The Light at the End of the Tunnel!

Yep!  I'm finally headed towards the end of my "end of the year paperwork nightmare!"  I have five children heading to kindergarten in August.  That meant one heck of a lot of paperwork and meetings to get those kids ready!  And we're not done yet.  But...we're close!

My favorite moments, of course, have been away from the paperwork! Thanks to a grant, we were able to add extra (much needed) space to our outdoor area!  This gave us the room to add several different areas and room to add several garden areas!  Thanks to another grant we were able to purchase plants, seeds, soil, a planter bed and many tools! 

In addition to several gardening areas, we also have a new music area, an outdoor art/discovery area, a group time area, a digging area and a playhouse.

All of these areas are still being developed and the children are busy helping us define how they will use them.  The biggest excitement lately has been the addition of the "digging area".  This was very much an "accidental" addition to the outdoor area.  After gardening with the children, we realized that the children were NOT going to be satisfied with simply digging in the garden a few days!  The children quickly discovered that the dirt patch that was left after the fence was moved was an excellent area to dig holes.  And that is what they have done...each and every day after the gardening project. 

They have been digging for worms to add to the garden, beetles to hold and just simply for the pure pleasure of digging the biggest hole they possibly can.  This has provided plenty of opportunity for teamwork between children.  It also has required the children to be aware of safety with the tools.  After a few reminders from adults, the children are now fairly consistently putting tools back in the tool bucket when they are ready to run over to another area.  The fact that a few found out the hard way that tripping over a shovel or rake is not always pleasant may have helped as well!

I have watched with a bit of pride as the children in my classroom have happily joined all the excitement and are interacting and enjoying all of the new activities.  What a great way to learn language, social skills and increase those cognitive abilities!  Imagine all those neural pathways being created as a child holds and smells various herbs, tastes the lettuce they helped plant or finds a small bug in a hole.  Yep!  I'll take this over paperwork any day!

Best Loose Parts We've Found Yet!!

I've realized that I haven't posted much at all about our outdoor classroom for a VERY long time! We had hit a bit of a road bump...(um...major mountain) for a bit (yep, we've hit several of these)!  We were literally out of room!  We had no area to add room for the children to really make use of any loose parts....every single bit of space was occupied by something!  

Thanks to our early childhood director, and her ability to track down some funds for this, we were able to expand the fenced area to give us some room to move and explore!  It is not a huge area, but it is perfect for us! 

We want this space to be an area that the children and adults who will be utilizing it will help to design.  We also want space in order to allow the children to manipulate the loose parts (both large and small).  So, with this idea in mind, we have only added one permanent structure (a large, wonderful playhouse) to the area so far. 

And then, something wonderful happened!  A co-worker somehow convinced her boyfriend (whose family owns a farm) to track down and deliver multiple large and smaller "spools" used for electrical wires!  It truly is amazing what a few new materials can do!


The children were completely engaged!  They rolled the spools, they set up "tables" and "pretended to eat", they stood on the spools and looked for "Wal-mart", they used the spools as drums and made music by banging on them with sticks.


The children were ready to design this area on their own...with just a few spools and some sticks!  The spools were brought into the playhouse several times (rolled in and then set up as a table several times....simply rolled right through several other times).  They also clearly enjoyed the vantage point of standing on top of the spools and looking out!  They each had grown a foot in a matter of minutes!

We have a few ideas running around for this area, some discussions to have with the children about the area and some crossing of fingers about funding for a few things (and many, many, many DIY ideas to try out as well)!  By the spring time, we would like to have the children actively engaged in helping to design and make some of the things for this area.  By spring, we are hopeful that we can also get some parents involved in the process of designing this.  Oh, what a little space, some imagination and some larger than life spools will do!

*NOTE:  Thanks Meaghan Leggins for taking the photos.  You can check out some of Meaghan's other photos HERE.
*NOTE:  If you would like to see a few more photos of our recent outdoor excitement with these spools as well as the children assisting to move a truckload of mulch head on over HERE!

**Shared on Outdoor Play Link Up!**

Outdoor Classroom Observations

I was able to observe something quite interesting the other day as we made our way out to our outdoor classroom.  Another class was already outside but had forgotten their key to the sheds. 

The guest teacher for that room met me at the gate with a look of desperation on her face!  "We forgot our key!  Do you have yours?"  As I pulled it out and handed it to her, I noticed the children.

I saw many of the children running in circles up and down the playground equipment... up the steps, down the slide, up the steps again and down the slide!  There were a few more, running in circles around the trike path...around and around in circles! 

Oh yes, THIS was how our outdoor time USED to be!  I had somehow forgotten!  It was actually quite good to be reminded of the purpose behind our slow transformation to MORE exploration, MANY more loose materials and simply more to focus on ... and more to do!

We managed to pull everything out quickly and get it set up.  The children settled down and got to work.  Four or five ran to the sand pit and began making "birthday cakes" with sand in bowls and buckets.  Several helped carry the musical instruments to their spot under the tree.  At least five decided to use the scarves and streamers as "feathers" and the flooring in a "house". 

A few others grabbed helmets and bikes and began riding.  One began building with tree cookies and blocks.  One pulled all the tubes out and slid them under the shelf and through the other side.  A few took loose parts of tubes, tree cookies and scarves to the top of the play equipment as their "house".  Several developed a game of tossing the bean bags over a tunnel and having a friend catch the bean bag on the other side.

Several boys began a game of "monster" and attempted to scare their friends as they peeked at them under the wall of the sand pit magnet board.  Several children explored musical instruments under the tree.  One child grabbed the basket of books to take under the tree.  Two or three children put the tubes on the magnet board and explored scooping sand into the tubes and creating longer and longer tubes with multiple pieces. 

EVERYONE was quickly busy!  Only minutes before they had been running in circles!  Keep in mind, many of these children are new to our program as well!  We really have done very little in way of an introduction to the loose materials outside.  Of course, the adults sit and work with the children when the children are interested in this interaction.   But, the children are  always exploring the materials and experimenting with these materials in their own way. 

Ahhh....much better than running in circles!

The Colors of Nature

I made nature color packets today!  I gained inspiration for this idea this from Deborah's Forest Treasure Box at Teach Preschool. I really liked this idea; but just wanted to use the items we find while we're outside, rather than making up a box. I also didn't want to have to go around our outdoor area picking up small paint chip cards all over the place! :)

Here was my solution:  I started by finding paint chip cards in many different shades of browns, yellows, oranges, greens and whites, sorted them into color packets (I did combine the yellows and oranges since there were fewer) and sequenced them from darkest to lightest. I then punched holes in each at the bottom and used a brad (paper fastener) to attach each group of cards so we can fan them out and see all the shades and seperate colors! 
 

I think I will just pop these in our outdoor backpack to take outside with us! This way I can just use them informally with the children while we are outside and while they are interested. I think these will be a good way to introduce the children to looking more closely at natural items they find while outside! We can use these to find the color of a rock, the color of the grass they are sitting on or the color of the tree trunk. 

This will also be a good way to begin to introduce the idea of shades of color. Most natural items may fall somewhere in between the colors on the paint chips. Mentioning that an item is a bit darker or lighter is a way to introduce the children to the concept that natural items are generally not simply..."yellow" or "brown"...they may be dark brown or light brown or somewhere in between!

I'm also excited to introduce the children to the wonderful names of some of the colors on the cards! I think it's much more exciting to call the color of a tree trunk "Toasted Sesame"...or "Afternoon Tea" rather than...brown!

**On a side note:  I have no idea why I thought of using paint chip cards for this idea...and when I was making my color matching file folder game....I DIDN'T think of using them! Check out Debbie's comment on my color matching file folder game. She's absolutely right!  Use paint chips rather than your color printer ink!

Better Late then Never!

Among all of the things I worked to complete these last few weeks, I also intended to participate with the children in International Mud Day.  I managed many things over the past few weeks...but, exploring mud was not one of them!
 My goal was and still IS to create our mud pie kitchen!  For now, though, I am collapsing from exhaustion at my house!   Thankfully, I have a month to recover...and relax!

Since we didn't get a chance to participate in International Mud Day (which, by the way, would have been great fun!) I thought I'd share the blog hop!   Just look at all the ways OTHER people celebrated International Mud Day!   (OUR celebration will just have to wait until August!  Well, one good thing...I now have tons of creative ideas to start from!)

This blog hop was set up by Jaime at Hands On As We Grow!

Our "Sand-Pie Kitchen"! :)

I realized the other day that I have fallen hopelessly behind on writing anything at all on our outdoor learning!  This isn't because we haven't added new items to our space.  It isn't because we haven't gone outside!  It's simply a matter of managing a camera and numerous small hands holding on to mine...a clipboard, keys and a first aide backpack!

Well, I did it people!  I balanced all of those things and am here to tell about it!  Today was the first day we added our "Sand-Pie kitchen" :)  We decided since it has been raining a great deal of the time here, we would take advantage of the wonderful wet, packed sand in the sand pit!  

 We simply added a few small frying pans, a few cake and pie tins, some wooden bowls,  some tree cookies as the burners and baskets filled with rocks and other natural objects!  We have a bench that sits next to our sand pit, so this became the stove top!

 The children didn't need any prompting to begin scooping and filling the tins and pans with wet sand, packing it down and then adding "toppings" like stones to the top of the pies and cakes!

While some of us were busy cooking and baking in the kitchen, several children were busy looking for bugs in the wood chips.  The children love overturning the tree stumps and digging through the wood chips and dirt to see what is beneath! 

Of course, they were successful!  Here is the poor "pet" caterpillar (really an inchworm, I think) that was lovingly carried around for a good 20 minutes before he was "lost" in the wood chips again!  (I'm sure he was thankful for this!)

Another exciting discovery today was the children's discovery that our bean plants that we thought had died, have not died at all!  The children called us all over to show us that they found full size BEANS on the plants!  We were as surprised as the children were over this discovery!

(Thanks to Meaghan L. for the photos used in this post, as mine seem to be lost forever on my camera phone!)

"Magic Beans"

Several weeks ago we planted various herbs and some bean plants in planters.  The hope was that we could put the bean plants outside against our trellis and allow them to climb to the top!  Apparently, we were lucky enough to buy some "magic beans" because these things just took off and have been growing like crazy!

And, of course, all would have worked as planned, IF spring would just arrive and STAY HERE!  Lately, we've had wonderfully warm spring days mixed in with very cold nights and days.  We even saw frost one morning. 

So, you can see my dilemma!  If I put these poor bean plants outside, one cold night will kill them for sure!  However, if I leave them on our windowsill much longer, I'm afraid they will seriously climb to our classroom ceiling!  And, as cool as this would be, I really think they would prefer to be outside!  So, here's to welcoming spring!

  Happy Earth Day...a bit late!             Happy Easter...a bit early! 

Windchimes and Tree Stumps!

Well, wouldn't you be shocked if I was blogging today about the cloning machine I invented over the last week!  Well, don't hold your breath, no luck with this just yet, but we've been exploring a few interesting things. 

Last week, my husband was kind enough to help me bring in some tree stumps for the children to sit on for our outdoor learning area (as the start of a large group area).  The children have had a huge amount of fun simply sitting and talking to their friends on these, playing musical instruments while sitting on them and, for one child, pretending to be an "owl!"  

(These are horribly boring photos- sorry- I'll try to get some photos of all of the materials we use while outside next time- still working on that cloning machine...remember :)

After our second day with the tree stumps, one of the children in Bumblebee Boulevard commented to his teacher, "We really like those things that we can sit on...you know, the things that someone made so they look like trees..." 

Umm...children, they are TREE stumps...they WERE trees!  Apparently, we will need to explore these items in a bit more detail so the children realize that these are actually trees that were cut down.  (After a storm brought the whole tree down, by the way!)

We've also worked on adding a very small and movable art station with a small easel, (and soon some clay and natural objects).  We've also begun adding to our music area, with handheld musical instruments and wind chimes.  All of these are items that can be stored in a shed when not in use since we do have an issue with things disappearing while school is not in session. 

To attach the wind chimes and easily remove them, I simply hooked together a zip-tie to form a loop.  I then attached several small plastic links, attached the wind chime and hung it on the side of our "tree house".  To remove it, we simply open up the link and put the whole thing away in the shed. 

We're still working on finding a shelf to slide in the shed for our loose materials; but until then, we've had a blast introducing the new items to our outdoor area!

Visiting a Nearby Outdoor Classroom

We've struggled a bit to get moving with developing our outdoor classroom.  While we have a great base; we just needed a bit more "umph" and some nice warm weather like we have been having currently, to get going!  The other day, another teacher and I made a little trip to an early childhood center not far from our location.  The Children's Campus is already Nature Classroom Certified and has done a great deal of the foundation work for this that we are just beginning.  All of the photos below come from their Nature Classroom.  Keep in mind, it is still a bit cold here- so no plants are really visible on these photos!

Their Group time Area.  We are planning to buy the same cedar benches as these.

We were able to get a very good idea of what we could realistically do!  Because they are located in the same area we are, we know we will need to follow similar safety guidelines.  Seeing what they have done, what large items they have purchased and how they have stored items was invaluable!

Their Loose parts/building Area

Since our visit, we have brainstormed a "dream plan" :) of large and small items I believe we could collect, make or have made for us, have donated or may need to purchase.  We are sending home letters to parents to get more input and awareness about the project, as well as funding.  We need to develop more of our loose parts/building area.  We need to continue to expand on our music area.  We need to develop an art area and a group time area!  I know, I know...we're just starting with small areas first!  

Their Music Area

One of our big projects that we want to begin soon is developing a garden!  We've had small garden plots in the past for the children, but we've never had one right next to our outdoor learning area.  Locating directly outside of our area would be ideal as it would give very easy access and the children can be directly involved in every process on a daily basis!

One of our biggest challenges with all of this is reducing the amount of vandalism that occurs with any loose items.  Generally, anytime we put something that is not securely attached and padlocked outside, it will disappear before morning (something the above pictures of the other center do not show- as they do not have this issue). 

 I've also done some brainstorming on this issue. We have several "trike storage sheds". These are long and low. I think we could slide a shelf directly into one of these with all of the loose parts/ or an art shelf on it. Before we come out, one of us would need to go out, and literally "re-design" the outdoor area! We would need to pull shelves out of sheds, loose items for dramatic play, loose parts for building, an art shelf, hand held musical instruments, colored cloth and more. It does sound a bit daunting, but if this is something we value, this is most likely the way we will need to do this! Also, if we are spending at least 60 min. outdoors daily with the children this makes it worth our time to re-design daily.

I will post as we begin developing an area!  I can't wait to begin our collection of loose parts (and I'm sure the children will find this wonderful as well), find an unused shelf and see if my idea of sliding this into the trike shed will work!  I'm on Spring Break right now, so my idea will have to wait until next week!  I'll be back next week sometime with an update!

Lifelong Learning...Outdoor Learning Workshop Follow-Up

Ages ago, it seems, I wrote about how excited I was to be able to attend an outdoor learning workshop with Claire Warden as a speaker.  Well, we finally were able to attend this workshop today!  I will say, it was difficult to have this fall on my first day back after being sick!  I'm still running low on energy, so I wasn't quite as excited as I may have been had I not been feeling under the weather still!

Claire is an excellent speaker and clearly is passionate about outdoor early learning!  It was wonderful to get a view of outdoor learning from outside the United States.  Of course, we had already done a good deal of research and came away from the workshop actually wanting a bit more!   However, this is a great start and gave us some very solid ideas to consider and steps to take.
I am still processing information and trying to decide what and how we could actually use in our area.  Although, I know, because of regulations, we will never get to a point even close to our contemporaries in some other countries, I do believe there are many items we can incorporate into our existing area, and area to possibly expand. 

We were able to see documentation panels from a school locally (St. Ambrose Children's Campus) that is nature certified.  This did give me a good idea of where we probably need to focus our efforts (at least at first). 

1. I think we agreed that we lack an area of green space or open space to move about.  Our outdoor area is relatively long and narrow.  However, we do have a large amount of green space that goes unused.  We decided we will need to talk more about how to utilize this space, whether or not we can technically call it "ours"!  
2. We have very few loose materials and almost no natural loose materials.  We will have to work on collecting items, talking to children about collecting items and finding a sturdy natural shelving unit to hold wooden boxes with loose materials.
3. We have no work table.  We would like to find a sturdy wooden picnic table to allow the children to work on.
4. Plants!  We have very few plants.  We will need to work on raising money for plantings and a garden.  We want to make sure the children are involved in every aspect of this, so we may take it slow at first, depending on what we can handle!

We also have some issues with fundraising, as we have some division over what we should be fundraising for!  UGH!  We have a lot to hammer out still!  This will be a long, step by step process for us.  I know we are only at the very start.  It will take years to fully develop any true in-depth outdoor learning, but the workshop definitely helped us to continue to shift our focus towards more true outdoor learning.   We will continue to take things slowly, one step at a time!  We want to make sure everyone comes on board with us!  Our small group of parents, teachers along with the children all need to truly feel this belongs to the school community!

Outdoor Learning...While Inside?!

Our wonderful plans to increase our outdoor learning have hit a bit of a snag recently!  Our preschool programs' rule is that the children are not to go outside at all if the temp. is below 18 degrees (including the wind chill).  We have quite a few "below 18 degree" days during winter!  We would love to bundle up and at least go outdoors for 5 min. during the day.  We'd love to check on the bird feeders we made, have the children help replenish the bird feeders, have the children help take photos of the animals we see in the winter, examine how trees are different in the winter than spring...and more.  We have extra warm winter clothes here at school for the children to wear if they have forgotten their own.  We have boots, snow pants, coats, hats and mittens.   

 NOT taking right out our classroom window...but possible!

Well, instead we are reduced to having children run back and forth from the window to the carpet to keep minute by minute updates on how many squirrel and bird feeder bagels are left beneath the trees!  Believe me, some children feel this must be a minute by minute update!  We are looking for more ideas to bring us closer to the outdoors, while staying inside!  We know, this is not ideal....but we work with what we have! 

We want the children to be able to experience these things
first, before they view them on a photo!

Here are a few of the things we have done so far:  We have blown up the photos we took recently on our nature walk, and put them together on a ring for the children to view.  As soon as it snows again here, we will bring snow inside to our sensory table to explore.  We plan on putting our sensory table outdoors with water in it to find out what happens (we bet it will freeze by the afternoon!)  We are looking for books about animals we might see in our area in the winter.  I will be putting up my permanent bird feeder out our window for the children to see.

What other activities do you do that involve nature and the outdoors, without actually being outside?

Including our Children with Special Needs in our Outdoor Experiences

After several blog posts about exploring the great outdoors with the children, I wanted to write a bit about how I have made sure my children with special needs are included in all these activities.  To be quite honest, I have been surprised (and thrilled) with how wonderful the children are doing!  

Previously, we have gone for shorter walks in the neighborhood, but have always brought the wagon and had several children sit in the wagon for the walk.  Expecting all the children who are capable of walking to walk with us on these nature walks has been interesting!  Do we walk slowly?  Yes.  Do we explore our environment in a bit of a different way?  Maybe.  Do we need to hold an adults hand?  For most of us...absolutely!  But, we've done amazingly well! I always keep in mind several things when I'm planning for the children.  

A nature walk is no less exciting or interesting for children who are not
walking!  Riding in a stroller and peeking out at the sights while
on a walk can be very rewarding! 

In general, these are the questions I keep in mind:

1. What would I like my students to gain from the experience?  This is never the same for all the children.  For one child, I may want him to listen for new sounds while we are on our walk.  For another child I may want him to be alert and attentive to the walk experience.  For a child who is particularly shy and withdrawn, I may want him to hold a partner's hand while on our walk.  And for others I may want them to point to something new that they see.
2. How will my children participate in the experience?  Again, for one child this may mean that I want him to watch with interest to what the children are doing next to them.  For another, it may mean I want him to independently do one step of the experience.  For still another, it may mean that I would like to see him smile at another child when an interaction is initiated by the other child.
3. In general, will this be a positive or negative experience for the children. This question is an educated guess.  But, having a high expectation for all children is important.  Sometimes, you're not sure what a child can do or handle unless they are given the chance to experience it! 
4. What will I need to adapt/How will I adapt the experience?  When I need to adapt parts of the experience, I try to keep the adaptations from interfering with the children's ability to experience and explore their surroundings.  I try to keep them from prohibiting them from interacting with the other children.  Finally, I never remove them from the group.  We offer additional assistance within the group setting so this can be a true integrated experience.

This little guy started the experience of making bird and squirrel feeders
by needing hand over hand assistance to spread the peanut butter.

These additional outdoor experiences have also given us the chance to spend more time learning from our same age peers.  The children still have the support of more adults and more one on one assistance exploring and understanding what we are seeing, hearing, touching and smelling while outside, but, they also have the benefit of the language of the other children and the experiences of the other children.

By the end, he was spreading the peanut butter independently!

We generally do many things with this larger classroom, so the other children do know us very well.  They are always so excited to have us come visit their room, do activities with us and enjoy the company of the children from my classroom.  They really do recognize that each child brings something very unique and special to the group.  As one child once said when describing a little guy from my classroom:  "He gives the BEST hugs!"  Well, what could be better!?  It's important for everyone to feel included in rewarding and challenging experiences and to feel that they offer something important and special to the group!

"Bagel Bird and Squirrel Feeders"

OH, we had so much fun today!  We took a 35 minute ('round trip' :) walk around the neighborhood near our school and to a small ravine.  We saw a rabbit, lots of squirrels, birds, a cat in a window, animal tracks, ice on the creek and many different trees.

We stopped several times to be very quiet and hear birds.  One time we heard an unusual bird call.  The children speculated that it may be a woodpecker or...a peacock!  The children were pretty sure there was water under the ice on the creek and and were very excited to see the animal tracks on the sidewalk.  They also found a hole in the ground.  They thought it might be a home for ants, a worm, a snake or an elephant!

When we got back to the classroom we printed out the photos we took and laminated them.  We talked to the children about the animals we saw and heard on our walk.  We also talked about how difficult it is for the animals to find food when it is cold outside.

We decided we would help the animals find some food near our school.  We made bagel bird and squirrel feeders.  

The children spread lots of peanut butter on their bagel, then stuck cranberries, popcorn and sunflower seeds to the peanut butter. 

Originally, the idea was to put yarn through the hole in the bagel and hang the bird feeders.  As you can see, the children loved putting on all the items so much that we couldn't see the bagel hole anymore!  So, we decided we would just lay these flat on the ground around the trees for the birds and squirrels.  As one child said,  "My bird is going to have a FEAST!"

When we finished, we had 2 trays filled with bagel bird and squirrel feeders.  HUGE bagel bird and squirrel feeders...piled high with yummy things for birds and squirrels to eat. 

We went to the front of the school and the children put the bagel bird feeders around the trees.  Several children even found a small crevice in one of the trees and decided to put their bagel bird feeders in this.  They thought the squirrels might live in this hole.  Some of the children even called into the hole:  "Squirrel, Squirrel!"  Apparently, they wanted to make sure the squirrels knew that we had left food for them!

We will have to check tomorrow to see if any food is left! 

Outdoor Learning: Getting Started!

If you've been following for a bit, you may have noticed my New Year's resolution #3: Spend more time planning for, making use of and engaging the children in outdoor learning.  You may also have noticed that I was completely excited to be able to sign up for the workshop on outdoor learning with the speaker Claire Warden (http://www.mindstretchers.co.uk/).  We're on a mission!  We're on a mission to encourage the children to interact with the outdoor environment in a more in-depth way than they are doing currently.  Which, I admit, at this point, is pretty basic.

Yesterday, we went on a nature walk around the school.  We explored the size of the trees, the leaves and watched the squirrels.

Another preschool teacher and I will be attending this workshop and are also beginning the very first steps in making real use of the outdoors near our school.  Unfortunately, our school is located in an area that is more typically industrial, with fewer safe places to walk and destinations to walk to than other early learning centers may have.  We've started brainstorming ideas, though.  And, although we may not be able to walk to many places, we agree we do have a very good start on a very natural and engaging outdoor learning area on our own school grounds.   

We went on a walk through the neighborhood near our school.  We heard dogs barking and birds singing.

Now, we just need to expand...we have a large amount a space we hope we can utilize to some extent.  We need to improve accessibility so ALL of our children can access as much as possible.  We also need to provide more loose materials for the children to manipulate, more surfaces and more plants.  Finally, we really need to just do some more "out of the box" thinking!  We are determined to spend more time exploring the environment around the school. 

 

 Yesterday we took a rather lengthy walk (at least lengthy for us) and the children did a wonderful job!  We explored the neighborhood around our school.  We explored various trees and plants in the area.  We listened for birds and heard dogs barking.  We found twigs, acorns, leaves and tree bark to bring back with us. Finally, we saw quite a few squirrels and were able to stay still enough to watch them running around the front yard of our school for a bit!

Below is a quick view of what we currently have in our outdoor learning area.

(Note: We are certainly NOT complaining.  This is a HUGE improvement in our outdoor area from what we have previously had access to.  However, we would like to make USE of what we have to a larger extent.  We also would like to add more plants, more green space, more loose materials and various textures and areas to explore!

The entrance to our outdoor learning area.  Behind this is
the play car and trike path.

Another view of the entrance.

     Our sand area with magnetic wall behind (we have magnetic
tubes to place on the board.)

Our tree stump jumping area with swings behind this and a
log balance beam to the side.

Our "tree platform house."  Beyond this is our climbing structure.

A view through our trellis with storage/trike sheds behind.

Grounds for Play helped us design and install our outdoor learning area.