I Spy: Through Animal Eyes!

The final week of our Nature Play Corps adventure brought Amelea, Kaitlyn, and Terry together and allowed them to see through animal eyes.  This actually means that they decided to create a play habitat for children to observe wildlife, interact within wildlife habitats, and build their own creations with natural materials.

Learning to observe wildlife from the tree house

In "I Spy Through Animal Eyes", the children were given free range within a network of trails that connected to five different experiences.  These included:  a pine straw nest, vine-lashed tunnel, small loose parts habitat creation, large loose parts lean-to construction, and a wildlife observation tree house.  It's important to note that our series of paths/play pockets included a central island with seating for parents to congregate while their children engaged in free play from pocket to pocket. 

I spy... a blue snake!

Our play habitat generated many many many fun memories, one of which we'll share here: Jimmy came trundling down the main trail with the force of a thousand rhinoceroses and decided to turn left at the first fork, following a secret path leading to a 4 foot high tree fort, constructed of fallen timbers, rope and disguised with foliage camouflage.  He was happy to be the first one up, where he immediately grabbed a pair of binoculars and peered over the railing, anxious to spot some "wildlife". [Prior to the program, representational images of local wildlife were placed in and amongst the surrounding trees.]

Coming through the tunnel

Instantly, he exclaimed that he saw a slithering "cobra" snake on the ground.  Soon, Jimmy hopped down and rambled back down the path to discover something new.  The trail took him to a tunnel in the underbrush where he felt inspired to slither and Ssssssssssss like a snake until he reached the end.  The exit led him directly to a smaller pocket, which had appropriate loose parts for digging and building miniature habitats.  As he was vigorously digging a snake hole, he overheard some other children crowing like birds in a nearby 3x3 foot nest.  This piqued his interest, and he quickly joined the jubilant baby bird congregation.

It was awesome to see a child take a continued hold of his imagination with minimal prompting in this foreign wooded environment.  The trail system afforded children the opportunity to freely explore their environment through self-directed play.  Success through animal eyes.