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!
We're all drawn to fire, aren't we? It's warm, magical, turns objects to ash... it sparkles, crackles... is just cool. (Or, "mint," as I'm learning to say.) When we were kids, I remember melting candles on the porch for hours on summer afternoons - lighting the wicks and dripping wax onto wooden boards pulled out of the garage.
Fire play is a common and important element in adventure playgrounds. Above is a time lapse test from an afternoon at the fire pit - a hypnotic and beautiful bit of space on The Land.
I nearly fainted when I saw this delightful 1 minute film at the True/False documentary film festival. Such whimsy and wonder inspired by the possibilities provided by an adventure playground.
Fortrait #3: "Adventure Fort"
"Adventure Fort" was part 3 of a 4-part series of "fortraits" by Encyclopedia Pictura. Here are the others. They are a delight.
Fortrait #1 "Driftwood Cabin"
Fortrait #2: "Camping Rafts"
Fortrait #4: Subterranean Breakfast Nook
Don't they make you want to look around? Pick up a stick? Tie it to another with some grass? Stack rocks? Paint? Draw? Look to the sky? To try something silly? Delight in creating? Yes. Yes, they do. Me too.
I wonder what a playworker might say about the play drive here - that feeling that the films trigger inside of us. If I had to guess, based on what I've learned from them all so far, I might say that these films give us permission to play. And permission, it seems, is sometimes all it takes.
And... we're rolling!
snowball fight
adult supervision
This was not here yesterday.
The playground doors are open and things are going great. Every day is new, a surprise - for everyone at the site - always! xxo
Just to make the point so we can move on to more exciting things - this snow was really a surprise. The most snow in anyone's memory here - almost 24 inches in 48 hours. The day we arrived/the next morning:
More evidence. Everyone was snowed in. We couldn't get off of our lane. Playworkers couldn't get to work and the playground was closed.
Stranded in the lovely village of Caergwrle (pronounced Kai-GIRL-ly) we walked to the local sledding hill. Some friendly sledders lent us their best board and luckily we had a GoPro. They'd built quite a ramp (Thanks, "Pigeon" and company!)
- please be advised this video contains strong language due to sledding induced fear.
And they're off!
The friendly gentlemen who lent us their sled!
More soon, all. xxo
Well. IT SNOWED!
This makes for a beautiful LANDscape. But sadly for us, the playground was closed to kids for the day and the crew was snowed in at the apartment - with heavy branches fallen all down the drive. It did make for a great opportunity to interview our gracious and friendly hosts here about their own risky childhood memories. Hearing stories like these, from the woods, the junkyards, the fields played in years ago, is one of the great pleasures and privileges of making this film.
Also, have you read this? Prepare yourself - you may be compelled to shout "amen" from the rooftops.
We've dug ourselves out and are tucking in for the night. To be continued! xoxo
photo by Claire Griffiths
Hello everyone, we have arrived in the UK! I stepped out of the airport to cool temps and a bright sun - it was a beautiful day to fly in and drive through the countryside, passing several sheep farms and lovely rolling hills.
The temps have since dropped and the crew and I are expecting snow overnight. We're not sure yet if the playground will be closed tomorrow due to the weather but Claire and I are in touch and all of our fingers are crossed! Here's hoping for an epic snowball fight on the first day of shooting for The Land!
Thanks all, more soon!
Dave doesn't have to be at work until 3:00pm. But one day I arrived around noon to find him hauling a van full of donated wooden pallets - his palms scraped and scabbed from a minor crash on a speeding scooter the previous afternoon. I would often find him like this, before the workday, digging a waist deep hole on the playground, assembling a rudimentary shed, or rigging a den in a neglected corner. Playworkers call these "sensitive modifications." The changes are left to be claimed and re-imagined by the first child who finds them.
He laughs, telling me about a recent shenanigan in which the kids painted his co-worker green (like... head to toe, glasses, jeans, jacket...) and got him to chase them them through the surrounding neighborhood like a monster. Neighbors and parents peered through their curtains, shook their heads with a smile and scooted their own children out the front door. "That about sums it up really," he says.
But Dave takes this work seriously and acknowledges that playwork is not always silliness and games. Supporting play can challenge adult sensibilities and demands reflection, and humility. Here, Dave speaks about the darker side of play, and why it's welcome at The Land.
