The Open Space Visitor Center in Albuquerque, NM has erected an all-natural hut for children to gather in and use during field trips to the center. Willow branches had were collected from a nearby field over several days for this purpose. “We can definitely use this hut as an opportunity for a learning space or outdoor classroom setup for students and any family groups visiting this beautiful space,” said Nick Bachand, an employee with the city of Albuquerque’s Open Space Department.
One by one, sticks of willow were pulled from the bucket and pushed into the ground next to the flags placed in designated spots, eventually forming a circle. From there, they started connecting pieces of the circle from one side to the other with more pieces of wood, tying the parts together with string.
For Peter Callen, who since 2018 has been managing the field where the activity was taking place, the hut’s construction was the fulfillment of a dream he’s had for a long time. “I’ve always wanted to have a little space out here for kids to play in or to hang out in,” he said. Callen helped put the finishing touches on the newly built structure before asking the group to file in for a photo. Much to everyone’s surprise, they fit perfectly, which gave them a great view to admire their handiwork.
Renee Robillard, an Open Space volunteer for the past 10 years, had a smile on her face as she walked away. She was excited for the first group of kids to take advantage of the new space. “I think (the kids) will love it,” she said. “We get a lot of school groups in the summer and other groups, and they love to walk around and do activities, and now they’ll have the hut.”
Building the hut was one of several activities Open Space employees and volunteers did during an Earth Day celebration at the visitor center. They also planted trees and plants that will benefit local pollinators.
You can read the original article at www.abqjournal.com
This will be great for getting children to play outside for a change. These days, kids tend to be immured indoors doing sedentary activities, this leads to (or at least contributes to) various mental and physical health problems. Forcing kids to sit still for 6+ hours on end can make them quite irritable, given that children, especially of elementary school age, tend to be energetic. This in turn has helped spawn the crisis of juvenile obesity and has helped lead to the explosion of diagnosis and overmedication of ADHD, ODD, juvenile anxiety and depression, etc. Also, evidence points to the possibility that spending too much time indoors can contribute to the development and worsening of certain vision problems like myopia because the children aren’t getting enough sunlight (yes, some sunlight is a healthy thing for the eyes). All of these problems and more have been increasing over the past several decades as children are spending a bigger and bigger portion of the day at school (many public schools have lengthened the standard school day by several hours) and are discouraged, if not outright prohibited from playing outside largely unsupervised (even the laws in certain states and localities ban unsupervised outdoor play for children).