Friday, August 31, 2012

Delightful or Creepy

The children enjoy burying their feet in the gravel;


Below the surface it is so cool and the weight of the gravel adds another sensory experience.
The baby found something she thought was interesting – sawdust.  There was a pile of it over from when my husband cut up some kindling.  It was just within her reach and it was so soft and fluffy;


She took handfuls of the sawdust to the other side of the yard, placed it on the bench and then wiped it off;


Then she went and got some more.  It was a process she enjoyed for quite some time.  She was a little surprised when she found something else in the sawdust but the other children were delighted to be able to have her unwanted discovery;


I saw a beautiful black and yellow butterfly fly across the yard and ran over to where it landed in hopes that I might be able to get a picture of it.  When I got there I discovered that it wasn’t a butterfly after all;


I poked it to make it fly again just to make sure and yes – this little fella does have fancy wings.  I learned something new!  There have been a lot of crickets and grasshoppers around lately and the children are thrilled;


Then one of the children asked “What are those things in the wasp trap?”  So I went to look;


That picture didn’t turn out well but I wasn’t about to take any more – had to dispose of that wasp trap full of maggots ewww, ewWW, EWWW!  Quick find me something to get that image out of my head.

The baby has a new interest;


The other children have abandoned their shoes to enjoy a follow the leader/obstacle course game on the new grass;


Now that is delightful :-)

Monday, August 27, 2012

Much to Do

Only one more week left before school begins again.  Where did the time go?

I spent my weekend working on ‘phase one’ of the playroom remodel but you’ll have to wait until after ‘phase two’ is complete before I show you what we’ve done.  Until then I’ll show you a few things that happened last week.

There were some ball games — we’re working on ‘control’ instead of ‘velocity’ or ‘distance’;


There were some other activities on the balance beams too;


One of the girls set up a store in the tipi;


Other children decided there needed to be a bank so they started a mine to dig for money — gold?  Several children were workers in the money mine collecting currency;


They didn’t get to keep it for themselves though.  They had to wait for payday like everone else.  The mined money went to the bank;


When the workers were paid they went to the stores to buy stuff – sounds familiar.
All that cash meant there was a lot of construction too;


And some recreation.  This was an interesting type of bowling;


I never did understand why they anchored the foam ‘pins’ with gravel so they wouldn’t tip over;


However, I loved the way they supported the tubes – using shovels to fill the foundation pipes with gravel so they were very strong and stable;


Yes, it was a very busy week with a lot of things to do.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Break Time

I just went through a bunch of pictures from our activities so far this week – I can’t believe it has only been three days!

I had hoped to be able to write a post – there are several activities that I’d love to chronicle but the children will be arriving any minute now so I’ll have to put off blogging until I have more time.

Instead I’ll just show you my favorite view of the yard — my ‘sit spot’ – where I go to take a break;

Monday, August 20, 2012

Removing Mountains

There is a mountain in my yard.  It is the last of the big plastic toys remaining since I began replacing them with more natural, open ended items.  At one time the mountain belonged to my own – now adult – children.  The mountain is about 20 years old;


Small cars are stored in the lid of the mountain and the children occaisionally use the roads and tunnels for driving or parking the cars on.  Back when the mountain used to be an indoor toy that was all it was ever used for.  It took up a lot of space for something that had only one main purpose.  After I moved it outdoors it got used for water and gravel too.

I want to remove the mountain from the yard.  It doesn’t ‘fit’ with the rest of our play space.  We don’t need it. The children drive the cars all over the yard and even build their own roads and bridges with wood and gravel.

They use other – better – tools for moving gravel and water.  I’ve put these pipe halves in the loose parts area for that purpose and the children experiment with them often;


The pipes can accommodate not only cars, gravel, and water but animals as well;


The pipes are not stationary so can be used in various locations as levers to lift and move gravel;


Usually the children need to work together and cooperate to get the result they want;


The other day they tried an Olympic inspired weight lifting event;


Water in the pipes adds another element to expeirment with – and the results are sometimes surprisingly different than when using gravel;


We don’t need that mountain.  I just need to figure out how to remove it from the yard.  I don’t think I can put it in the recycling bin but maybe I’ll put it on the boulevard for the next give away weekend.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Look!

There were so many interesting things going on in the yard.

I observed the two-year-old as he practiced fine motor skills and began to understand gravity – he studied each pebble as it dropped to the ground after he placed it in the space between the boards on the bridge.


The six-year-old showed me the pictures she had been creating with gravel too;


Then the boys excitedly called me over to see what they had discovered over by the fence – so beautiful;


We wondered who that belongs to?  Maybe this HUGE spider who was happily munching on a wasp over in the covered seating area;


And we are all really excited that only five days after the seeds were planted the grass is beginning to grow.  I think that is pretty amazing considering there have been eight children running around on it every day;


So many marvellous things to see :-)

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Tag

Tag is one of the most popular outdoor activities here.  Hardly a day goes by without at least one game of tag.  The problem with tag is the size of my yard.  The total playspace is just 20 feet by 30 feet and most of that is filled with obstacles.  The largest open area is just 10 feet by 10 feet.

The youngest children in the group have no problem with the space restrictions when the older children are not here.  For them the game is mostly about running around laughing and having fun.  The older ones tend to be more competative and manipulative – often reckless in their attempt to ensure victory.

Although we have gone to the park to play tag in a bigger space they still like to play tag here too.  With our limited space and the vast difference in the childrens’ physical size the game is unfair.

To level the playing field we tried something different.  Instead of running, all the players must keep both feet together and hop;



We’ve also added a rule about using only one finger to tag in order to combat the problem with punching or slapping instead of tagging.  A couple of the children don’t like this rule claiming ‘it hurts their finger to tag like that’ — those that are being tagged like it much better.

The children have also created a game they call ‘Quiet Tag’.  In this version the child who is it stands still in the middle of the walkway with their eyes closed.  The other children try to get sneak from one end of the walkway to the other and back without getting tagged.

You have to be really quiet when you pass by because if ‘It’ hears you they can easily reach out and tag you. Those who get tagged are added to It’s team until there is only one person left trying to sneak by several ‘Its’ standing on the walkway.

Tag is definitely their favorite game.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Yard Work 2012

I had not planned to do a major renovation of our outdoor play space this year.  My husband and I have been talking about it for a few years now but no date had been set because we were still unsure what we were going to do.  The problem was the ground level deck.  It had originally been built more than 12 years ago – back when the ancient maple tree was still there;


Over the years there had been many changes including the removal of most of the old tree and the addition of a covered seating area.


Most recently the old tree stump was completely removed to make room for the new fence and the plexiglass painting area was added to the seating area;


Through regular maintenance several deck boards had been replaced and the deck had been stained or painted many times.  It had gotten to the point where any further cosmetic repairs were futile because the underlying structure was near the end of its life.

I priced out the cost of rebuilding the entire deck and discovered that the lumber alone would be more than four times the total cost of the original deck and so labour intensive.  If we were going to have to pay that much then maybe there were other ground surface options.

We discussed the possibility of making a patio but didn’t like the idea of cement bricks.  I really liked the rubber patio pavers that I had been using on the deck but I worried that they would get too hot if I covered the entire area with them.

I liked many of the eco friendly – and local – products available at http://reliabletirerecycling.ca  but their site doesn’t list prices.  My email requests were answered promptly but only resulted in a suggestion that I come down in person – they are not open evenings or weekends when I can get there.

Then I remembered something that I had heard about at MCCA’s conference last May.  I quickly scoured my notes to find it.  The workshop – presented by the amazing Bienenstock’s - had been about designing natural outdoor play spaces and we had spent part of our time creating models like this;


Many of my friends and colleagues questioned why I chose that workshop since I already seem adept in this area.  However, I knew I’d enjoy it and there is always a chance to learn something new – and I did.  During a discussion about the wear and tear on grassy areas we heard about Durolawn.

Now, I will admit that I am not patient enough to wait once I get one of my ‘ideas’ so of course I needed to start work on this immediately.  :-) No time to order supplies especially when I knew a place I could get a similar product today.   The salesclerk at Jysk seemed somewhat stunned when I bought 50 rubber mats.  Pictured upside down on their site here these mats do really look exactly like Durolawn and they were on sale too!

So now, after four solid 12 hour days of yard work over two weekends our deck area looks like this;


I created a pattern with the two different types of tiles.  The brown rubber tiles will remain solid rubber but the spaces in the black mats will eventually fill with grass.  I just planted the grass seeds yesterday but I’ve already checked several times to see if any grass is growing – remember, waiting for results is not my forte.

We’ve also reused the old bathtub and door from our bathroom remodel as a water table and art wall.  The plexiglass painting area has been moved to form a new wall to support the arbour extension over the walkway and provide a border for the gravel area;


We also have a lovely new water barrel from Fort Whyte – yeah, more recycling;


My husband decided I needed an overhead view of the yard so he took my camera and climbed up on the roof;


In the future I hope to have some more pictures of the various areas ‘in use’ and of course – some grass too.  Hey, maybe I’ll host the next committee meeting for the upcoming Manitoba Nature Summit — we could play outside while we plan for ways to engage children with nature.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Writing Time

It has been very difficult to find time to write — we have been so busy.  My morning writing time has been shortened due to the early arrival of several of the children.  My weekend writing time has been eliminated due to some major projects — I’ll write about them soon but for now you’ll just have to wait.

Today all I have time to write is a little snippet of some of last week’s  observations.  First, I’m very pleased with the progress of the plants in the garden.  Last year the cucumbers made it only part way up the trellis but the children still enjoyed relaxing there;


This year the beans have grown to the top of the trellis and beyond;


Most of the herbs are growing well too but sadly many of the children enrolled this year seem to have little interest in exploring the garden.  They do like to water it though.

I’m quite interested in some of the plants that are growing in the bare spots that we never got around to planting anything in.  I wish I was able to identify some of them – I assume they are weeds.  I pull the thistles but others I think are pretty so I leave them to grow.  Maybe someday I’ll find out what they are – do you know?


The baby loves the gravel area — I’m glad I no longer restrict the little ones access to this area.  Some day I’ll write a post about my transition from keeping babies ‘as safe as possible’ outdoors vs ‘as safe as necessary’.  One of the babies favorite activities has been to slide her feet back and forth until she buries them completely;


Then she picks all the little gravel pieces out of her sandals – without asking me to help :-)


Finger knitting has become the favorite quiet time activity for the school-age boys – the girls have little patience for it;


But everyone loves painting on the plexiglass outdoors;


Moving the plexiglass easel was part of the major project this past long weekend.  Stay tuned for more of the project details when I find some time to write….