Wheat Ridge Anderson Park Nature Play Area

By Susan Bennett, Environmental Interpreter, and Danielle Moore, Marketing Specialist

Between 2020 and 2022, a Nature Play Area was added to Wheat Ridge’s Anderson Park with the help of many community partners. The Nature Play Area was designed to encourage visitors to play in nature, featuring a labyrinth, pollinator garden, log features, pathways, a meadow, bird habitat and more! Each of these features have a theme that suggests investigation and offers opportunity for creativity.

Construction and design of these features were completed through a collaboration with the Colorado Health Foundation, National Wildlife Federation’s Early Childhood Health Outdoors (ECHO) program, Wilmore-Davis Elementary School, College Living Experience, and the City of Wheat Ridge Parks, Forestry and Open Space Division.

Students at Wilmore-Davis Elementary school are taught using the Project- based Learning system, with curriculum built around an authentic project. The City suggested that sections of the Nature Play Area could be used for these projects and the entire school was able to participate. The City worked through the project with students as a contractor and client would work through a project; there was a kickoff meeting, site visits, research, design, and project presentation to the client (City). Students in kindergarten and first grade designed the bird habitat. Students in second and third grade designed the history pod. And students in fourth and fifth grade created designs for the labyrinth.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Wilmore-Davis students were no longer able to complete the construction of their sections of the Nature Play Area, but plants had already been ordered for the pollinator garden and the bird habitat. At the same time, College Living Experience

(CLE) was looking for volunteer opportunities for their students that were outside. It was the perfect match for the CLE students to work at the Nature Play Area. These students planted most of the plants in the pollinator garden and bird habitats, installed the temporary fence to protect the young plants from foraging wildlife, applied protectant to the “canoe,” mulched the planted and log areas, weeded the site, and removed the temporary fence when the plants were established. Their efforts were invaluable!

There was an official Grand Opening event in September of 2022 to celebrate the achievements of the many hands involved in making this space special. This amenity is getting a lot of use and has been incorporated into play time for Wheat Ridge Sun Camp and other youth recreation programming.