Déjalo todo y construye un parque infantil natural. Es más fácil de lo que crees.
por ParentCo.
15 de junio de 2017
This morning, I watched through the kitchen window as my four and five-year-old deftly built a bridge over a sea of lava. They laid long planks across the bubbling fire, nudging them together until they were lined up perfectly, side by side. Then, they worked together to haul some large stumps into place at each end, pinning the planks into place.
The bridge was only about two feet off the ground, but still I found myself holding my breath as my older son urged his little brother to “Try it out, see if it works!”
Little brother, always game, leapt onto the bridge dramatically and traversed it with comical gesticulation and wide eyes as he narrated his dangerous crossing of the lava below. Then, midway through his successful passage, he jumped from the bridge, plummeting to the lava below.
“Nooooooooooo,” he cried, flailing on the ground as his brother, ever the hero, laughed and kicked mulch on him.
The lava game has been going on for almost a month now. For kids whose normal attention span is not one second longer than an episode of Octonauts, that’s some pretty serious staying power.
Of course, it may have something to do with the LAVA CROSSING PLAY SET - BONUS EDITION that I spent a fortune on at Christmas, but, just kidding, no – they don’t play with anything they got for Christmas anymore. That stuff is so six months ago.
Nope, the lava game is the product of stuff most people would consider junk, and it has taken over our backyard with the materials being used again and again in a hundred different ways. The lava game is a product of our Backyard Revolution, and I highly encourage you to get onboard.
Last summer, I reached my breaking point. Our yard, which is already on the small size and completely fenced, was overrun with plastic. It had started with a little plastic climber that I’d bought secondhand for my oldest when he was around a year.
The next summer, as he got a little older, we added a big plastic playhouse with two stories, supposedly built to look like a treehouse. Soon, a red ladybug sandbox followed, along with a giant plastic tugboat that arrived when my oldest turned four and asked for “a tugboat just like daddy drives.”
Add to that chaos an assortment of toy trucks, tiny lawnmowers, and plastic gardening tools more commonly used as weapons, and before we knew it, we were living in a sea of plastic. We had accumulated nearly every yard toy known to modern children.
Yet still, the boys were bored.
We’re all for outings and adventure, but I am a full-time, work-from-home-mom, so keeping the kids engaged and content in the yard where I can see them is a workplace essential for me. In my naivety, I had greeted their boredom with shiny new things to keep them occupied. What do kids like to play with, after all, if not a brand new toy?
Each new piece of backyard play equipment was greeted with initial excitement and quickly became the center of attention. The boys would fight over it, clamor over it, and regale me with sickeningly sweet compliments about how I’m the best mom EVER.
Then, just as quickly, each became old news. The climber gathered fallen leaves that rotted into a slimy film at the top of the slide. The playhouse sheltered cobwebs and slugs. The tugboat gathered rainwater and became an ecosystem of its own, breeding mosquitos at every opportunity. The yard was littered with discarded, plastic debris.
Something had to give, so we began a project lovingly referred to as Operation Plastic Eradication.
We emptied the yard of plastic junk and replaced it all with raw materials. The area that once housed the climber and playhouse is now our nature playground. There are logs, sticks, bricks, rocks, ropes, wood chips, and hay bales. We rigged up a few pulleys and a rope ladder from the fence. We added slabs of slate and fresh wood chips. A few blocks of solid oak paired with a jar of nails and a small hammer rounded out the space.
Part lumberyard, part fairyland, part scrapyard, it was a hit when we set the kids loose.
All kids have a deep need to feel accomplished at the end of the day. My boys feel accomplished when they set their minds to a task and work toward its completion. In the natural playground, they move rocks, build structures, tie ropes, and clear debris – both together and independently.
In their minds, they are doing something much more than simply playing. They are working, imitating the real-world work they see around them. To move a log, they may try three or four techniques before they get it right. They build pathways, experimenting with different surfaces and distances. They “plant trees” by digging holes and burying stumps in them. They engineer bridges over lava and skyscrapers made of stones.
They “work” tirelessly at play. Without the context provided by their previous toys, their options now are as endless as their imaginations.
The natural playground is the only playground you need. Still not convinced? Here are a few facts to get you thinking:
1 | When natural elements, such as logs and rocks, are incorporated into a play space,
los niños juegan de forma más activa y permanecen ocupados casi el doble de tiempo.
2 | Los niños que juegan en un espacio natural tienen más probabilidades de participar en
juego basado en la indagación y la observación.
3 | Materiales abiertos y sueltos, como palos, piedras, arena y materiales vegetales inspiran.
más juego creativo en los niños pequeños que los juegos infantiles fijos.
¿Listo para empezar? Construir su propio parque infantil natural es más sencillo de lo que cree.
En primer lugar, elija un espacio en su jardín. Lo ideal es que tenga una combinación de espacio abierto con algunos elementos naturales ya presentes, como un árbol o unos arbustos robustos. Recuerde que todo lo que haya en este espacio se convertirá probablemente en una pieza de juego, por lo que es mejor situarlo lejos de plantas frágiles (por ejemplo, su rosaleda heredada).
A continuación, purga el plástico. Nosotros regalamos, tiramos o vendimos la mayoría de nuestros juguetes de jardín. Conservamos algunos de nuestros favoritos, como los camiones Tonka y los balones de fútbol, y compramos una caja grande para guardarlos cuando no los utilizábamos.
Añade relleno si es necesario. Si tu zona ya tiene césped, es un buen comienzo. La nuestra no lo era, así que pusimos virutas de madera para amortiguar las caídas y dar definición natural al espacio.
Consigue materiales naturales. La mayoría se pueden encontrar en la zona y es posible que ya tengas algunos. Nuestro parque infantil incluye:
- Troncos cortos de gran diámetro y troncos largos de pequeño diámetro de los árboles que habíamos talado.
- Palos recogidos del bosque
- Ladrillos viejos
- Piedras grandes encontradas en el patio y el vecindario
- Conchas de la playa y restos de marisco (basta con aclararlas y dejarlas al sol hasta que estén limpias)
- Restos de madera de nuestro granero y de listones de cama desmontados
- Cuerdas
- Poleas
- Secciones transversales de un tronco de cedro
- Peldaños de pizarra sobrantes de un patio que habíamos retirado.
Locate the materials so that they are visible and accessible. Don’t stack all your materials in a corner where the kids will have to dig through a pile of bricks to discover the ropes and pulleys. Instead, spread out the materials so your kids can see them all at once and easily choose which to use at any given time.
Finally, set the kids loose and put your feet up. They may be too busy exploring, creating, and working to thank you, but the ensuing silence should be thanks enough.
ParentCo.
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