Different spaces, different play.
One of the joys at Sabot at Stony Point is the many opportunities the children have for outside play. This time is so important to the children and they look forward to their weekly “forest” recesses. The play that they engage in is certainly space specific and very different from their experiences on the playground. The forest invites the children to forge new friendships, take physical risks or invent a new game. No equipment goes into the forest or comes out, yet the children are never at a loss for something to do.
I have noticed over the years teaching at Sabot that as the forest changes through the seasons the play changes too. Never do we have an autumn day when children are not burying themselves in leaves or throwing them into the air and in the spring the child scientists appear searching for crayfish and frogs in the creek. This year I have been taking the time to notice the forest play in winter and just a few weeks ago, a magical day came to the forest.
“ICE ICE! The Creek is ice!”
Immediately the children stepped on the ice, and the games and explorations began. At first the children joined friends on the ice, walking and sliding along the creek, so excited at this rare opportunity. As time went on the play and exploration grew wider in scale. Some children became scientists dropping rocks onto the ice to break it, or investigating the weight of large chunks of ice they collected like jewels. Others turned to sporting events, making “official” ice pucks to start a hockey game, or ice dancing in pairs and groups, speed skaters slid the length of the creek, while artists noticed patterns and shapes. Being in this new environment invited the children these choices, to play in a way they had not been able to in the forest before.
With the weather being cold and unpredictable we decided one Wednesday to go to the old 4 th
grade outside classroom for forest time. At first the children were disappointed, as they had established games in the regular forest space that they wanted to play.However, as soon as they entered this new space they once again began an exploration and found new resources to pique their imaginations. Huge sticks were to be found and paraded. They proved useful for knocking off small sticks stuck up very high in the trees, then became excellent building materials for creating new shelters. A game of chase started up, running up and down the hilly terrain. A hollow tree stump proved irresistable and soon prisoners were being held in the stump, children pleading to have their turn in the “jail.”
As the space changes, so does the play. Last week we had been to the Garden Room to visit our preschool friends. We walked back across the terrace and the children asked to take their break in the garden, a place not new to them but where they had not played this year. Here the play was different again, starting with reminising and playing in old favorite parts of the garden. The children climbed trees, explored the bridge and gathered in a bush whispering, “you remember when this felt so big we climbed in the branches.”
They spread out over the entire space, sharing memories. A group of children had made paper airplanes with their Garden Room buddies, the open space inviting them to launch their planes off of the garden bench.
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