Turtle Island Extravaganza

It’s dark. And damp. The pine needles are poking my forehead, getting caught in my hair. The hemp string is not staying attached to my arms, making it more comfortable to sit in child’s pose than any other position. Nobody seems to have noticed the massive box in the corner, distracted by the glitter and glue and mom’s instructions for how to apply both. Ah, it’s my time. I poke my head out, here come the arms… voila, I am a box turtle. Mom laughs. And keeps laughing.

Getting to know Mr. Box Turtle

The first group of children entered Turtle Island timidly and were greeted by three turtles of differing species. The girls ranged in age from about 4 to 7 and, after a brief moment of hesitation, were excited to begin their transformation from children into turtles. They each tried on a shell for size and proceeded to slather paint, glue, and glitter over the cardboard pieces in various designs. As they began to finish their shells, the girls were led into the woods by Mr. Box Turtle toward the Enchanted Forest.

A turtle parade through the woods

Britani Lolley, Benji Palmer, and Stephanie Rustem

Tuesday, June 14th

Today the ITs attacking us with full force! They are a lot bigger then yesterday and much more cunning, our Guard-its can do very little against this group of ITs. We the innocent interns are left out in the open with no defense. Our challenge today given to us by Phil was to create a "den" (fort), that can hold all 15 of us and be able to protect us from attacking ITs. We immediately discussed possibilities to where the den could be placed. We decided on a location that had 3 fallen trees that created a triangle and had natural defenses such as Devil's Walkingstick. We cleared out the center of the triangle, set up booby traps to catch the its, made sure we had escape routes incase things started to go downhill. We also built a roof for our den out of tarps that protected us from flying ITs. The ITs sent a small attacking force made of two old ITs to try and destroy our humble abode. The first IT made it through our first line of defense but got boxed in a clever trap that included a beautiful skylight. The second IT evaded all our defenses but our escaped routes were used to our advantage. Needless to say our den was very successful.


In the afternoon we traveled to Pea Island National Refuge, our trip was great. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, and there was a sense of joy in the air. Little did we know that the Air and Sea ITs were creeping on us! Brave our expert IT tracker noticed them creeping about and informed us about their dangers. Phil issued a challenge to create a talisman that would deter both the Air and Sea ITs at the same time. We attacked this challenge from many different angles, some went to the top of the dunes to search for drift wood. Some took tools and attacked the sand to create a trench to protect from the Sea ITs, this also doubled as a deterrent fro the Air ITs because we placed shells to make it look like a mouth.

Working together to create the talisman

Some of us went to the beach front and created a path for the ITs to follow out of the water out towards the sand dunes and then back into the water. Doing this would confuse the small brained ITs. We also created sand people that could be used as bait. The coolest thing we created that deterred the ITs the most was a series of tall pieces of drift wood stuck into the ground and then having a pattern drawn in the sand around them. It looks like a face from the air so the Air ITs will definitely not want to attack this area. The biggest challenge we had was putting into the sand a LONG LONG piece of drift wood that was taller then any one piece of wood that I have ever seen before. It took an act of congress to get that wood into the sand.

it stands alone

After this wonderful experience we all sat in a circle along the beach and reflected, spoke freely, and enjoyed each others company. Today was absolutely wonderful, we grew together as a team, worked through two challenges that we completed with flying colors, and most importantly no one got attacked by an IT.
-Assir Abushouk

Monday, June 13

Week two of the Nature Play Corps program kicked off bright and early Monday morning, June 13. The morning seminars kicked off with a very interesting and relevant seminar led by Nilda Cosco, focusing on affordances for children within the natural environment. She focused specifically on the ways in which the structure and events within an environment contribute to the overall perceptual experience of the children. She offered a psychological aspect of the natural experience, and explained how objects with both conventional and unconventional affordances can contribute different affordances to each individual. She also introduced a concept called ART (Attention Restoration Theory), which explains the characteristics of a successfully designed environment for child-interaction and growth. The characteristics include: being involved in an environment that is different from the everyday experience, allowing the child to remain engaged throughout the experience, holding the attention of the child effortlessly, and fitting in with what the child wants to or is inclined to do. Overall, it was a very engaging seminar, which allowed us to hone in on the various characteristics of successful environments.

Phil introducing us to Guard-IT's

Next up was a rousing introduction to Phil Waters, visiting Playworker from England! He works with the Eden project, which has successfully launched a whole segment of the English population into the mindset that playwork with children is indeed important for their well-being, growth, and development. He was obviously very excited to be in the United States, and even more excited to give us all his take on the playwork profession. One of Phil's main points of emphasis was the concept of invitation within the environment. He explained that, when involved with playwork, it is the role of the playworker to provide an invitation for children to have a meaningful experience within the environment. While some of us had cooked up elaborate schemes to involve children, nearly forcing certain experiences on the children, Phil explained that it can be something as simple as saying "I hear there are monsters out there!" and leaving it at that. What I took away most from his presentation was that children do not need much of a jump start when it comes to engaging themselves within a narrative or play environment.

After lunch, we traveled to the Gateway site, and uncovered the story of the 'its.' Apparently, there are 'its' everywhere, and must be avoided at all costs. One of the best ways to stave them off is through the creation of a 'guard-it,' which will use its special powers to hold the 'its' at bay. Made with modeling clay, loose parts, and elements of the natural settings around us, our 'guard-its' had several magical powers which fended off the nasty 'its.'

Here is a Guard-IT!

After the creation of our 'its,' we were tasked to group up, and create a community for our 'its' to live in. Two groups were formed, and quickly small cities appeared within the woods. Highways, homes, schools, fire stations, playgrounds, ponds, and other community pillars were constructed for our 'its,' and we very much enjoyed showing our community to the other group of developers.

Here is a home for one of the GUARD-ITS!

Monday evening contained our visit to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, where we explored their successful Wolfhowl program. In this program, the refuge has taken a nearly extinct species, the Red Wolf, and nursed them back into existence through an intensive recovery program. See below posts for a more complete description (and audio) of our visit, which was easily one of the coolest things that any of us has ever experienced!

Terry

Wild Imagination in Bug City

Today was the first time we actually got to play with children.  We constructed a play pocket themed “Bug City,” surrounded by pre-existing magical vines, a fort made from nearby forest matter, and some structures that looked a little like bug homes.  In the pocket, we had some bug costume objects, magnifying glasses and bug boxes.  Our intention was to be as hands-off as possible, and we didn’t really know what to expect…

The third group of kids to enter was three kids: two boys and one girl, ages 6, 6, and 3.  Before we could do anything, they had started to deconstruct the path to build a life-size teepee!  Quickly, Bug City was under siege, by one of the kids and Sarah (one of our playworkers), attacking another child and Kaitlyn—the good bugs, the playworkers’ roles having been assigned by the kids.

The youngest child chose to dig in the dirt, searching for worms or anything else living under ground.  He was curious about what he might find, and began to discover some potential living space!  As he dug, he asked Molly to help him, and to also look at what he was finding.

Soon, though, the dramatic play surrounding him threw some of the warring bugs into jail (the fort), and he jumped in to free them with his special protective powers. 

However, once safe again, he returned to his digging and investigating.  The ability of this young child to pass between focused investigation and involvement in the dramatic play was incredible.  And the imaginative power of all three children, as well as the clear role they wanted us playworkers to play in their game felt so right.  

Molly, Sarah, Kaitlyn

Day 3 - Finding Your Inner Child

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.

"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