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| Bundling up to show off the "Winter Wonderland" |
After beginning my work as a nature play-worker I have found that my idea of both nature and play have changed drastically. Even though I grew up playing in the outdoors as a child, I still found myself viewing the world in a different light than I have ever done before. Over the course of the day I had a variety of new experiences including looking at pieces of nature as imaginative objects.
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| "Snow" falling on the "snow man" |
I was able to look at a small nook in the woods and transform the area into a “Winter Wonderland” in the blistering North Carolina heat. I found my mind wander back to my childhood. A fallen branch was no longer a piece of wood, but the side of my “snow” fort. Pinecones became snowballs, a stack of logs a snowman, and a handful of sand and silt became snow.
My high for the day was wandering through the woods to discover how other people had reflected on their own childhoods through the use of various objects in nature. It was interesting to see how each individual could interpret a single stick, for example, as a variety of objects. My low for the day was recognizing how exhausted I was and feeling as if I could not fully contribute to my group members’ ideas. Overall, the day was filled with imagination, creativity, and a lot of fun. It’s amazing how a group of seemingly different strangers can come together to become a functioning family with a common goal.
- Stephanie
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