This morning we took our collection of loose parts to the Healthy Kidz program at Family SOS in the Greystone area of Halifax. There were about 25 kids participating in our two hour session, ranging in age from 7-12.
Their play space is a grassy area enclosed by a picket fence, which was just the right size to spread out the ‘stuff’ and have a fort-building competition. It was a lovely hot summer day, so the shade created by the sheets and tarps was most welcome! And a good place to hang out while putting on extra sunscreen, too…
Although an older group of kids, the appeal of forts and pipes is just as strong, although the level of complexity in what gets built is higher. Taller forts, more complicated things built with pipes. We brought the bungee cords for this group, and they had a great time making bows with a bungee cord and a bendy-pipe. We set up a target on the fence so a small group could experiment with what made the best kind of ‘arrow’.
The staff particularly remarked that a few of the older kids who are normally too ‘cool’ to want to play structured games were deeply involved in the fort-building and much more engaged than usual. Always good to hear!
We hear they might be considering their own collection of loose parts, so we’ll check back in with them next summer…
T K Adventure Play 