{"id":3379,"date":"2013-12-31T10:40:56","date_gmt":"2013-12-31T16:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/?p=3379"},"modified":"2013-12-31T12:15:18","modified_gmt":"2013-12-31T18:15:18","slug":"natural-playgrounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/?p=3379","title":{"rendered":"Natural Playgrounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Special interest article by Camille Calderaro, founder of Fireflies Play Environments.<\/em><\/p>\n

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I grew up a “free-range kid”, exploring and building forts in the arroyos of Arizona and the ravines of Northern California. \u00a0 Natural playground elements are re-creations of those favorite, magical outdoor environments we treasured as children. They are those places that engaged our senses. We discovered special places to dream and gaze as clouds floated through turquoise skies. We had a relationship with the earth. \u00a0 \u00a0 Natural playgrounds, whatever form they may take, are elemental to our children’s whole development into fully realized adults; there in lies the stewardship of our planet. “We are nature”. We want to encourage the un-plugging of our children’s lives by simply opening the door to explore the secret worlds in their own backyards.<\/p>\n

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A large map of the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District was installed as a ground plane mural.<\/p><\/div>\n

One natural playground we designed was titled: \u201cWe are Water\u201d. It is a pre-school environmental play yard created to engage the children, families, staff and community of Eisenhower Elementary, Hopkins MN,\u00a0 in a \u201cconversation\u201d to promote understanding and stewardship of water in our lives. The design describes the flow of water over the site and its management on-site to its release into the Minnehaha Creek Watershed. Children can stand where they live and go to school and see that Lake Minnetonka flows into Minnehaha Creek and the Mississippi River into the oceans of the world. It prompts conversation about geography, natural history and being connected with the world by water.<\/p>\n

\"Water<\/a>

Water pump and sand area.<\/p><\/div>\n

The movement of water over the site is addressed along the blue river pathway, under a bridge, over land to the sand area and farm pump. As the children pump water it cascades down a rocky stream bed into a rain garden, rather than a storm water culvert. Alongside the rain garden a sign asks, “Where does water go?”<\/p>\n

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six legged frog<\/p><\/div>\n

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Frog Labyrinth designed by William Grace Frost. Volunteers were involved in the installation.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Throughout the site a six-legged frog appears.The six legged frog is a reminder that our actions impact other creatures that share our water (Deformed frogs were first discovered in Minnesota in 1995). A frog labyrinth with the story of the frog in “hopping stones”, offers imaginative play as well as the healing gesture of labyrinths.<\/p>\n

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\"We<\/a>

We are the Water
(Teresa Cox www.teresacox.com.)<\/p><\/div>\n

The 4\u2019x 20\u2019 \u201cWe are Water\u201d wall mural gives visual identity to the site and reinforces the message. On the mural there is an image of a dinosaur, which reminds children that we drink the same recycled water the dinosaurs drank.<\/p>\n

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\"Elf<\/a>

Elf house<\/p><\/div>\n

Design Considerations<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n