing how play helps children understand their world in a myriad of ways.  There is even a recent article about how young children can learn calculus through play.   However, my desire to get children outside playing is not to make brilliant children, but to make amazing, lively communities.  I believe that the more children play outside the healthier our communities will become.  I also believe that the roots of environmental awareness come from exposure and that all children should have a right to experience nature.  Finally, I believe that children who have played a lot are much more ready for school.

Great play can happen anywhere without too many resources.  From basic elements that you can have in a backyard or playground to amazing play areas and children's museums which take the work of childhood and curiosity seriously.  I recently was able to take my kids to the Bay Area Children's Museum and although my boys and I spent five hours there I wish I could take them again and again.  I wish every child could experience such a place of play, imagination and creativity.  Just a few elements that made it great:

• It had a huge outdoor play area with different scenes woven throughout a natural environment with hills and trees.  Examples of the scenes include a buried in sand pirate ship, with brooms and shovels and sifters in which kids dug through and looked for treasure.  There was another area that was a boat that the kids could climb upon.  There was a construction site for little children with plenty of diggers and dump trucks for all. 
• The kids were able to hike up a hill and chime a huge bell.  They could stop in a dinosaur nursery or at a grove full of frogs that when played (they were instruments) sounded like a choir.
• Inside rooms there were plenty of pulleys and scenes from real life in the city
• there was also a place to experience building boats

Digging for treasure

Although this museum did things fabulously many of the concepts can be built upon just by encouraging imagination and giving children access to a few tools. Likewise,  it can be enhanced by simple material- fabric, glue, and cardboard boxes.  There is an organization that encourages "pop-up" play that will be touring the US to show how simple this concept happens to be.