By Ellen Barnes, Director

Contact with nature is healing, and for children, participating in outdoor activities can be a source of learning in many areas. Richard Louv eloquently argues for the importance of exposure to nature in his 2005 book The Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder. Louv states “Time in nature is not leisure time; it’s an essential investment in our children’s health (and our own).” As adults we can plan and provide opportunities for our children to develop a sense of wonder and stewardship about the land in their own neighborhood as well as across the planet. At Jowonio, with the visionary help of Dan Reeder of Natural Landscape Systems, we are creating a playspace where children can grow to be explorers of the environment and at the same time develop motor, sensory, and social skills. Research shows that time outdoors alleviates symptoms of ADHD, develops motor competencies and physical fitness, produces richer symbolic play, and shifting varieties of social alliances.

We are inspired by our context, five acres in the middle of the city, where we have variable terrain and, in our hills and woods, sightings of many birds and squirrels, fox and deer. Starting with a large accessible structure by Miracle at the center of our fenced in playground, we have added a hill that presents motor challenges; cozy spaces for solitary contemplation and social encounters; innovative “wood carpet” surfacing; elements of a soundscape (as described by Rusty Keeler at planetearth playscapes.org); and beautiful perennial plantings that offer sensory experiences and attract butterflies and bees. In the summer of 2007, our community of staff, parents and friends, led by Elle Stephens, landscape architecture student at the School of Environmental Science and Forestry, created a nature trail in memory of Sarah McManus, our beloved OccupationalTherapist. This path through the woods behind our building offers chances for us to be part of an urban forest and the flora and fauna in it, and observe, explore, collect, sort and build. Our next steps are to build a boardwalk and overlook/treehouse at the top of the trail, to give a view of our building and the hills beyond. We are excited to explore the woods in all seasons.

Our dreams include the development of a bike track, stage and amphitheatre, safe water feature, native plant gardening program, and a labyrinth. We hope to inspire teachers and parents use the outdoors as an extension of our curriculum and also bring nature into our classrooms. This includes planning outdoor celebrations; adding a variety of open-ended “loose parts” to the path and playground; engaging children in in-depth explorations that tie in with literacy, math and science learning; and consciously developing children who have a conservationist habit of mind, and who see themselves as lovers and preservers of our habitat.

"Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, water bugs, tadpoles, frogs, mud turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb. Brooks to wade, water lilies, woodchucks, bats, bees, butterflies, animals to pet, hayfields, pinecones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries and hornets; and any child who has been deprived of these has been deprived of the best part of education." -Luther Burbank

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