Nature Play

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When we were kids, we grew up in a small country town, where our back yard was limitless. Our play ground was wherever there was a patch of bush between the houses and we would get home from school, grab a snack and then head off, not getting home til the sun went down. We played wars, with the bush being our battlefield, we played house, made cubbies and shops in the trees, collected tadpoles and lizards and we did 'pottery' in the creek beds. Life was simple.


Unfortunately the world doesn't seem to be as safe a place as when we were kids. Whether or not this is the case, or if we as parents are just more aware of what is going on outside our front doors from being exposed to news and media stories of all the bad things that happen, I am not sure. It does mean however, that we are more cautious about what our children get up to and it is very rare that we would let them play outside of the yard unsupervised. 


Urbanisation and location is also a factor. If we stay where we are living at the moment, Master Z is 10 kms from the nearest natural bush area. There are no trees around to build tree houses in, and no creeks to go traipsing through in his wellies, or even better, in his bare feet to feel his toes slip through the cold mud.


Nature play is so important for children of all ages. There is research to prove that children benefit from appropriate risk taking outdoors by helping them refine their motor skills and gain confidence in being physically active. It has been proven that older children who spend more time outside tend to be physically active and less likely to be overweight, and children who play regularly in natural settings are sick less often, are more resistant to stress, have improved cognitive skills, have lower incidence of behavioural disorders, anxiety and depression and have a higher measure of self worth. There is also evidence that bullying behaviour is reduced when children have access to diverse nature-play environments.


Some ways that we can bring nature play into our children's lives are:

• Taking a walk through bushland - Pointing out the different plants and animals you may come across and encouraging them to register the different noises and smells that come from the bush.
• Growing your own fruit and veges - If space permits, a small patch is all that is needed for them to help prepare, plant and take care of a vege patch. If you don't have any yard space, planter boxes, or pots can be planted out with flowers or herbs.
• Beachcombing -  if you are close to the beach, take a walk, collect shells, or cuttlefish. Let them build sandcastles and forts.
• Backyard camping - the fun of camping under the stars, without the hassle of having to pack the car with everything but the kitchen sink. Your children can watch the sun go down, star watch and eat camping food - with a comfortable toilet close by.

There are also several nature playgrounds that have been built in our cities recently, to bring the bush to the city kids. In Perth, an excellent one has been launched by Rio Tinto at Kings Park - check it out here. 

What other activities do you do to encourage your children to play outside? Do they get the opportunities to explore the natural environment?

Resources:


Nature Play WA - an excellent website with information and resources, particularly for those of us in WA
Children and Nature Network - excellent site with the latest evidenced based research on play and development
Richard Louv - this guy is the nature play guru - if you ever get a chance to hear him talk, do! He is inspiring.

6 Top Things for Your Play Area

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A play area doesn't need to be fancy or expensive to create - the ones above I found whilst trawling the web, would be a lotto win away for most of us. 


You also don't need a lot of space, a corner of a room is fine. We live in a small, two bedroom fibro with a sleep out. The sleep out has been enclosed and houses a laundry, what is supposed to be a third bedroom and an extra room that leads outside. We have used this for many things, but at the moment, it is where the computer and desk is, where the amp and a gazillion guitars and other stringed instruments live and tucked away in the corner is Master Z's play area. For the time being, I like Master Z to have his toys outside of his bedroom, so that he is really only in his room for sleeping. I know this will change when he is older and if we have more children, but for now, it works for us. 


A play area is an excellent idea to try to minimise clutter and to keep toys and activities in the one space. Kids are kids, and by the end of each day, there is always a trail of toys traipsed through the house, but we can only try  - I said try, I didn't say achieve!


There are so many elements that can go into a child' play area, my top six are:


Colour
It is thought that babies learn to distinguish colours right after they are born. They show a preference for bright colours, particularly yellow. Different colours have been shown to enhance our creativity and learning and research also shows colours affect our moods. 
Red, orange and yellow are known to promote learning and cool colours like green and blue soothe and promote relaxation.


Toys, books and furniture for children are often brightly coloured, so it is very easy to get some colour into your kids play area.


Storage
This is a big one for trying to keep things organised. Fortunately there are many things that can be used to keep toys in one place.
Shelving units can be found relatively cheaply - I got a second hand Ikea shelving unit off gumtree for under $50 - or can be recycled from old book shelves. Shelving with baskets and boxes is ideal to keep different toys separate - I have a box for cars, a box for blocks, a box for trains and a box for lego along the bottom shelf. On the next shelf, I have a basket of musical toys, a basket of random toys and then a shelf of puzzles and one of books.  
The top shelf is for toys I don't want Master Z to use without my supervision - paints, crafts, special books - I am fortunate he is not a climber, so I know he wont try to get those things himself. 
Another great idea for storage is a number of large tubs - the only thing I find with these is that usually your child will want the toy at the bottom of the tub, so everything gets flung out onto the floor in the search for it.


Table and Chairs
A kid sized table and chair set is perfect for craft activities, drawing, reading and puzzles. There are so many on the market and range from beautiful, hand crafted, expensive wooden furniture, to plastic ones. We have a cheap, plastic set and it is brilliant. It wipes easily, I can take it outside to hose it down if it gets too sticky and as it was cheap, I am not worried about the paint, or marks that are being scratched in. The chairs even take my weight (that is saying something - don't think that is what they were intended for though...), so it means I can be at Master Z's level when doing an activity without putting too much pressure on my ageing knees :o)


Blackboard
I had to include this one as this is Master Z's favourite thing to do at the moment. He spends ages drawing on the black board, or I will use a bull dog clip to put some paper on there and it becomes an easel for painting as well. I would love to have an area on the wall with blackboard paint for him - that is one of my dreams for our next house!

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Pin up board
We have a pin up board that was actually from my room as a kid. I use it to put up Master Z's latest art masterpiece as our fridge is too full of birth announcements and bills to pay!
This way, he sees his art and craft on display for a while, and then when the new piece arrives, I can take the old ones down and file them in an appropriate place (the bin, or the folder I have of his special work that I am saving for him to throw out when he is 20 :o))
We also use the board to put up the day of the week (for days we are at home) and also for the season. When he is older, I plan on using it as a weekly calendar, so he will know what is coming up in his week - at 2.5, he is still a bit young for this. 


Blocks
If your child has no other toys, blocks are the must have right up until primary school age. The educational value from playing with blocks is amazing. They can help improve physical, social, language and mathematical development. 


From a physical point of view, blocks come in different colours, shapes and sizes, so can help with fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination when building towers and sensory awareness with the different colours and textures blocks are made from.


They are excellent for counting, naming colours and shapes, facilitating spatial development (over, under, through) and for learning sharing if more than one child is playing with them.


And finally, blocks are great for imaginary play - a whole world can be created with a simple set of blocks.

These are probably just the tip of the iceberg - what do you think every play area needs?

Playing all day

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As Occupational Therapy students we learnt about the role of play in all our child development units. We learnt about how it helps build physical skills, both gross motor and fine motor, it assists children with gaining knowledge of the environment around them and it helps with social development and provides opportunities for the development of self-esteem and confidence in their own abilities. 


I would day dream about my working life and imagined myself spending hours with each child, helping them learn skills through play - being paid to play puzzles, help them foster their imaginations and do fun activities all day - my idea of heaven! 


The reality of working with children in my experience was unfortunately not that. I worked as a locum in a paediatric development team for a time in the UK, but we were so understaffed, with such ridiculously long waiting lists that we were only able to use our allocated time with each child to do short, standardised assessments and then the follow up appointment was with their parents to work through a treatment plan that they would hopefully carry out. With such stretched resources, there was very little fulfilment of my idealistic view of what paediatric occupational therapy should entail. There was very limited time to develop rapport and no opportunity to work with any child on an ongoing basis to see them develop through their hardships.


I don't have first hand experience with the system here in Australia, but from hearing Mums talk and when I have looked into working in Paeds again, it seems very similar to the UK - long waiting lists, limited resources, little chance for therapists to do 'therapy'.


It has been such a wonderful thing for me to "put the theory into practice' so to speak, since becoming a mum. I have been able to dust off my 'developmental OT' hat and explore all aspects of play as Master Z has developed through the stages. He is now 2 1/2 years and I have finally had the chance to do the things my naive 21 year old self dreamt about all those years ago in the lecture theatre. 


The stuff Master Z and I do is what any Mum would do with their kids. It is about spending time with them, paying them your full attention and becoming immersed in their world. We do a lot of repetition of numbers, shapes, colours and naming objects - but it is all very incidental and not planned. He is a sponge for words at the moment, so we have a running commentary about everything that we do. 


He loves the outdoors, so weather permitting, we are there whenever we can be and he has just started to explore role playing and imaginary play. As a mum who likes to play, we are getting to a really cool stage! I do however, have to hold myself back (I am like an exuberant golden retriever sometimes) and allow him to play independently and give him space. This is just as important as being there to roll out the playdough when he needs me to.


I have been thinking about play a lot and now that Master Zeb is a toddler, it has a big relevance in our lives. I have decided I will start a weekly post relating in someway to the broad topic of play and child development. Watch this space!


Just snuck this in for Tuesday blogging with Jess at Diary of a SAHM. Head on over to check today's posts out!