Worlds In the Wild

With a slight shift in the weather toward cooler days, I noticed this morning a group of preschoolers out in Gwen’s Castle.  During the warmer months there tends to be less activity in the space, but once it cools off, children begin to gravitate to that area of the playground. 

The Castle was created in 2011 in remembrance of Gwen Van Kirk, one of our preschoolers who unexpectedly died in her sleep at home when she was four years old.  We named it Gwen’s Castle because Gwen loved to dress up and pretend she was a princess.  The intention of the project, in addition to honoring Gwen, was to create a space where children could interact with wildness of nature by using their imaginations. We have deliberately kept the concrete wall backdropping it unpainted, and made mostly natural materials available to support their play.  Instead of pots and pans, trucks, and toys to play with, they make use of rocks, tree limbs and sticks, grass, leaves and a few bricks.  Gwen’s Castle is, from my perspective, a reminder to keep natural spaces available for children, and to view the spaces as sacred.

One of the best projects from last year that’s still somewhat intact is a fort made of big logs.  With the help of a teacher, a group built the sturdy fort collaboratively.  Sometimes these construction projects don’t last too long, as other groups come along and want to make their iteration of the previous work.  This fort is unusual in its longevity.  In the spring, the same group of children begged to go out to the castle day after day.  Their play evolved over time and the setting became part of the play.  

The group I chatted with in Gwen’s Castle today was just getting started for the year.  They were Ninja Turtles, all holding sticks, gathered beneath a shady tree.  They said the castle was their swamp.  I’ll be following this group to see how they utilize the space to enter their imaginative world.  As the days become cooler, I expect other groups will begin to wander out to the castle.  It’s the season for exploring our small slice of wildness on the Seed playground.  I feel privileged when the children allow me a glimpse of their worlds, reminding me of my own childhood, when we thrived on creating worlds in the wild.