Natural playscape transforms outdoor play

Highland Plaza United Methodist Preschool in Hixson is changing the way their students spend time outdoors.

The preschool has converted a traditional playground and land surrounding their school into a wooded wonderland, an enchanting natural playscape that encourages children to wonder and explore outside.

Vicky Flessner, the preschool’s director of 21 years, and her staff, with the assistance of parent volunteers, have worked for four years to raise funds, map out and design natural and artistic play areas within the school’s five acres.

Rusty Keeler’s book "Natural Playscapes" provided inspiration for the school’s innovative efforts, according to Flessner.

“Keeler says that a natural playscape should reflect your community, and we took that to heart,” Flessner said. With plans to finalize the project by April, the preschool will incorporate more than 15 play areas that correspond with historic, cultural and natural landmarks in the Chattanooga area.

A cave-like reading tent has been dubbed “Ruby Falls.” “Lake Chickamauga” is a stone water play table imprinted with fossils and mosaics that feature two old-fashioned hand pumps.

Additionally, a rock-lined waterway winds down the hillside, with an iron “Walnut Street Bridge” crossing and “Point Park” lookout. Two wavy slides, named for the former Alpine Slide on Raccoon Mountain, emerge out of a hillside of grass, and a tire climbing wall forms “Lookout Mountain.”

In a creative approach to making something useful out of a tree that was partially downed during last April’s tornadoes, the school hired local chainsaw sculptor Steve Pearson to create a large totem pole, sculpted with native wildlife. Named for the Chattanooga Arboretum & Nature Center, the totem overlooks the playscape from high on a hill.

To date, the school has spent about $36,000 for the playscape transformation, Flessner said, with most of the cost attributed to purchasing and installing an iron fence and creating a water feature that is woven throughout the property.

New natural play areas emerge within the school’s landscape each week. A sand pit outlined in boulders will soon serve as a digging area. This spring, container gardens will provide opportunities for students to grow vegetables and herbs that will be used to make vegetable soup and pizza. Another chain saw art project will feature climbable wood sculptures in a train formation, in a nod to the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

This spring, 15-year-old Gage Taylor, a former student, will blaze a short trail through the property as part of his Eagle Scout candidacy.

Another key feature to be developed within the playscape is an outdoor atelier (French for “studio”). The atelier will incorporate the preschool’s Reggio Emilia approach, an innovative educational philosophy from post-World War II Italy that encourages children to explore and form relationships with other children and material items in the world.

Flessner and her staff are already taking joy in watching students imagine and explore outdoors.

“The other day, two students made a collection of nature brooms—pine tree twigs with tufts of pine needles on the ends—and were sweeping all over the playscape,” Flessner said. “Some other children discovered that water in the birdbath had frozen, and they were fascinated with the ice disc.”

Flessner said she plans to have the preschool’s playscape become a Certified Nature Explore Classroom, a program sponsored through the Arbor Day Foundation and Dimensions Educational Research Foundation.

Currently, the only other Certified Nature Explore Classroom in the state is located at the Memphis Botanic Garden.

The preschool hopes to share their playscape vision and experience with the community.

On June 15-16, Highland Plaza United Methodist Preschool will sponsor a Nature Explore Workshop in Chattanooga. Educators and parents are encouraged to attend to learn about and be inspired by the latest field-tested, age-appropriate methods for reconnecting children with nature. Click here to learn more about Nature Explore Workshops and to register.

To learn more about the natural playscape at Highland Plaza United Methodist Preschool, visit their website.

Jenni Frankenberg Veal is a freelance writer based on Walden’s Ridge outside of Chattanooga. She enjoys writing about the natural world and exploration opportunities found within the southeastern United States, one of the most biologically and recreationally rich regions on earth. Visit her blog at www.YourOutdoorFamily.com.