CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUNDS IN PARKS AND FORESTS 



68! 



"JUST A PLACE GOD MADE FOR US IN WHICH TO PLAY" 

 A happy crowd thoroughly enjoying a picnic under the trees in the Pike National Forest 



in Colorado. 



their "back to Nature" instincts. Is it not possible for 

 us, however, to reach the hordes of younger children 

 through these means, so they may learn the lessons 

 of nature? Children receive vivid impressions from 

 the ages of eight to fourteen. Why not, 

 then, attempt to reach these younger 

 children ? 



There is a present day tendency 

 to develop and maintain camp grounds 

 along through highways; to develop 

 mountain foothill and waterside parks 

 near cities. Throughout the West 

 are many municipal parks and camp 

 grounds where hundreds of people of 

 all ages are given an outing each 

 year. At none of these areas is there 

 any form of development for the 

 purpose of educating small children. 

 Older children receive impressions from 

 those things that influence adults, but 

 the bulk of small children receive their 

 keenest conceptions through play. Les- 

 sons that come in play are strongest and 

 most lasting to a child. 



Here is a big field for developing 

 children's playgrounds in the open 

 where they may teach the lessons 

 which create a taste for nature. There 

 is a tendency to make the playgrounds 

 in the country very similar to those 

 found on the school grounds or corner 

 lots of a city. For exami)le, the City 

 of Denver has constructed a number 

 of playgrounds throughout her moun- 



tain parks, amid the most beautiful 

 natural settings imaginable. These 

 are fitted with swings, teeter boards, 

 merry-go-rounds, and turning bars ; 

 the s'^.me equipment that is placed 

 upon city playgrounds. A child, un- 

 less he be exceptional, may go to such 

 grounds and wear himself out at play, 

 time after time, without receiving the 

 least impression of the beautiful natural 

 surroundings. 



Can we not hit upon a plan of 

 building up such playgrounds so that 

 they will create a realization of out- 

 door life and the surroundings in the 

 minds of children? Suppose in place 

 of the swings, teeter-boards, etc., a 

 miniature camp was constructed ; a 

 two-room log house with fire-place, 

 furniture and an enclosure where the 

 children could play at camping. To 

 vary this, some playgrounds should 

 be furnished with shelter cabins and a 

 fire-place out in front, which would 

 give a different phase of camp life. 

 Playing housekeeping and giving par- 

 ties is a child's favorite amusement. Why not make use 

 of this to create a taste for outdoor life? Trees, shrubs 

 and plants in the immediate vicinity of these camps 

 should be marked with signs so the children might learn 



BOY SCOUTS IN CAMP IN THE PIKE NATIONAL FOREST 



A cheerful crowd, out for a good time. This catnp indicates one of the many recreational uses 



to which the National Forests are put. 



