Musing

Best Comment Ever

This week a great comment came through at Transom.org, where the radio story of The Land premiered.  

When I first came back from The Land, I showed some rough footage to a few kids I know.   They were hypnotized, oohing, awing, asking:

"What do you do there?"

"Anything, really"

"oh... [lightbulb] AWESOME!"  

Later, I realized the 8 year old had slipped away.   I found him in the play-room building with a cardboard box he'd dragged out of the garage, some other items from the recycle bin, blankets and pillows -- he'd even taken some pictures OFF THE WALL to create the boundaries of his fort. Permission and possibility, they translate quickly.  

The Library - Who Knew?

I live and work in a lovely college town. And where there are colleges.... there are LIBRARIES. Why didn't I think of this before? 

Just when I thought I'd googled every variation of play, play deprivation, playwork (very few results by the way), playgrounds and "are we all going to rot and become robots for lack of spontaneity, and joie de vivre...?" I found my library.  And oh what a good one it is.  This is just the beginning. 

 

Watch: Nils Norman

in

You know you're playground obsessed when you spend the morning watching a series of Nils Norman lectures. 

The contrast between what the mainstream provides for children, and what they create when left to their own devices is telling us something. Shouting to us! Listen! Listen!

 

Watch: From the Archive

in

Junk playgrounds are not a new idea.  Check out this 70's era short film featuring Lady Allen of Hurtwood, a legend in the adventure play movement. Hear her explain, in her own words and without apology, the 'what' and 'why' of adventure play. 

Perhaps Lady Allen's greatest legacy is expanding adventure play opportunities to children at all levels of ability.  The language in this film is dated, but the ideas still seem ahead of their time.  

Enjoy!

From The New Yorker

I've always been intrigued by this New Yorker cover from October 2010 and look at it often. It reads like a documentary illustration.  Such an interesting point of view... up in the corner, the perspective of a fly on the wall.  

New Yorker cover, October 2010

If you look closely, the magazine is speckled with observations of the experience of being a child.  Here are just a few.