Creating "Adventure Theater"

Adventure Theater

“Make a fairy garden,” was a prompt that our group of three interns was given by Jess Hoffmire, a guest facilitator to Nature Play Corps from NC Zoo. On the second day of our internship, Courtney, Terry, and I were assigned to work together and we ventured out in the woods to search for the perfect spot for a fairy garden. We found several trees that formed an archway off of the main trail that we previously created and all agreed that this was a great place to create our garden. 

Some of the children performing in the theater

The three members of our group reminisced about our childhood experiences in nature while sitting in the fairy garden. We felt a connection with the location, which eventually became the site of our play pocket. After exploring the space further we found an area where several trees had fallen that was a wonderful place to sit down and admire the woods. We created a trail that looped through the woods and back to the entrance. During our ideation we discussed that incorporating dramatic play into our play pocket would be an open-ended way to connect children with nature. The theme of our play pocket transformed into “Adventure Theater” so we created a stage at the entrance to our site. We made a curtain by draping a net that we decorated with pine cones, leaves, and pine needles over the archway. We arranged logs to be the seats in the audience. 

 Small groups of children rotated throughout the play pockets that the interns created. We explained to the children that they would be creating a play and encouraged them to find inspiration and props for their play along the trail. 

Connecting with nature ourselves through play helped us to develop a nature play experience for children.

 "Adventure Theater" was a space for children to explore and develop a personal connection with Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. The play pocket supported cognitive, social, emotional, and physical domains of development. Through dramatic nature play, children took on multiple perspectives, practiced fine and gross motor skills, language skills, and negotiation.