NATURE PLAY SA / TRINITY GARDENS PRIMARY SCHOOL
When our children grow up and look back on their most treasured childhood memories, what will they remember? Will they have memories of climbing a tree as high as they’ve ever been before, Will they remember having tea parties in a secret hiding spot in the garden or carting all your kitchen pots and pans outside so they could make mud pies?
These are our childhood memories. We grew up playing outside. Adventures were limitless. We weren’t constrained by time or other activities, homework or our parents. It was free play outdoors. It was spontaneous, exhilarating, fun and exactly how we wanted to play. This was nature play and for most of us, the best time we ever had. This type of play is no longer the norm. Our children spend less than two hours a day outside, one in four have never climbed a tree, one in three have never planted a garden and the area in which they can explore, has shrunk by 90%. This type of play is vital for children’s development, and for their health, happiness and wellbeing. It can combat obesity and the symptoms of anxiety and depression. Children will learn self-control over their actions and decisions. They will learn to take risks and to problem solve on their own. They will learn important life lessons and they will have the best fun they have ever had. Trinity Gardens School on Portrush Road recently created the “Rolls Royce” of nature play spaces.
Working with Nature Play SA, the school traded an oval for a “magnificent outdoor learning environment” that students have named Portrush Forest. Features include cubby house building materials, a sandpit big enough for a whole class, a vegetable garden, orchard, wetland, ruins for imaginative play and quarry complete with geological specimens. The school was established in 1898 and has provided over 100 years of excellence in shaping the primary years of its students’ education. Current enrolment across the campus, including the Early Learning Centre, is over 700 children.
