Secret Forts and Other Imagination Shaped Spaces
Remember digging a the deepest hole you could and dreaming about going to the other side of the world, of finding hidden treasures from ages past, or underground caverns to play in. And that special place in the trees at the park became another world where the gathered rocks, sticks, and leaves became furniture and walls.
We are fortunate to live just outside the city on a couple of acres surrounded with trees. In my younger years I lived near a large city park with plenty of green spaces, trees, water, rocks, and wildlife. As much as my friends and I loved playing on the climbing structures, we loved exploring, finding secret places to set up camp. To others it would have been a collection of rocks and sticks, maybe some cardboard and scraps of wood found in the bushes. To us, it was the club house, the gathering place defined more by imagination than by substance. We shared our visions and dreams for the space and played architect, engineer, interior designer, gardener, king, and god.
We set aside a portion of the yard in which the boy had free reign. It is his space to dig, and cut, and create, and move, and build. Everything in this space has purpose and meaning to him. He loves taking others on tours, articulating his imagination to the visitors, “Here is the secret path and there is my throne. Over here is the spy area so we can keep a look out for intruders…”
As much as imagination is developed, there are practical skills developed. His first attempts with the shovel were awkward and ineffective. We talked about the difference between a shovel and a spade. Now he selects the right tool for the job. Stringing a tarp between two trees presented a minor feat of engineering balancing the tensile strength of the string and the mass of the tarp. Fastening the string also meant learning some knots – practicing patience in learning how to tie, then patience in having to undo and reposition. He cleared and pruned a path through an unruly bush learning to differentiate live from dead growth, recognizing the poplars from the lilacs, and becoming more familiar with the creatures that live under the leaves in dense bush.
While pre-fab play houses seem increasingly popular, the incidental learning that happens with imagination and creation, as well as the joy that comes from problem solving and creating may be lost. Make frequent visits to the same park and encourage interacting with the natural elements, beyond the play structures and, like the boxes the toys come in, the park itself will become the playground.
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