Across the Fence
with Ann Brooke
Natural playgrounds: what the lucky child has in her backyard

Natural water play in New York’s Riverside Park
- A tree-house
- A “cave”
- Mud
- Sticks and stones to build things with
- Logs and trees to climb
- A rope swing
- A pond, or at least a puddle under a faucet
- Things to catch (insects, tadpoles, lizards)
- A stream to dam (or a hose to make a stream)
- A fence to climb
- A camp-fire
Any backyard is big enough to include at least some of these, and in a form that adults can enjoy, too. A frog-pond can be as small as 18” across, or it can be in a container. An arbor can double as a tree-house, if it has a roof and a ladder – adults underneath, kids on top. A cave can be the space under a low-hanging shrub.
There are dozens of good ideas on Pinterest, many of them easy and inexpensive.
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