Affordable settings and elements

Climbing Stones and Boulders

Affordable settings and elements, Stones and boulders
A girl rests in the sun on a large stone.
A stone circle provides a gathering space.

Larger stones and boulders can be used as a kind of climbing equipment.   Climbing stones more than 18 inches above the ground surface should meet standard use zone and safety surface requirements.

read more >>

Creating a Vine Teepee

Affordable settings and elements
A bamboo teepee tucked into a naturalized outdoor learning environment.
Zip ties bind the bamboo poles together.
Children have added artwork to the entrance of this bamboo teepee.
A vine covered teepee creates an affordable and affordance-rich play setting.

Bamboo teepees are affordable, easy to install and an affordance rich play and learning setting.

read more >>

Sunflower Houses

Affordable settings and elements, Plantings
A sunflower house (or maze or patch) is a great place to explore at Coombes Primary School, UK.
Sunflowers are popular places to spot wildlife, like this bumblebee, at The Children's Tree House, Shepherdstown, WV.
This sunflower patch has a well-defined path at The Children's Tree House, Shepherdstown, WV.
A sunflower parade is a perfect way to celebrate in the summer. (Coombes Primary School, UK)
Children measure the tallest sunflowers at Coombes Primary School, UK.

Sunflowers are one of the most magical, kid-friendly plants. A little sun and water and soil and those small seeds will quickly become the tallest flower in the garden. Planting them purposefully to create play areas is a great way to maximize the play value of this very affordable, and delightful, plant.

read more >>

Log Seats

Affordable settings and elements
A log seat circle with a special "storyteller's chair" at one side at Coombes Primary School, UK.
A smaller log seat and table gathering
Here, logs are used both as seats and to define the space for the dress-up clothes at the NC Zoo kidZone.
A group of children gather and listen to stories in a log seat circle at Coombes Primary School, UK.
Here the logs are used to enclose an earth play and digging setting at Wellesley College Child Study Center.
This log bench will last longer than stumps because its footers protect it from weathering at the Atlanta Bontanical Garden.
Logs have been sculpted into seats and tables at Building Blocks Learning Center, Charlotte, NC.

Log seats are one of the easiest and least expensive ways to improve and diversify play affordances in your outdoor learning environment.

read more >>

Sittable Stones and Boulders

Affordable settings and elements, Stones and boulders
Here, the stone circle has become a balancing and pretend-play space at Bright Horizons at Harrison Park, Cary, NC.
What's happening around these stones in a dry creek bed? (Bright Horizons at Research Triangle Park)
Smaller stones are a perfect for preschoolers: big enough to sit on, small enough to roll at Bright Horizons at Harrison Park.
In this earth play setting, stones a create both a border and a nice sitting spot for adults and children at Brookfield Zoo.

Stones are valuable for their simplicity and variety of uses. When a child sees a collection of stones, what could it become? Perhaps a “secret” spot to chat with a friend, a place for balancing games, things to turn over and discover what’s underneath, a playhouse foundation, a challenge to roll along the ground and rearrange, a work surface for sorting seeds and leaves, or simply a resting spot.

read more >>

Installing Tire Planters

Affordable settings and elements, Plantings
These painted tire planters keep plants cooler in the sun than if unpainted at Bright Horizons Family Solutions CDC.
Tire planters bringing greenery next to a play structures.
A mound of plantings with a tire planter foundation at the Yard, Scotland Yard Adventure Centre.
Lushly planted tire planters and wooden bench border a path in this toddler OLE at First Environments Early Learning Center.

Tire planters are one of the most universally available and inexpensive types of planters, and are a great addition to any low-cost outdoor learning environment naturalization.

read more >>

Tree Cookies

Affordable settings and elements
Redcedar tree cookies often have fun shapes because of the ridges and furrows of their trunks.
A moveable tree cookie pathway leads to a nature play setting at the NC Zoo's kidZone.
These stable tree cookies are a play surface in this toddler sand play area at Bright Horizons Family Solutions CDC.

Tree cookies are a simple, affordable, and effective way to define a path (similar to stepping stones), or to be used as loose parts and play props in a naturalized outdoor learning environment.

read more >>

Natural Building

Affordable settings and elements, Outdoor play
An example of a natural building artifact left by a child in this playspace at the NC Zoo's kidZone.
Inside a natural building fort construction.
Using straw bales and bamboo, these boys have built a two-level fort for themselves.
A boy carrying a stick while building at the NC Zoo's kidZone natural construction area.
Three children enjoy their natural construction at the Elizabeth Ann Clune Montessori School of Ithaca.

Natural building play areas are one of the classic affordable free play settings. What might the children create today; will it be a fort, a miniature village, a dragon's nest? Give them the materials in a designated natural building area and see for yourself.

read more >>

Natural Playhouse

Affordable settings and elements, Outdoor play
This natural playhouse at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum can serve as inspiration at other early childood environments.
This blueberry house at the North Carolina Botanical Garden is one example of a living natural playhouse.
Other ideas for natural playhouse frameworks at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Built from locally sourced logs, branches, and sticks, Natural Playhouses are an affordable and creative alternative to the playhouses one normally purchases from catalogs.

read more >>

Raised Planters: Timber Construction

Affordable settings and elements, Plantings
Six-inch raised planters at Bright Horizons Family Solutions CDC, RTP, NC.
Get the kids involved with labelling the plants!
A small raised planter with dividers.
Raised planters shortly after construction in an ideal arrangement for class groups to gather at Chapel Hill Day Care Center.
These raised planters were inspired by a train theme at this childcare center.
Raised planters that are narrow enough for children to reach in from both sides at Heron Pond Montessori, Kitty Hawk, NC.
The height and narrow width of this planter at Munchkin Academy, Buxton, NC, make it easier for kids to care for the plants.
A double-level raised planter.

Raised garden planters are one of the foundational elements in natualized outdoor learning environments. They are more easily accessible, easier to control soil quality, and easier to maintain than in-ground beds. Requiring only lumber and soil, they are fairly affordable, as well.

read more >>

Naturalizing Chain link Fences

Affordable settings and elements, Plantings
Lady banks rose (Rosa banksiae), a perennial evergreen vine, naturalizes a chain link fence at Bright Horizons at Harrison Park.
Cross vine (Bignonia capreolata) and Lady banks rose (Rosa banksiae) screen a fence at Bright Horizons at Harrison Park.
Cross vine (Bignonia capreolata) naturalizes a gate at Bright Horizons at Harrison Park, Cary, NC.
Cross vine (Bignonia capreolata) naturalizes a gate at First Environments Early Learning Center, RTP, NC.
Annual gourd vines disguise a fence at the Edible Schoolyard, Greensboro Children's Museum, Greensboro, NC.

For safety and supervision reasons, childcare centers have chain link fences along the perimeters of their outdoor learning environments.  It is easy and inexpensive to naturalize a chain link fence with vines.

read more >>

Wildflower Patch

Affordable settings and elements, Plantings
A purposeful mix of wildflowers creates this picture-perfect patch.
A small wildflower patch
Some fall flowers from a wildflower meadow

Wildflower patches are a simple, one-season way to brighten your outdoor learning environment with flowers. Always beautiful (although not always tidy) wildflower patches are certainly one of the foundational joys of a childhood outdoors.

read more >>

Natural Materials for Play and Learning

Affordable settings and elements, Outdoor play
This pile of natural loose parts is evidence of exploratory play throughout the outdoor learning environment.
A boy pushes a truck full of collected pinecones along the looped path at Kiddie Kollege ELC, Statesville, NC.
A girl collects dried seed heads from marigolds at Munchkin Academy, Buxton, NC.
The results: A pile of thoroughly-explored marigold seed heads are evidence of play and learning.
Children stir a pot of mud soup, which includes grass, leaves, mulch, water, and, of course, mud at Precious Memories Preschool.

Natural materials afford an array of open-ended play opportunities. Some playscapes are rich with natural materials, while others may need to have natural materials to be gathered and brought in.

read more >>

Tree Cookies for Play and Learning

Affordable settings and elements
A set of tree cookies, without children in the outdoor learning environment at Intermountain Children's Place, Spruce Pine, NC.
Tree cookies afford picking up and rearranging for this little girl - gross motor and cognitive development.
Now the tree cookies are affording stepping and balancing for her.
A set of small tree cookies, without children in the OLE at Irene Wortham Community Child Care Center, Asheville, NC.
These small tree cookies become pretend food and plates once the children arrive.
Logs and tree cookies in a natural building and digging setting without children at Kids R Us, Liberty, NC.
Evidence of the versatility of tree cookies: cargo to carry and pull around the pathway loops.
Once the children arrive, the tree cookies become plates and surfaces for sorting
They become raw material for building castles - gross motor, imaginative play, social play, and creativity.
A set of small moveable logs and tree cookies inside a log circle, without children in the OLE at Shepherd's Way, Asheville, NC.
The children arrive, building the loose parts into a "campfire", telling stories, adding materials, working together.
A tree cookies and loose parts storage area, before the children arrive in the OLE at YWCA Child Care Center, Asheville, NC.
These large tree cookies are perfect stepping stones to jump between.
With children, this tree cookie becomes a work surface for spontaneous observation and learning about a worm.

Tree cookies are simple, affordable, and effective solutions for defining paths and providing versatile play props in a naturalized outdoor learning environment.

read more >>

Painting Tire Planters

Affordable settings and elements, Plantings
Tire planters edge a fine crushed stone pathway at Heron Pond Montessori, Kitty Hawk, NC.
Tires stacked three high create a lush vegetated buffer.
Brightly painted tire planters edge a fine crushed stone pathway at Kiddie Kollege, Statesville, NC.
Perennial flowers grow in double tire planters.

Painting tire planters makes them more attractive and keeps them from getting so hot. Following the suggestions provided will lead to more successful tire planters.

read more >>