Kid’s Corner

Kid friendly garden design

Nature play is now well understood to be a powerful – and incredibly enjoyable – way for children to develop not only physical skills and strength, but also social and cognitive skills which support learning. Skills include gross motor skills, balance, orientation, creativity, imagination, problem solving, resilience and self-confidence. Spending time in nature is calming and has been shown to improve behaviour and focus in the classroom.

Features which help to create a space for nature play include:

• Climbing trees – species with low, spreading branches

• Plants with pickable gumnuts or seeds, leaves, flowers and stems

• Plants that are edible, have interesting scents and textures or change with the seasons

• Logs, rocks and stepping stones

• Sand, water and loose soil

• Loose parts play – gumnuts, pinecones, pebbles and stones, leaves, sticks and branches, bark, large and small log rounds, bamboo poles, cardboard boxes, rope, straw bales, leaves, tarps.

• Tools, buckets and bowls to help dig, lift, carry, pour and sort

• A space which can be messy – to be used for cubby building, creation and construction, experiments and imaginative play

• Child-sized ‘secret’ spaces, up in trees or under bushes.

• Remember that most of the fun of a cubby is in the building – a completed, off the shelf cubby won’t offer as much play value as materials which can be used to build and rebuild again and again.

Kid’s Corner resources:

Bush Kinder has been operating in the Kinglake Ranges since 2017.  Contact Kinglake Ranges Children’s Centre for details: https://www.kinglakerangescc.org.au/