Melissa Lennig - Sticks and Stones: A Kids Guide to Building and Exploring in the Great Outdoors

A KIDS GUIDE TO BUILDING AND EXPLORING IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS

MELISSA LENNIG

Several years ago, my husband unexpectedly lost his job. Because his job included room and board, we lost our home too. Feeling hopeless and rather defeated, we packed almost all of our belongingsincluding our kids toys and booksinto a storage facility, then set route for my grandparents cottage in rural New Hampshire.

Surrounded by decades-old sugar maple trees and crisp woodland air, our spirits lifted. I soon noticed that nature made us feel better, and it was also rich with creative art and building supplies. From sticks and stones to pine cones, my toddler and preschooler enjoyed an abundance of natural materials to play, create, and build with. They didnt even miss their toys!

Together we made bird feeders, raced bark boats, and engineered log forts in the woods. The kids scrabbled over boulders, jumped in leaf piles, explored sphagnum moss bogs, planted a garden, and raised tadpoles (and much to my chagrin, mosquito larvae) in an old aquarium.

This free, unstructured play in the forest suited my kids. As their resilience and physical strength increased, so did their self-confidence, creativity, and positive relationship with the environment. We began to make outdoor play a daily priority, through sun, rain, wind, and noreaster. (Or as we called them in New Hampshire, wicked big stahms!)

After some time, a new career brought my family to the growing suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. Though homes, thriving businesses, and two-lane streets now surround us, we still live by the motto, Outdoor Play Everyday and manage to find wild in city parks, public school yards, and even our own small backyard.

How to Use This Book

Research shows that a daily dose of unstructured, outdoor play is essential for the physical and social-emotional health of kids. But the keyword there is unstructured. So let this book inspire play, not dictate it.

This book will introduce your family to thirty outdoor science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) projects that center around the use of sticks and stones.

Each activity includes a description, design challenge, list of materials, and an easy-to-understand explanation of the process. Many of the projects include enrichment activities designed to pique curiosity and inspire kids to develop more creative ideas of their own.

Where to Play Outside

If you enjoyed a childhood teeming with outdoor free play, many of the activities in this book may feel familiar and bring back fond memories of days spent wandering the neighborhood with friends until the streetlights turned on.

But things are a little different in todays world. There are rules, regulations, safety concerns, and brilliantly lit screens that keep kids indoors and inhibit outdoor play.

The good news is that many nature centers, schools, and parks are recognizing that kids need outdoor areas to freely play, learn, and roam, and they are servicing that community need through the formation of natural play areas.

Natural play areas are outdoor spaces designated for off-trail exploring, building, and creeking. At natural play areas, kids can swim, dig, pick flowers, climb trees, stack rocks, build with logs, and collect toads, insects, and crayfish to their hearts content. Interacting with nature hands-on instills a vested sense of wonder and encourages kids to be responsible, caring stewards of the natural world.

Embracing Risky Play

By definition, risky play is a play activity that involves the risk of physical injury. Its play that gives kids unique opportunities to test limits and master new challenges. Swinging, climbing, building, balancing, and jumping are just some of the risky play activities embraced in this book. Blend that with the idea of unstructured child-led outdoor play in all types of weather and you may be feeling new gray hairs pop!

The thing about kids is that they are capable. When given the opportunity, even very young children are able to manage risk and assess their own physical limitations.

We do have one ground rule though mostly for the sake of my hair!

Outdoor Play Ground Rule: Play Mindfully

Mindfulness, or the process of being fully present and aware, is an important social-emotional skill for kids to develop. Mindfulness gives kids space and time to pay attention to what is going on with their body, the environment, and other people around them. Here are some examples of how to apply this rule to outdoor play:

Listen to your body. If you cant climb that tree all by yourself, you may not be ready yet.

You found an awesome stick! Please be mindful of those around you as you play with it.

We used cording to build a tripod. We need to be mindful of the environment and make sure all the cording comes home with us.

Other Safety Considerations

Playing with sticks and stones is inherently risky business, but as you work through this book, you will notice several of the activities may also involve campfires, hand tools, a pocketknife, or water.

Adult supervision is recommended for these activities, and young children in particular should never be left unattended around fire, tools, knives, and water.