The afternoon began on the rocks. R8, R6, and F immediately climbed on top of the tunnel and threw their shoes to the ground.
M and S ran into one of the caves.
“It’s not very busy on the rocks. It’s very busy in the sand pit,” R8 observed.
“And it’s busy in the shade,” F added.
R8 and F began to climb on the top of the rocky wall.
“Is this for people to go on top of?” F wondered.
“You can,” I told him.
“The trees are fake. The roots are here to help,” F said.
“Yeah. They’re here for people to grab onto,” R8 agreed.
The pair made their way across the wall. Multiple red admiral butterflies fluttered around them as the boys crawled from rock to rock.
“Look at all the butterflies!” R8 gasped.
“I wonder if they like the warmth of the rocks,” I said.
“I feel like I’m going to scream and swat them away,” F admitted.
S connected with some friends she met at camp. She scampered off to play with them.
M headed for the stream. She began to build a pile of sand and sticks.
“I’m trying to block this. I’m making a dam,” M said.
The water stopped flowing momentarily.
“It worked!” M exclaimed.
“Oh…” she said, a second later, when she saw thatthe water was breaking through one side.
M tried to fill the cracks in the dam.
“I’m trying to make a little pool. Trying to make a little ocean,” she said.
She continued to patch her dam. She looked at where I was standing on the other side of her build.
“Now you’re not getting much water. Come over here,” she said.
I stepped over the dam.
“You can help me. This water is fighting back. I need lots of wood and logs and sand to seal it in,” M told me.
Over in the sand pit, R6, F, and R8 were working with other children to dig rivers and streams.
“I’m starting to build a tunnel,” F announced.
“F’s building a tunnel!” R6 repeated.
The sides collapsed on one part of the construction.
“Aw, the bridge broke!” R6 cried.
F and R6 started to re-dig the sections that had collapsed.
“There, we made a stream,” F said.
“Yes! Yes! Yes! It’s streaming. There it goes!” R8 shouted from where he had been digging.
R8 dragged a shovel through the river.
“I’m clearing out all these roundabouts,” he said.
“I’m about to fix the dry part. I’m just clearing out the tunnel,” R8 continued.
“It’s dry right here. We need some water,” R6 called out.
“Oh no! Who is clogging up this?” R8 wanted to know.
“I know, someone is clogging it,” R6 told him.
R8 and R6 worked together to dig out the clogs.
“Wet sand is like super glue,” R6 said.
“It’s actually dry sand that is like super glue,” R8 insisted.
“Every once in a while you have to look around and see if anything is wrecked. Then you have to dig it out,” R8 said.
“These shovels are not high quality,” F noticed, as he struggled to dig through the wet sand.
S and M decided to sit in a cave and eat their snack.
“We were talking about Spidey. She asked me what my favorite Spidey is. I said it’s Ghost Spider. I have a costume. She said she has a costume, too!” M giggled.
R8 had to leave early for another commitment. After saying goodbye to him, R6, F, S, and M discussed where they wanted to play. They settled on the pines.
“I want to build a fort,” F said, as we made our way into the woods.
“Oh, good. Someone already built a fort!” F said.
M and R6 ran into the fort.
“I want to climb the fort,” F said.
“If you get hurt, it’s not my fault,” S warned him.
F started to climb the fort.
“How do you get in?” S wondered.
“Here,” R6 demonstrated.
“There’s people in here!” M reminded F.
“I’m only going to go this high,” F assured her.
After a few minutes, he jumped down and walked over to a tree.
“I found wet sap! Someone get me a stick,” he cried.
R6 handed a stick to F. She also had a stick for herself.
“I’m going to scrape it,” R6 said.
“No, I am,” F said.
“We both can,” R6 pointed out.
The children ran around the pines trying to collect sap. They brought their sap covered sticks into the fort and used them to make a pretend fire.
There were three other adults in the pines. They appeared to be filming some type of music video. I’m not sure why they thought it was a good idea to film something like that in a play area meant for children, at a time when the play area was busy, but there they were. When the other adults’ music started playing, S danced along.
“Let’s pretend these are our radios,” she said, as she pointed to two stumps inside the fort.
The afternoon ended with tree climbing and flips around a branch.
Time, space, and permission to play made for a day filled with opportunities to move, explore, experiment, assess and take risks, navigate social situations, use teamwork, solve problems, be resilient, connect with nature, and have lots of fun.
todaywewillplay 