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Nature play builds resilient, curious kids

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With the launch of Rio Tinto Naturescape Kings Park, Perth kids can problem solve, build resilience and practise enquiry-based learning through nature play.

Last month, I attended the official launch of stage two of Rio Tinto Naturescape Kings Park. I got to climb over rocks, poke my head into hidey-holes and even dip my toes in the water of this amazing nature play area.

If you haven’t been keeping up to date with your local parenting groups, you might not know what ‘nature play’ is, let alone realise what it has to do with science!

Prepare to get your hands dirty because nature play is all about getting back to the bush.

Back in my day …

Anyone over the age of 30 probably remembers spending most of their childhood outdoors.

My parents love to tell me how, when they were kids, their parents would shoo them out of the house in the morning, and they were expected to entertain themselves outdoors until tea time. They’d spend glorious days exploring on their banana seat bikes and running through the bush.

Nowadays, stranger danger is high, kids are overscheduled and their downtime is often screen time.

The idea behind nature play—unstructured play outdoors—is to bring things back to basics. It allows kids to explore the natural environment by giving them a safe space to do so.

“That opportunity just to run around in the bush and make mud pies and build cubby houses is lost to [the kids of today],” says Jacqui Kennedy, head of the Kings Park education team.

“So that’s what we wanted to bring back for them, because in doing that, they’re using their imaginations and … actually really using their brain to discover new things, to problem solve”.

“Play is the highest form of research”

This quote probably wasn’t uttered by Einstein as Google suggests, but there’s still a lot of truth to it.

At the core of all research is curiosity and the desire to answer questions.

Nature play allows children to be scientists by getting them curious about the world around them and encouraging them to answer questions.

“If you love the environment and you’re connected with it, you want to delve deeper and engage and ask questions,” says Kiely O’Flaherty, a Kings Park education officer.

“I’ve got kids myself, and it’s nice to actually be able to reconnect with the kids and get excited by their questions and then try to help them discover answers.”

This learning through asking questions is called enquiry-based learning.

“Naturescape itself is built for enquiry-based learning and science,” says Charlotte Vaughan, Kings Park’s education coordinator.

“By having a play space that kids connect with nature and get excited by nature—that leads to science,” adds Kiely.

Play space not playground

If you’re going to get back to nature, you’ve got to do it right.

You won’t find any brightly coloured plastic swings or slides at Rio Tinto Naturescape Kings Park. What you will find are branches to build a cubby house, trees to climb, water to wade in and a mud-making station.

“We decided early on, when we wanted to connect children with nature, we didn’t want there to be a plastic experience,” says Jacqui.

“It was very much decided that, if children were going to build their resilience and take risks and problem solve and do all of those things that help with their physical and cognitive development, we needed to not provide a playground but more a discovery and learning facility, and that’s what it is.”

So how does playing with mud and sticks help build resilience?

Well, it’s a chance for kids to challenge themselves and take risks. There’s no instructions to tell you what to do, so you can set your own tasks and try and solve your own problems.

For example, if you’re building a cubby house, there are many ways you can challenge yourself. Can you make a door that opens and closes? Can you tip water on your roof and make sure it doesn’t leak?

Overcoming each problem builds resilience and encourages creativity.

Creating future custodians

When you’re talking about a nature play area, you can’t ignore the benefits to nature.

Kids experiencing the natural world means kids learning to appreciate the natural world. Things you can see and touch are things you want to protect.

And that’s what kids do at Rio Tinto Naturescape Kings Park when they play in the water of the new Paperbark Creek and explore the treetops on the new Python.

“If we want children to be our custodians of the environment in the future, well, they have to have developed their empathy during their formative years,” says Jacqui.

“Because if there’s no knowledge, there is no empathy, and without that, there is no action to protect so it’s vitally important for the environment.”

By teaching kids through play how to respect and care for our natural environment, we can ensure it’ll be in safe hands for generations to come.

And who knows? Maybe you’ll find some serenity there too!

This article was originally published on Particle. Read the original article.

Ruled By Playground Rules

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Playground rules.

This has been a topic of discussion the past few days at our house. It started when I watched this video about a “no rules” playground in New Zealand. Then one of my daughter’s schooled friends was finding so much joy doing things on our neighborhood playground that wouldn’t be allowed at school, we decided to take a closer look at what are the typical playground rules and do they have merit.

We complied a list of the playground rules my daughter remembered from her short time at public school kindergarten, the rules her friend said were currently being enforced at her school and other rules we pulled from school websites. I was surprised by how many rules were commonly enforced on school playgrounds—and how many appeared to be senseless.

We discussed why certain rules seemed unnecessary, appeared irrational, or could even be counterproductive.

Below is the list of playground rules we compiled:

Playground Rules List

  • NO “roaring”, “growling” or other “mean” animal noises when pretending
  • NO handstands or cartwheels.
  • NO swinging on your stomach
  • NO twisting on the swings
  • NO side-to-side motion on the swings
  • NO more than one person on a swing at a time.
  • NO using a swing for more than 30 swings.
  • NO standing on the swings.
  • NO twisting the seats on the swing.
  • NO help from others when swinging. (NO pushing from a friend!)
  • NO sitting on the swings facing the incorrect way.
  • NO using or even touching the handicap swing.
  • NO playing tag or other chasing games.
  • NO “negative comments” to peers.
  • NO climbing on walls, fences, railings, ledges, dirt hills, trees, or equipment (unless it is meant for climbing).
  • NO jumping off any bars or other equipment.
  • NO hanging upside-down on any bars.
  • NO sitting on the bars.
  • NO going the wrong way on the bars. One way only.
  • NO running.
  • NO talking while in line going in and out to the playground (have a bubble in your mouth).
  • NO forgetting your place in line.
  • NO waving to anyone while waiting in line to go in or out to the playground.
  • NO horseplay.
  • NO going down the slides any way except seated feet first.
  • NO walking up the slides.
  • NO playing in any areas without adult supervision.
  • NO going outside playground boundaries.
  • NO pens or pencils allowed on the playground.
  • NO throwing or picking up dirt, sand, woodchips, rocks, or sticks.
  • NO eating or drinking on the playground.
  • NO saving swings or seats for anyone.
  • NO acting like characters in video games.

What happens when these rules are broken? Perhaps a warning at first if they are lucky, but punishments can be imposed even without warnings. Punishments can be timeouts, loss of recess, lunchroom detention, referral to principal’s office, or even paddling (yes, 19 states still allow corporal punishment in school).

There is overwhelming evidence showing the importance of free play, but can recess with these type of rigid rules and strict punishments still be considered beneficial “free” play? It seems this activity could more appropriately be described as: “Brief exposure to, and extremely limited use of, outdoor equipment under strictly controlled supervision”.

When that school in New Zealand removed rules from recess what was the result? According to the principal: “Concentration is up, incidents of bullying are way down, confidence is sky high, and injuries—far fewer.” I must say that I’ve seen similar results after observing our daughter participate in regular free play opportunities at local parks and playgrounds, where rules are few to none. There aren’t adult rule enforcers on constant lookout for offenders. Kids are free from being ruled by rules. This is what true free play should look like.
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Further Reading: http://www.kidsplayspace.com.au/pla…