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  Fundraiser News !!!!!!

We had a fantastic and highly successful event on Sunday, September 18th to raise the funds needed for the remaining playscape projects. 

Visit our THANK YOU page to learn more about the people and businesses who made this event possible!!!

  

Links

Elm Tree Playscape Plans

Our Playscape Blog

 

 

Materials Still Needed

• Hill slide (example)
• Clay and top soil
• Sod
• Ornamental grasses
• Benches (no back)
• Shade loving perennials
• Sprinkler system components
• Lodgepole pine logs (still standing or cut down)
• Sound garden musical instruments & components:
  -water barrels (drums)
  -wrenches with resonance
  -wind chimes
  -old metal pots and pans
  -long rebar rods

 

 

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    Natural Playscape 

There is a new movement in the domain of outdoor playgrounds that asks us to recall what it was like to explore and discover nature on our own when we were children.  Today, children are never left to play outside on their own and often the only experience that they have with nature is in their school playground or neighborhood parks which are sadly lacking in natural elements.  Children climb on metal and plastic and walk on rubber composite surfacing.  But kids need more than just fresh air and exercise when they go outside.  In a natural playscape, man-made elements are used as little as possible and children are instead given the opportunity to play on and discover natural elements – weaving through tall grasses, climbing up large stones, balancing on logs, or searching for strawberries in the garden.

 

In August of 2010, The Elm Tree teachers sat in the backyard and dreamed up a plan for our natural playscape.  We imagined how a child feels in that space, what they experience and how they could interact with nature as much as possible. 

 

We divided the plan up into a series of projects and we have a goal to finish everything by the end of summer, 2011.  Over the past year we have slowly begun to build a beautiful, dream-like, natural environment for children to play in every day but only with the help of our greater community!

   

Please contact us if you are interested in joining with us to make this dream a reality.  We need carpenters, contractors, neighbors, artists, willing helpers, students of nature and inspired volunteers.  Thanks in advance for all the help and inspiration!

 

With love and joy,

        The Elm Tree Teachers

 

      

"Adventures In Playscaping" - visit our
playscape Blog

  _________________________________________________________       

 Playscape projects:

1.   Outdoor Art Area
Completed October 2010

Before	After

2.   Willow Hut and Tunnel
Completed April 2011

Before	After

3.   Garden Expansion & Greenhouse
Completed June 2011 

Before	After

 

4.   Water Play Area and Sensory Garden
50% Completed as of September 2011

    
Water Play Area
1.       Water/Sensory Toy Storage - completed
2.   Water table - completed
3.   Children’s self-serve water features - remaining
4.   Stepping Stones path through sensory garden - remaining

Sound & Sensory Garden
1.    Sound structures / Musical Instruments - remaining
2.   Herb/sensory garden - remaining
3.   Mosaic Mural along fence - completed

Before	After

5.  Hill Slide and Dry Creek Bed
Remaining to be done - September 2011
  1.   Digging landing area and creek bed / building hill
    2.   Placing of large boulders and Redwood bridge in gravel, river bed area
   3.    Ground cover, sod and grasses for hill and creek bed
 4.  Building deck for slide on top of the hill

6.  Cob Resting House/Cozy Area
Remaining to be done:
1.  Build a small circular cob wall enclosure
2.  Found art and recycled objects to include in the structure
3.  Large outdoor-friendly pillows

* Natural Playscape Links *

Earthplay - "Creating Outdoor Environments for the Soul" -- Rusty Keeler's website
GIS/Gross Motor Study - Article that proves natural playscapes provide better gross motor exercise for children
Playscapes - "A blog about playground design"
Australian Learnscapes - The Australian equivalent of natural playground designs in their schools 
Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds - Website for a Canandian company that designs and builds natural playscapes