My Connections to Play

We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.” --Charles Schaefer

Go and play. Run around. Build something. Break something. Climb a tree. Get dirty. Get in some trouble. Have some fun.” --Gerald Brom

Trees! Who doesn't love to climb trees?

                                                                                     
                         

Bed sheets. Great for forts or super hero capes. 

I spent most of my time outside in the woods creating forts and building houses. During the summer, I stayed with my Grandma and unless it was raining, I was outside. Sometimes she was with me but most of the time, she was not.  I was an only child and occasionally I had a friend join me from the house next door.  I would spend countless hours creating fantastic structures with items I found in the garage.  My grandma allowed me to use and have whatever I needed. She wasn't concerned about my using a knife or getting hurt. I experimented, I fell, I cut myself a few times, and I encountered my fair share of snakes.  My parents felt much the same way. I was left to explore on my own in the woods around our house and throughout the neighborhood.  By today's standards, both my grandma and my parents would have been considered neglectful. Quite the opposite is true. I didn't spend hours exploring because they weren't paying attention. I spent hour exploring because they WERE paying attention.  They wanted me to go out and get dirty, have fun, try new things, build, construct, and think! 35 years later I still like to play outside. My play now involves gardening, building, and home improvement, but I have never lost my love of being outdoors for hours.  This semester has been difficult for me. The weather in Kentucky has been gorgeous this spring, and I just want to GO OUTSIDE instead of doing homework!
Today, children rarely get to freely explore their surroundings. I was out in the woods by the time I was 6.  This would be unheard of now.  Children are stuck in fenced in playgrounds, yards, and parks. The sad part is that I understand why. There is danger every where, and it isn't from nature.  Like I wrote earlier, I encountered snakes, mice, insects, live stock, birds, and scavenger animals on my daily excursions.  I learned how to avoid them and how to get away from them.  The danger now is with other people. I look around the immediate area surrounding my school. I see a safe city park but beyond that park is woods.  These woods are known to be filled with hideouts where heroin is the drug of choice. My subdivision is surrounded by woods on three sides. My children have grown up much the same way as I did, but I waited unit the were older to allow them to explore. On two occasions now, they have encountered an adult in the woods that followed them home. The ridiculous behavior of adults has had a direct effect on children's ability to explore and play. No wonder children have increasing rates of anxiety and mental illness. I have seen a huge decrease in persistence and problem solving skills as children have become more dependent on adults to do even the simplest of tasks.
My staff and I noticed this trend a few years ago and began to enhance our playground with sticks (yes, sticks), boxes, logs, large blocks, buckets, shovels, and tubes of all sizes.  Children have become so conditioned to playing indoors in small spaces that it took some time to convince them to bring the items out of the storage area and create large structures.  Our playground is messy, but it's fun! We still have a fence and exploration is monitored, but we really try to make our outdoor play as free and open as possible. Although free exploration may never be able to return to the good ole days, we can strive to create protected environments where children can freely explore.  The adults are on the playground in the following pictures but they are not at the fore front of the play.  Children learn from experimentation and each other.

Outdoor chalkboards 

Cut up and buried telephone poles for balancing. 

                                                     

Sand, Sand and more SAND

 s                                                                        

More sand

Our door music area for our future drummers

                                                                                        

Outdoor gardening