We went off to explore Indian Rock in Berkeley this week. It did not disappoint.J is just now 5 and somehow, once we climbed to the top of the rock (using the awesome stairs cut into the side), I was REALLY nervous having him up there. I like to pride myself on not being a helicopter mom but in this case I just kept picturing him sliding down to his doom and I couldn't hack it. I made us go back down. There was plenty of scope for imagination around the lower parts of the rock.We established our forts...
And attacked!
Foolishly I did not look up the rock before hand and so could not spout knowledgeably about the geology. Check the wikipedia article or this post from the awesome Oakland blog Oakland Geology. Rhyolite! Neat!We had to leave because I was getting grumpy (I've been grumpy a lot lately) and I had to pee (this park lacks a bathroom making it totally unpractical for me) and we had to go to the store. We'll be back to explore the more north side of the park later though definitely! Also, need to bring more kids so they can like play capture the flag or something!
Sometimes all you need is a big ass field
Amiright? A big field of clover is so pleasing, especially when it is empty of other people. As is the field near our house. During the week it is often surprisingly empty.J was going all Charlie Brown on this soccer ball. He would run at it very fast from very far away and try to kick it but mostly ended up on his back. hehehh.This is Mosswood Park near my house. It's quite a good park. There are two playgrounds, a baseball diamond, basketball courts, a community garden, a huge field, plenty of trees, a neat stone amphitheater, and buildings with bathrooms (SCORE!) and activities for the community.Mosswood Park is also home to two bird houses built by the FLUX Foundation and local schools. The project is called TweetHaus and is an art and ecology project. Read more about it here. I took pictures of the birdhouses bu can't find them right now. So far, the houses are unoccupied by birds but I have hope for them!
Kid in a box
Need I say more?
Kids in the dirt
Just letting the kids play with water and dirt in the backyard.
Schoolhouse Creek Common Berkeley, CA
I came across the awesome Schoolhouse Creek Common Garden playscape in Berkeley during a Bring Back the Natives Tour in 2008. Here is the write up on the Bring Back the Native site. I think this was my very first experience with an actual natural playscape and I was really excited by it.This playscape has so many great features, including boulders, a tire swing, a mesh tunnel, tree stumps (movable and not), CA native plants, a nice BIG sand pit, a small hill with boulders and plantings, and secret paths.I have brought my son here a few times over the years although we were never regulars since it is a bit far from my house. The last time we went my son was about 4.5 and we had a really good time. the first thing I did was get out my sketchbook and some pens and I started to make a map of the garden. this was a great opportunity to talk about maps and to have my son help me. He got really into it and really got the concept of translating what we were seeing to the paper. I sent him off to explore and to report back with what he found.Note to self: find that sketchbook, scan and upload it.We have actually have never encountered any other kids at this site and I would really love to see a group or even just two kids playing here to see what they do! J and I made maps, and we played Hide and SNEAK(TM), and dug in the sand pit looking for dinosaur bones.You can read more about the process of building Schoolhouse Creek Commons here.
J and Me
Rainbow slide in Sweden
I've seen a couple of pictures of this slide in a playground in Sweden.
How fun does that look?! I want to go there immediately. I love the slide/bridge over a stream environment creation and that there are so many elevation changes visible in this picture. I wonder what the rest of this park is like!Oh I searched around online web and found out it is The Fairytale Playground in Malmo.Here's a picture where you can see more of the park.
LOVE those grass mounds to the left.and here's a link to Alex Smith's post on Playgroundology about the other awesome playgrounds in Malmo. Actually just go read his post about all the themed playgrounds in Malmo. Links and pics galore!The Spiral Playground, also in Malmo, reminds me of the DNA strand in front of the Lawrence Hall of Science.Here is my nephew climbing it
Oh this is a good pic too. You can see my son's bald head. Heehehee
On the hunt for great play areas
A and J climbing up the bank.I'm always on the hunt for great local play areas. It is easiest to start with hunting for actual playgrounds. Anyone with the care of a small child will tell you the importance of knowing your local playgrounds intimately.Just driving around isn't good enough for really exploring. I also use Yelp and Google Maps. Yelp is so useful for reviews and finding out if a playground has a bathroom or not (crucial!). In Google maps get to neighborhood level in regular Maps (not satellite) view and look for any green areas. We moved into a new house about a year ago and I found, three blocks away, the most fun little informal play area. I swear I had walked by it a million times and never even knew it was there until I saw the green band in Google Maps. It's a long skinny path mostly used by dog walkers BUT a creek runs along it for a whole block and in one spot you can cross to find a tiny little grassy picnic area. Creeks are about the best thing ever to play with, you can make dams, watch the flow of water, float boats made form leaves and bark, throw rocks, there are so many possibilities. The other non creek section has some rocks and planting beds and some neat trees. Perfect!
This area is quite urban and even though I can drive 10 minutes and be on the beautiful bay in Alameda or Berkeley it's nice to have some tiny bits of nature in walking distance.Where do you play that isn't an actual playground?
Kids playing on a neat-o tree.
KaBoom - Online Resources
It looks like KaBoom has some interesting sounding talks you can listen to online about various aspects of playground design and installation. Heres a link.There are interviews with designers, how to maintain a community garden and get volunteers, info about outdoor schools and tons more. Go check it out if you are interesting in getting your community active in having playgrounds installed and including kids in landscapes.I see KaBoom also has a new iPhone app called Playgrounds! I haven't tried it yet and I see that it gets mixed reviews. One reviewer mentions that it seems to include any school campus regardless of age range. It's not often you find a high school with a playground... and even if you did it might not be open to the public. I'll download this myself and give it a try. Hopefully my very old and getting decrepit iPhone can handle it.