Archive for the ‘Play’ Category

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‘Back to School? Make Time for Play!’ The Grass Stain Guru

Friday, September 10th, 2010

Fairy and flowers
A fairy takes time to smell the geraniums.

“It is becoming increasingly clear through research on the brain as well as in other areas of study, that childhood needs play. Play acts as a forward feed mechanism into courageous, creative, rigorous thinking in adulthood.”
–Tina Bruce, Professor, London Metropolitan University

I’m at the ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects) conference in Washington, D.C. this weekend, so opportunities for blogging are slim – too busy exploring wonderful restorative landscapes in the D.C. area! For updates and pictures, visit the TLN page on Facebook. So instead, I’m sharing a wonderful post by my friend Bethe Almeras, a.k.a. The Grass Stain Guru. Bethe is Director of Education & Outreach for Head Start Body Start National Center for Physical Development and Outdoor Play, and co-founder of the National Wildlife Federation’s Green Hour®. She is a play advocate who’s not afraid to get her knees dirty, and I’m a big fan her work. I’m actually going to meet Bethe for the first time tomorrow, and I’m very excited. Grass stains, here we come!

Here’s an excerpt from The Grass Stain Guru’s post; click on the title below to link to the full version.

Back to School? Make Time to Play!

This year as you send the kids off to school, take a moment to think about their days. Their weeks. Is there enough time for play? Not sports, or after-school activities, but real honest-to-goodness play? Child-directed, child-driven free play — no rules unless they decide to cook some up.

You see, adults have this habit of thinking that soccer or gymnastics or even music lessons are play. But they’re not. They ‘re great, but they are goal driven and adult directed, which is exactly what school is. Children spend all day in school. They need to take a break and be put in the driver’s seat for awhile.

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Upcoming Event – Play for Life: Exploring the Lifelong Benefits of Inclusive Play

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Play for Life: Exploring the Lifelong Benefits of Inclusive Play

Here’s one more entry (and our last for a little while – lots of other stuff to be blogging about!) in our series on upcoming events:

Play for Life: Exploring the Lifelong Benefits of Inclusive Play

Play brings families, friends and communities together; it keep us fit and makes us smile. Research shows that play is a key element of development and health for individuals of all ages and abilities. Unfortunately, play is being threatened on every front in the U.S. It’s seen as a “children-only” activity, if it’s thought about at all. Furthermore, concerns around inclusive play are primarily discussed among disability experts and are not part of most community agendas. Please join our nation’s leading inclusive play experts for a thought-provoking, two-day symposium that examines the importance of play for all ages and abilities. Play for Life: Exploring the Lifelong Benefits of Inclusive Play will reignite your passion for play and inspire new ways to bring that passion to everyone in the community.

I would especially like to see Pamela Wolfberg’s presentation, “The Importance of Play to Children with Autism.”  Wolfberg is an Associate Professor, San Francisco State University and Autism Institute on Peer Socialization and Play. As you may remember, Tara Vincenta and I collaborated on a webinar this spring, “Nature-Based Learning and Play for Children with Autism and Special Needs.” You can read about it, and link to the webinar, from this TLN Blog post.

And to see a bunch more resources, in print and online, about play, children’s gardens, and the importance of nature for young people, visit the TLN’s Get Out and Play! page on our website.

Sponsored by Landscape Structures, the Play for Life symposium will take place on October 23-24 in Minneapolis, MN. There’s a discount if you register before September 20th. Visit their website for registration and more information.

And just after the symposium, the NRPA (National Recreation and Park Association) will be holding their annual congress (this year’s theme is “Connecting Communities”) in the same city, so if you can do both, go for it!

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Posted in conferences, Events, Play | No Comments »

Now online! Nature-Based Learning and Play for Children with Autism and Special Needs

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Since Richard Louv began his No Child Left Inside campaign, we have seen a wonderful groundswell around the importance of children experiencing the natural world. And at the same time, sadly, we continue to see an alarming rise in children with autism and other related disorders. According to the Centers for Disease Control, autism now affects 1 in every 110 American children. This new number is a staggering 57% increase from 2002-2006. Clearly, we need more research on prevention and treatment options, but we also need more ways to help those children (and their families) on the “autism spectrum” who are coping on a daily basis.

One way that we can help is by designing environments that support children on the spectrum, including outdoor play and learning spaces. That’s why Tara Vincenta – Principal at Artemis Landscape Architects and creator of the SOL (Sequential Outdoor Learning) Environment -  and I were thrilled when KaBOOM! approached us about doing an online training on this very subject. We’ve had a great time collaborating and are happy to announce that the training is now available on the KaBOOM! website, and will soon be up on the SOL Environment and Therapeutic Landscapes Network websites as well.

The free online training is called “Prescription for Play: Nature-based Play and Learning for Autistic and Special Needs Children.” Here’s the description:

Join landscape architects Naomi Sachs, Director of the Therapeutic Landscapes Network and Tara Vincenta, creator of SOL (Sequential Outdoor Learning) Environment as they explore research and design considerations for creating outdoor, nature-based play and learning environments for autistic and special needs children. Many of the challenges faced by autistic children are shared with a broader community of special needs children, including motor, neuromuscular, cognitive, sensory and communication issues, and visual and auditory impairment. Sachs and Vincenta will share ideas for creating outdoor spaces that allow children to play at their own comfort level, overcoming common challenges in a safe, FUN, nature-based environment that is equally engaging for any child.

Go to KaBOOM’s Hot Topics in Play page to access the training, and if ours is not the first training, just scroll down until you see it. You’ll find other great topics there as well, and once you join KaBOOM (free, of course), you can access any and all. KaBOOM! is a wonderful non-profit organization whose mission is to create great playspaces through the participation and leadership of communities, and whose vision is “a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America.”

You can also download a pdf of the supplemental materials – a list resources in print and online about this topic – from the KaBOOM website, and we’ll have those on our respective websites soon, too.

Many, many thanks to KaBOOM! (and especially to Kiva) for this wonderful opportunity, and to you, dear reader, for spreading the word (yes, that’s a hint).

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Posted in Children's Gardens, Education, Landscapes for Health, News, Play, Research, Resources | 2 Comments »

New Research Summary on Outdoor Play Spaces at Childcare Centers

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

Image of Buffalo PS90 courtesy Joy Kuebler

If you’re relatively new to this blog, then you may not yet have heard me rave (in a positive way) about InformeDesign. This is one of the best resources for evidence-based design (EBD), and it’s still free, and you can sign up to have new research summaries emailed to you.


One summary this week that seems particularly appropriate to the Therapeutic Landscapes Network is of an article by Susan Harrington, “Perspectives from the Ground: Early Childhood Educators’ Perceptions of Outdoor Play Spaces at Child Care Centers.”

Previous studies have indicated that outdoor play spaces have the potential to support physical, emotional, and social growth in children, and the author chose to focus on Canadian outdoor splay spaces, from the point of view of Early Childhood Educators (ECEs).

The finding that most interested me was that outdoor play spaces with plants got more positive comments than those with no or little vegetation. Furthermore, ECEs working at centers with vegetation tended to make more positive comments about seasonal change (fall color, plant cycles, etc.) than those in centers with no vegetation, where comments regarding seasonal change were more negative (hot asphalt and slides, wet equipment, etc.). Cue all landscape architects, designers, and plant-lovers whispering “yes!” in victorious unison.

And for those of you who are especially interested in children’s play environments, I’ll also call your attention to a recent blog post by Shawna Coronado on creating gardens for children: “Fantasizing About Spring: A Garden Built for a Child.” Lots more information on the TLN’s Get Out and Play! page as well.

Full citation: Harrington, Susan (2008). “Perspectives from the Ground: Early Childhood Educators’ Perceptions of Outdoor Play Spaces at Child Care Centers.” Children, Youth and Environments, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 64-87.

The image above is of Buffalo (NY) Public School 90 Early Childhood Science Center Magnet, designed by Joy Kuebler Landscape Architect. It was featured last month on Playscapes, a great blog about playground design.
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Design Inspiration from the Huntington Children’s Garden

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Sorry about the formatting on this post – didn’t quite make it over well from our old blog post address.

This year, the American Horticultural Therapy Association‘s annual conference took place in Pasadena, and we were so fortunate to have the Huntington Library and Botanical Garden as our host and conference setting. Designers of children’s gardens for healthcare could take a few (or more) pages out of the Huntington Garden’s children’s garden. I’m going to keep the verbage to a minimum with this post and simply provide you with images from my recent visit to this inspiring place of discovery, learning, and play.

Huntington Children's Garden. Photo by Naomi SachsThis door, and the footprints leading up to it, say “this place is for kids!”


A child-sized “green house”…
window boxes and all…  

Green animals! Many of the plants in the garden are what I call “Dr. Seuss plants” – trees and shrubs that are strange and fun. Also lots of plants, such as lamb’s ears and Artemisa Powis Castle, to touch and smell for sensory exploration.

Myriad fountains. Upon seeing some leaves in one fountain (see the short video below), a youngster (probably about ten years old), exclaimed, “Look at the leaves are swirling around in the fountain! That’s so COOL!”

This sculpture might look a bit imposing for a children’s garden, until you see – or I should say hear – it in action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comfortable, shady places for parents and grandparents to relax. Beautiful combinations of plants for even the most sophisticated plant-lover.  

But most important, plants designed for young people to run, explore, and play under, over, and through.

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Posted in Built Works, Children's Gardens, Landscapes for Health, Play | 2 Comments »

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