June 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 64

N AT U R A L P L AY S C A P E S

" I like climbing on
the trees. It brought
me back to when I was
a kid, and that was my
favorite thing to do. "
- 42-year-old mother of two
children aged 7 and 5

percent of respondents spent one to
two hours at Homer Lake, and 20 percent spent more than two hours.
To get at some of the deeper meanings behind " why " participants used
the Natural Playscape, interviewees
were asked the following questions,
" For what reasons did you visit the
Natural Playscape the first time? " and
" What brings you back to visit? " Based
on their responses, along with coding
the ethnographic observations, two
themes emerged: increased family interaction and encouraged value sharing.

Increased Family Interaction
Parents mentioned that they decided
to use the Natural Playscape because
there was " something for everyone. "
Participants discussed how both their
older and younger children of different abilities and interests were served
through the playscape and how it was
a great place for the whole family because there were many recreational
options available, which allowed family members the flexibility to go off
and do their own thing and then come
back together again. It was a destination they often chose when they
wanted to accommodate multiple
people (from their immediate family
members to their extended family),
" If we go [to the
as well as the family dog. Many
Champaign County
interviewees indicated that they
Forest Preserve] with my
chose the Natural Playscape
parents, then we usually go to
over other playgrounds on
days they were spending
the Natural Playscape so that we
time with their whole family.
can all spend time together. My
Additionally, time spent
dad and my son like to fish, so they together at the Playscape
can go off and do that while me,
encouraged a sense of togetherness as parents and children
my daughter and my mom play
interacted and explored the
at the playscape. "
features together. It was very
- 29-year-old mother of two
common for parents and grandparents to follow their children from
feature to feature. With younger kids,

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they would walk behind them with
hands outspread as a cushion in case
they should fall when balancing on
rocks or climbing logs. Taking family portraits was also very common.
During one participant observation,
seven families came in a two-hour
period to take photos of their family together. On more than one occasion, extended family members
of up to three different generations
were observed meeting at the Natural Playscape to have their photo
taken, some even wearing matching
outfits. The ethnographic observations also revealed family members
bonding over the development of
new skills (learning to skip rocks or
work the stream) and engaging in environmental learning. One powerful
example of a conversation between
a mom and son playing at the birdhouse went as follows:
Mom: Are you a bird that eats worms?
Son: No.
Mom: What do you eat?
Son: I eat flowers.
Mom: Oh, then you must be a hummingbird, because hummingbirds
love...flowers, because that is where
they get nectar from.
Finally, visiting the Natural Playscape helped increase social interaction among family members by giving them the opportunity to engage
with their whole family and get away
from the stressors of daily life.

June 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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