By Daniele Frerichs
Just what is a natural playscape?
According to Champaign County Forest Preserve District, a natural playscape is a landscape designed for play with the express purpose of connecting people to nature. Natural playscapes use natural materials like streams, plants, boulders, logs, earth mounds and more to provide a highly creative, interactive play experience.
The basic idea behind this type of play area is to bring back the way our parents and grandparents played, and that was simply, in nature.
Did you ever skip rocks on the stream or climb a tree? Well, multiply and combine those experiences and you have the natural playscape at Homer Lake Forest Preserve. When completed, the playscape will include a sand play area, tumbling creek, hill slide, log, boulder and stump-jumping area, human-sized bird house, a large horizontal climbing tree, tallgrass maze, spider web climber and more.
According to the forest preserve district, there are many benefits to natural playscapes, including:
- A foundation for environmental stewardship
- More creative play
- Improved motor coordination
- Enhanced emotional coping and reduced stress
- Increased concentration and impulse control
- Reduced symptoms of ADD and ADHD
- More environmentally conscious attitudes and behaviors in adulthood
I decided to do some on-site research and took my girls out there to play in the new playscape, which is under construction. (Well, I might be criminally implicating myself here, but, yes, we walked right around the big barricades saying “authorized personnel only” and enjoyed ourselves for an hour or so.) Because this is area is still being built, we were only able to admire the stream (built but not filled with water yet), play for a lengthy amount of time on the grandfather tree, and jump off boulders, which my youngest particularly enjoyed. My kids climbed on the tree just as they would have on any other monkey bars or climbing structure. They played for a long time and did not seem to get bored with the tree, as I anticipated.
As for me, I can say that I did seem more at peace enjoying my girls play at the natural playscape (besides the fear of getting caught by a ranger every time I heard a car drive by). I think it was just the joy of being in at the park environment and enjoying nature that took the edge off and allowed us to enjoy playing as a family.
When we left, my daughter asked, “Now can we go to the real playground?” I laughed and said, “Honey, that was the real playground — nature’s playground.” I think the hope behind this concept is for playscapes to become the real playground to children.
About half of the primary structures are developed and in place so far, and areas like the sand play area, tallgrass maze, human-size spider web, and others still need to be added to the existing play area. The exact timeline for completion has not been set, but spring 2012 is the latest the playscape will open, according to the Pam Leiter, Coordinator of Environmental Education & Interpretation with the Champaign County Forest Preserve District. Leiter noted that work would continue throughout the winter months as permitted, and portions of the playscape might be open sooner while construction is still in progress.
I hope to see everyone there!
Daniele (Cox) Frerichs is the proud mother of two beautiful girls: Lyla, 3, and Isabella, 1. She and her husband, Bruce, have been married for five years. Frerichs grew up outside of Rantoul, has lived within a 30-mile radius of Chambana her entire life, and now calls Royal home. She was educated at and now works full time for the University of Illinois.