Natural play...... it's not so natural to some kids

" HOW DO KIDS FEEL PLAYING OUTSIDE? It's all about sensory experiences; children judge nature by how they can interact with it rather than by how it looks. And all the manufactured equipment and all the indoor instructional materials produced by the best educators in the world can't substitute for how it feels to a child to build a trench in the sand or squish mud between her toes. And they cannot replace the sensory moment when a child's attention is captured by the sparkle of sunlight through leaves, the sight of butterflies or a colony of ants, or the infinite space in an iris flower." by Vicki L. Stoecklin, M.Ed. I totally agree with this idea of free and natural play. And I also have been a mother to children who struggle to play naturally. Playing isn't always easy and second nature to certain children. I try my best to create spontaneous creative play areas, and provide just the environment for them to be creative and run with their ideas. It seems so simple to just tell a child to go and play- many parents do this and the child happily skips off to play with toys or in the backyard. When I say this to my kids- I get a lot of anxiety, whining, and "I don't know what to do!" comments. Playing is hard for a few of my kids. So I love natural playscape ideas, for kids to be outside, to breathe the air, feel the wind, hear the leaves rustling. I myself am much happier outside than inside. And the sensory experiences are real, and can be wonderful, but also overwhelming for some. So I try to create a safezone that provides just the right amount of sensory but without overload- colors, gardens, climbing, swinging, pretending, exploring, digging, textures, butterflies, ants, bubble bees, hummingbirds, blue jays, squirrels, ladybugs, catepillars. These are things to explore, learn about, observe, play on, stimulate the creative mind. And without too much structure. Structure can be great for many times of the day, but when you have children who are driven only from structure and struggle with unstructure- something seems to be absent in the childhood. Play is critical. Play is important. Playing is learning. Play based learning is researched, well understood, and in reality works for so many- then the structure of the classroom comes in to their world without the balance of unstructured time. Free to imagine and explore. Free to observe and learn from. Whether it be a mud kitchen, making great concoctions, mixing, adding this, adding that- pretending it's food, a cake, a muffin, spaghetti dinner. That's wonderful childhood experiences. So below are a few of my natural playscapes I've created for my children in the yard. A pirate ship, a 3 level climbing tree house, swings, ladders, gardens, rope bridges, stumps to play with, rocks to line up, stepping stones, a musical wall (bamboo hanging from a tree limb)- and climb, and climb and hang, and climb, and climb some more. Okay you probably got the picture - especially for my kids, climbing has been a scary difficult thing and they didn't do it. So if I can encourage them to climb, to swing from, to hang upside down, right side up, then I know it's a good day. Especially for my Ty. These are all wonderful proprioceptive activites that bring organization, calmness, joy to him that can be very helpful for at least the following few hours. That's about as long as a good proprioceptive session lasts- 2 to 3 hours. So here are some examples of things my children like to play with in our yard that helps faciltate fun, messy, engaging, creative, playful activties. And really there are no age limits when it comes to this kind of play. I even enjoy playing on the rope bridge, creating a mud cake, and of course digging in the dirt. I love dirt! And to see my kids exploring nature, pausing for a butterfly they see, or a hummingbird- it's wonderful and always makes me smile. Because after all, it is the little things in life that can bring so much joy. I love the phrase- remember to take time to stop and smell the flowers.