Hilltop Montessori School
Children’s House Playscape Exploring an Ecological Approach to Natural Play
Hilltop Montessori School
Children’s House Playscape
Design Team
Tad Montgomery & Associates Ecological Engineering & Design 118 Washington Street #2 Brattleboro, VT 05301 (802) 251-0502 http://TadMontgomery .com
“But if for the physical life it is necessary to have the child exposed to the vivifying forces of nature, it is also necessary for his psychical life to place the soul of the child in contact with creation.” -- Maria Montessori
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Hilltop Montessori School
Children’s House Playscape
Table of Contents
Contents Executive Summary 4 Ideal Playscape 5 Project Background 6 The Importance of Natural Playgrounds 7 Site Analysis Existing Conditions 8 Drainage & Topography 9 Access & Circulation 10 Vegetation, Turf, and Sun 11 Analysis Summary 12 Design Design Approach HMS Strategic Plan Major Design Constraints Grading Concept Alternative Drainage Options Design: From Vision to Master Plan Playground Elements & Play Features The Design -- Phased Implementation
13 13 13 14 14 15 16 17
Community Input & Stewardship Community Input Into the Playground’s Design Venues for Community Engagement in the Design Process Playground Committee Community Idea Generation
18 18 18 19
Plants in the Playground Codes Budget Conclusion & Recommendations Footnotes
21 22 23 24 25
Appendices Appendix 1: Vision Statement, Goals & Objectives Appendix 2: Items Provided on the Accompanying CD Appendix 3: Notes from the January 28th Design Charrette Appendix 4: Notes From The March 26th Playground Committee Design Meeting Appendix 5: Notes from The Meetings with Teachers & Students Appendix 6: Resource List Appendix 7: Rain Garden References Appendix 8: Plant Database Appendix 9: Climbing Trees Appendix 10: Resources for Willow Structures Appendix 11: Playground Survey
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Hilltop Montessori School
Children’s House Playscape
Executive Summary & Preface
Executive Summary There is something intangible that is gained when a person has a direct, visceral connection with nature. A part of the heart opens and an awareness of the broader world becomes possible. But many people, perhaps most, never form this connection and the Earth remains an inanimate object to them. Hilltop Montessori School has an opportunity to significantly expand the opportunities that its students have to experience nature, starting with its youngest. This Report charts a course for the re-development of its Children’s House playground that will do just that. The design herein reflects the visions and goals of the teachers, administration, students, parents, neighbors and staff towards this very end as compiled and deliberated by a Playground Committee that has worked on the project since January of 2012. As designers, we see tremendous potential for the growing of holistic playscapes that in turn grows vibrant, healthy people. This potential is found in the existing site, the Montessori pedagogy, the wonderful and engaging members of the Playground Committee, the supportive administration, parents, and broader community, the bright and enthusiastic young students, and the natural world. Although financial resources will have to be mustered, creatively viewing the design, implementation, and maintenance of this playscape as a community design challenge can lessen the dependence on financial capital by leveraging the social, intellectual, and environmental capital that is available. Achieving the goal of a living, vibrant playground that helps to foster independent children with an ethos of stewardship, however, will take persistence and commitment. That commitment is not just to fundraising to build the playground, but also to publicizing the project, to figuring out ways to maintain the diversity of elements within it, to helping it to evolve in a way that matches both needs and abilities, but perhaps most importantly of all, a commitment to supporting the committee that stewards this nascent entity that will become perhaps the first ecological playground in our region. An ecological playground is one that fits in with the greater environment around it and embodies the processes of ecology: the cycles of day and night, the changing of the seasons, the processes of weather, the cycling of water and nutrients through the system, the interconnections of the various life forms that inhabit the space. Thus, such a playground is not static—it embraces the changes, both dramatic and subtle, that provide crucial insight into the workings of our world. To be successful, this playground must embody an understanding of ecology and integrate the Montessori pedagogy in a way that provides for the developmental needs of the students.
From Hilltop's Mission:
"Students will come to an awareness of their unique task in and responsibility to the care of self, community, and the Earth."
We have followed a design approach that seeks to uncover the ecological processes at work and make them visible, engaging, and safe for students to interact with and explore. Much the way Hilltop Montessori School encourages students to observe the patterns of the sun through sundials, we see potential for students to understand the cycles of water when the rain that falls on the playground is viewed as a play feature and understood as a resource to be cherished. In this way, the playground won’t depend upon artificial installations but will instead serve as a window into nature in real-time. We believe that if the school is successful in growing this playground in a way that allows it to evolve in perpetuity, it will not only pay for itself in the new students that it attracts, it will act as a piece of that fabric through which the entire world will be renewed. Is this not the hope of every good teacher, and every good school? 4
Hilltop Montessori School
Children’s House Playscape
Ideal Playscape
A Tour of an Ideal Playscape Eager students line up in the quiet room, anticipating their daily exploration of the natural world and the adventures that await in their playscape. As the group steps outside into the Outdoor Classroom, a gentle spring breeze from the west carries complex scents from the herb garden. The anticipation gives way to a calm and purposeful awareness. Once outside several children tend to the Zen Garden, immersed in the patterns they rake into the sand. Others immediately check on the vines that are twirling up the Pergola—they agree that it has grown three inches since yesterday. Several future farmers tend to their Raised Bed Gardens and water conservatively from the nearby Rainwater Cistern, which is fairly low. Starts from the Greenhouse are ready to be planted out. A single student quietly walks the Labyrinth. A few of the more energetic children rush to the shed where the tricycles are stored. Soon they are doing laps around the Pathway in their ‘race cars’ or moving building blocks via wagons from their storage location to the Sand Pit where they have a construction project in mind. The Bridge, the Boardwalk, and the various other textures of the pathway provide different sensory feedback and differentiate areas of the playground. The Swings are already at full capacity with kids rocking back and forth. After charging up the earthen Play Mound, rolling back down is almost as popular an option as taking the slide. Exercising all muscle groups, kids run an obstacle course that includes the Stump Jump, the Monkey Bars, the Beehive’s exterior and the Boulders. The ever-popular Red House is bustling with activity as children negotiate with their neighbors in the Beehive Structure. Combined with the Beehive and the Shed it forms a small Village space. To keep the peace, it is agreed someone must go on a mission to the faraway Shade Garden to collect a special herb, and then return through the enchanted Willow Tunnel without disturbing the students who are intertwining its branches. A song played on the Music Maker will signal a resorted harmony. It has not rained in almost a week, and although they are enjoying today’s beautiful weather, the subtle change in wind that signals a coming storm sends an excited murmur through the class. The children know that the coming rains will transform their playscape. The rain that cascades off the building roof and falls on the ground will follow the subtle contours of the land into directional Swales that lead underneath the Bridge and Boardwalk and down the Dry Streambed to the central Rain Garden. Although it is fun to play in and around this garden today, with some rain tomorrow promises the opportunity to splash or hop from stepping stone to stepping stone. The construction crew begins planning the series of dams they will make in the Stream Bed. The teachers and staff on playground duty purposefully observe from shady vantage points as their students interact with the world and with one another. They tenderly cultivate these children and encourage their sensory and cognitive exploration of this prepared natural environment as well as their physical and motor development. Now that recess is over, students order themselves on the square tiles designated as the Line Up Space and prepare to continue their learning adventures indoors.
“The child’s impressions are so profound that a biological or psycho-chemical change takes place, by which their mind ends by resembling the environment itself.” - Maria Montessori
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Hilltop Montessori School
Project Background & Vision
Children’s House Playscape Project Background A Natural Playground
HMS made the decision in early January of 2012 to hire the current design team to undertake the process of re-developing the Children’s House playground (CHPG) into a natural playscape. This was to be the first step in a multi-phased development of different playgrounds for the various levels of students at the school, eventually incorporating a master plan for the entire 43 acre campus.
Vision Statement
The Hilltop Montessori School Children’s House Playground promotes healthy outdoor play and ecological stewardship, while guiding children towards responsible independence.
Broad Goals for the Children’s House Playground
• Provides developmentally appropriate challenges for children ages three to six. • Promotes safe, joyful, cooperative play. • Inspires care of self, community, and the Earth. • Is aesthetically pleasing. The primary reason for hiring a design team at this time was a general level of frustration amongst faculty and staff that they had been going around and around on their vision for the CHPG, and how it would be built, since • Is an extension of the indoor prepared learning environment, and facilitates the physical (ex. climbing), cognitive (ex. problem-solving), and social/emotional (ex. sharing) development of the child. before moving to the new campus of the school in 2009. A design team was hired to gather and coalesce all of • Spaces are structured and intentionally designed to allow independence of the child (“Let me do it myself”). the various visions as well as bring to the project a strong ecological awareness and a high level of design skill. • Provides multi-sensory experiences that connect children with nature. The design team was charged with developing a phased build-out of the playground that will allow playground • Allows for many types of movement, including upper and lower body strength-building and gross motor skill elements to be installed as funds and volunteer energy permit. The design is to facilitate the smooth evolution development (e.g. running, hopping, hanging, balancing, pedaling, swinging, climbing, and sliding) of the playground over time in a way that avoids any need to backtrack or undo structures that have already • Includes a number of different types of spaces, including shade areas, sunny areas, and areas for individual play and been installed, i.e. to coalesce a coherent vision and plan. group play. The initial timeline objective for the design project was for the CHPG to be redeveloped in time for school’s start • Increases the topography—is a three dimensional landscape. • Allows for continual revision and redesign after initial installation based on observation of the children by teachers. in the fall of 2012. This timeline was accelerated substantially as the school administration realized that major construction would have to take place in the middle of June in order to: 1) not interrupt the school’s SummerFun • Incorporates elements of permaculture in education and maintenance plans (ex: for every function - many elements; for every element - many functions). program which begins the 3rd week in June, and 2) allow the seeded grass on the playground to establish itself before children play on it in the fall. Even the accelerated timeline got confused and delayed towards the end of • The design process, playground development, and ongoing maintenance inspire community engagement and become a model for other educational institutions. the design phase, however, when financial issues relating to the project and the redevelopment of the playing • Brings delight and learning opportunities to adults as well as CH students field cropped up. As of the writing of this report the school is in the process of rethinking the timeline for the redevelopment of the playground. Unfortunately, this is happening when upper level administration is turning Specific Objectives over. • Has a permanent shade structure • Is enclosed all the way around, so that children cannot run into parking area A Playground Committee was formed, and headed by Nora Gordon. The playground’s design, decision-making, problem solving, and continued maintenance are the ultimate responsibility of the Children’s House Playground • Unimpeded sight lines allow for easy oversight by two or three adults • Adheres to recommended child safety standards (equipment spacing, materials, railing spacing, heights, etc.) Committee. Toby Welch empowered this committee to make all decisions regarding the redevelopment of the • Children have access to water (not necessarily potable) playground. The Playground Committee serves as a liaison for the teachers, who commissioned, framed, and • Includes a space for storing outdoor play equipment and tools reviewed this design process. This standing committee consists of Children’s House faculty, the buildings and • Children can ride tricycles and pull each other in wagons and sleds grounds manager, and interested parents and community members. • Children can construct, deconstruct, and rearrange part of the play environment • Three or four children can swing at the same time Among the Playground Committee’s first tasks was the development of a statement of vision, goals, and • Mud and ice build-up caused by poor drainage is eliminated objectives. The Design Team facilitated a visioning process to articulate the needs and programmatic functions • Natural building materials are used preferentially and materials are sourced on site as much as possible of the playground by means of interviews and extended dialogue with Children’s House teachers. The • Provides shelter from southwest winds—perhaps an earthen berm along the south edge of the playground? Playground Committee condensed the articulated needs of the teachers, the students, and the school into an • Climbing structures have multiple exits and entrances overarching vision statement, a list of broad goals, and a list of specific objectives. • Log elements provide opportunities for tunneling, hopping, and balancing • Low hanging/monkey bar element • Paths meander and are organic in appearance; straight paths are avoided • Includes elements for percussive music-making (drums, piano innards, etc.) • Provides activities during winter/cold (icy weather) • Children continue to be challenged by playground as they grow (ex: trapeze, climbing wall, monkey bars for 6-yr-olds) • Flora and fauna are compatible with safety concerns such as allergens and poisons. 6
Hilltop Montessori School
Children’s House Playscape The Importance of Natural Playgrounds1 Over the last 20 - 30 years schools around the world have begun to re-think the role of playgrounds in early childhood development. The traditional structures of metal, plastic and asphalt seem inadequate to the task of raising a new generation of people able to solve society’s pressing problems. More and more enlightened schools are turning to nature for inspiration in the design of the outdoor spaces their students play in. This initiative has far-reaching consequences. Children who play regularly in natural environments show more advanced motor fitness including coordination, balance and agility, and are sick less often.2,3 While this may seem obvious to people who think seriously about the play of children, research also shows that the symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder improve after children spend time in nature. The greener their experience, the more improvement has been found.4 Even more startling is that children who have consistent contact with nature score better on a number of tested attributes, including concentration and self-discipline. Again, the greener the setting, the better their scores.5,6,7 Natural playgrounds are playscapes where the preponderance of structures reflect elements of the natural world -- stones, logs, sand, plants, water and landforms. The Hilltop Montessori School has gone a big step beyond this goal by creating a vision for the playground that includes diverse sensory experiences for the children -- taste, touch, smell; connects them directly to the growing of food in small garden beds and on fruiting perennial vines and trees; embodies regenerative landscape design through the principles of permaculture; and inspires care of the Earth. This dovetails well with the Montessori imperative for the ‘prepared environment.’
Montessori on Children & Nature
Maria Montessori was very clear on the importance of giving children the opportunity to connect with nature. “But if for the physical life it is necessary to have the child exposed to the vivifying forces of nature, it is also necessary for his psychical life to place the soul of the child in contact with creation.”8 In today’s world, however, precious few children have this relationship with nature. Montessori understood this full well, even from the perspective of many decades ago. “In our time and in the civilized environment of our society children, however, live very far distant from nature, and have few opportunities of entering into intimate contact with it or of having direct experience with it. ... We have all made ourselves prisoners voluntarily, and have finished up by loving our prison and transferring our children to it. Nature has, little by little, been restricted in our conception to the growing of flowers, and to the domestic animals which we depend on for food.”9 and:
The Importance of Natural Playgrounds About Natural Playgrounds
Natural playgrounds cost roughly the same amount to build as conventional playgrounds do. Research has shown that children suffer fewer injuries on them, and there is a higher prevalence of imaginative and creative play that fosters the development of language and collaborative skills.11,12,13 It has also been found that play in a diverse natural environment reduces or eliminates bullying.14 This was confirmed by the HMS staff, who believe that having a more diverse, natural playground would reduce the predominance of competitive play, such as ball sports where the larger, stronger children tend to dominate. That is not to say that competitive play is meant to be eliminated, but that the spectrum of play choices is broadened. But natural playgrounds come with their own costs. They contain many living things in various stages of sprouting, growth, transformation or decay that require watering, pruning, transplanting or composting. On top of that teachers often want to introduce new elements into them periodically to meet the needs of different students as they grow. Natural playgrounds are like big, complex organisms that thrive with care and oversight, becoming ever more complex and offering ever new and exciting learning opportunities for the students who play in them. This requires more care and stewardship than a conventional playground, however, and the success that a natural playground is able to achieve is directly proportional to the amount of stewardship that a school can muster for it. School staff are generally strapped thin when it comes to picking up more maintenance tasks, but fortunately there are other solutions. Natural playgrounds are highly charismatic spaces and attract attention from far and wide. The more ‘ecological’ and innovative a playscape is, the truer this becomes. The challenge for a school like Hilltop Montessori is how to publicize the new playground in a way that invites participation. This has been started with the formation of the Playground Committee, but we encourage the school and committee to make the enlisting and welcoming of volunteers to the project a top priority. The success of the project will correlate directly to your success in doing this. This is clearly evident in the budget that we have developed for this project, which is heavily dependent on volunteer labor to construct and install different playground elements. There is a truism in the world of natural playgrounds that we highly recommend HMS adopt:
Dream Big, Start Small, Never Stop Think of your playground not as something that will be planned for, designed, constructed, and some day finished, but as a continuously evolving landscape; an ecology, like a garden or a fish tank, where the stewardship and evolution themselves bring joy and are part of the learning process.
“The idea, however, of living in nature is the most recent acquisition to education. Indeed the child needs to live naturally, and not only to know nature. The most important fact really is the liberation of the child ... from the bonds which isolate him in the artificial life created by living in cities.”10
In recent years there has been a growing concern that children are disconnected from nature, especially as electronic toys become both ubiquitous and the norm for children’s play. The Playground Committee is fully aware of this issue, both from the overall health of the children entering the Children’s House and from a general awareness of the subject. Richard Louv’s book Last Child in the Woods, which introduces the concept of ‘nature deficit disorder,’ was a foundation stone of the committee’s work, and sections of it were copied and passed out to committee members.
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Hilltop Montessori School
Site Analysis
Children’s House Playscape
Children’s House Playground - Plan View of Existing Conditions
Existing Conditions The Barn
Play Elements
Children’s House
0’
The Children’s House playground contains some play features that the children truly enjoy. However, there is not enough diversity in the types of play available and some of the equipment is reaching the point where it needs to be repaired or replaced.
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A multifunctional playhouse that was donated by a local family has a ladder, a climbing wall, a slide, a swing and a trapeze bar. This playhouse is reaching the end of its useful life, but the slide can be reused. The teachers would like to see more than one swing in the playground, four would be optimal.
Outdoor Classroom
A simple and extremely popular feature is the Red House. Built from 2x4’s and a corrugated roof, this structure grants the feeling of an enclosed space but does not obstruct the supervision of the teachers. Children climb, swing, and hang on the inside and outside of this structure. Two sandboxes, one located in the northwest corner and another in the southeast, are filled with toys such as buckets, spades, and trucks. These are especially popular for constructive activities. A formation of six boulders, widely spaced, provides the opportunity to climb and jump and is a go-to spot for many games. Nearby a labyrinth of pavers is embedded in the lawn. It is said that this labyrinth was very popular when it was first installed, but has fallen into disuse, perhaps because it is often obscured by wood chips. Two child-sized picnic tables and two full-sized picnic tables can be moved around the area. The southwest corner of the playground is used to access the greenhouse where children can participate in gardening work. The vast majority of the playground is dominated by open space, with either lawn or woodchips as a groundcover. The faculty would like to limit and break up this open space to help children focus and concentrate on discrete activities instead of the competitive play that they believe open space encourages. There have been observations made by teachers that open spaces lead to a feeling of insecurity in children, and that a more diverse, shaded space with undulations in the terrain will lend themselves to diversity of play and a greater feeling of safety in children.
10’ 20’
40’
The Children’s House playground is an area of approximately 14,500 square feet. The northern edge of the playground abuts the Children’s House classrooms located within the Primary building. The eastern edge of the playground abuts the Elementary House building. The western edge is defined by a picket fence that separates the play area from the parking lot, and the southern edge is defined by a strip of vegetation and a rickety wattle fence that separates the play area from the greenhouse and the soccer field used by the Elementary and Middle Schools.
Sandbox
Parking
Playhouse w/ swing & slide Open Area
Red House
Elementary House
Playground Sandbox
Greenhouse
Boulders
Soccer Field
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Hilltop Montessori School
Site Analysis
Children’s House Playscape
Children’s House Playground - Plan View of Drainage & Topography
Drainage & Topography
Legend
10’ 20’ 0’
Approximately 5,841 square feet of total roof area drains into the playground with the Children’s House roof contributing 4,673sf of area and the Elementary House contributing 1,668sf. Neither building has any gutters or other water management infrastructure. The lack of gutters had been attributed to costs and concerns about maintenance, especially with regard to leaves, snow, and ice. The zone below the roof drip edge has a sheet of plastic buried beneath pea gravel to move water away from the foundation and reduce erosion from splash impact. This plastic is exposed and deteriorating in places. During a rain event, water cascades off the roofs into the playground with relative uniformity depending upon surface area. A noticeably high volume flow occurs where the south facing and west facing roofs of the two buildings meet and there is concentrated sheet flow. In theory, water falling to the ground should first infiltrate into the soil until the soil reaches saturation and surplus should flow down grade and exit through the centrally located drains. In reality, the compacted and clay soil has very little absorption capacity, and micro-topography of the site traps water in puddles that leads to mud and further soil compaction. In the winter months, these same factors combined with the melt-freeze cycles leads to thick sheets of ice that make the playground slick and dangerous to use.
40’
At first glance, the playground appears flat, but it is in fact gently sloping inward towards the middle from all sides. This gentle grading of 2-3% is intended to move water towards two 12” grade level drains. From the center of the playground, the underground pipe (12” HDPE) leads to the northwest where it links with parking area and other drainage lines, with water ultimately flowing through a constructed filtration wetland into the pond located on the north side of the Middle School building.
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Drain
age P
ipe
Drains
The areas most negatively affected are the high-traffic zones where water is also concentrated. A particularly dramatic example is the line-up space and entry to Water Flow the playground that is situated below the Children’s House roofline outside of the Birch Room. This zone dramatically transitions from hard and dry to muddy Mud depending upon the weather.
HMS Rainwater Calculations Description CH Roof Vestibule Roof Elm Roof Yard
A
C
Area in Sq.ft. Area in Acres Runoff Coefficient 3,421.000 0.079 0.950 253.500 0.006 0.950 1,136.000 0.026 0.950 16,063.000 0.369 0.350
Sum Roof Total VTRainGarden Manual slope <4%, depth: 3-5 in if >30ft from one half foundation:
4810.5 20873.5
Rational Method: q = CiA i q Rainfall Intensity Stormwater Runoff Total cu ft. 30 Total cu ft. 60 Total cu ft. 90 (in/hr) (cfs) minute storm minute storm minute storm 2.500 0.187 335.739 671.477 1,007.216 2.500 0.014 24.879 49.757 74.636 2.500 0.062 111.488 222.975 334.463 2.500 0.323 580.790 1,161.581 1,742.371
0.111 0.48
Drainage Area
0.263 0.586
472.106 1052.896
944.209 2105.79
Drains
1416.315 3158.686
RainGarden Size sf
Size factor
4810.5
0.43
2068.515
4810.5
0.215
1,034.257
The primary access to the playground turns to mud with precipitations and use.
Lack of drainage creates icy conditions in the playground.
The locations of the existing drains. 9
Hilltop Montessori School
Site Analysis
Children’s House Playscape Circulation, CH Circulation, Parents
40’
Use of the playground space is fairly regular, at least two half-hour recesses per day during the school year, with access and circulation dictated primarily by the recess routine and a limited number of points of entry and exit. 1 For recess, children dress indoors and line up inside the Quiet Room. When two thirds of the students are ready, two teachers chaperone them outside as another teacher guides the last of the children out. The children pass through the outdoor classroom and head towards their favorite activities.
Children’s House Playground - Plan View of Access & Circulation
Legend
Circulation, Elm.
10’ 20’
Access & Circulation
1
0’
2 The Outdoor Classroom or ‘Toddler Area’ is a fenced area of approximately 1000 square feet directly outside of the doors of the Willow Room, Birch Room, and Quiet Room. The Outdoor Classroom is generally used in summer, early fall, and late spring as the weather allows. During this time, the doors are left open between 8:30 and 11:30AM and again in the afternoon for students who spend the full day. Up to four children from each classroom can choose to come outside to work. Activities may include use of the laundry line, water table, jump ropes, and gardening. The outdoor classroom is also utilized during the SummerFun program.
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5
2
3 On the eastern third of the playground, games such as duck-duck-goose and soccer are organized. 7
4 The western portion of the playground is abuzz with activity as children run, push toy trucks, swing, slide, hang in the Red House, play in the sand boxes, play tag, and climb and jump from the boulders.
4
3 6
5 Parents come and go, picking up or dropping off children, through the access point at the northwest corner of the playground. Near this gateway, along the south wall of the Children’s House building is the line-up space where students and teachers congregate at the end of recess and prepare to go indoors. Students form single file lines for each class. The group then moves through the gateway and re-enters the building through the front door so they do not track mud through the Quiet Room. 6 Elementary students also pass through the playground to access the soccer field, their playground, and the woods. They primarily use the southern door near their cubbies, but will take advantage of the northern door when it is left open. 7 In the summer, a 20’x40’ tent is erected along the eastern edge of the playground. The tent is used for Grandparents and Special Friends Day, SummerFun, and the beginning of school picnic.
Students line up and prepare to return indoors after recess.
Children climbing and jumping from boulders in the playground.
Children playing soccer in the open area of the playground. 10
Hilltop Montessori School
Site Analysis
Children’s House Playscape
Children’s House Playground - Plan View of Vegetation & Shade
Vegetation
0’
10’ 20’
40’
Located centrally approximately thirty feet south of the Children’s House building are two young red maple trees. These trees have a projected height of between forty and sixty feet. While these mature trees would cast much needed shade within the playground, their location and height at maturity will interfere with the school’s plans for solar panels along the south facing roof of the Children’s House building. The maples are soon reaching the point where moving them will no longer be an option. We have heard that due to structural limitations inherent in the building, and the weight that solar panels would add to the roof, the school is considering installing photovoltaics on ground mounted structures with tracking devices in the field instead of on the roof. The decision whether or not to do this has substantial repercussions regarding the playground as the current design assumes that the red maple trees will be moved to the southern edge in order not to shade a roofmounted PV system. The playground’s proposed pathway has been routed through the current location of the trees. Outside the western fence is a row of six sugar maples. The vegetation framing the southern edge of the playground currently consists of: three Thornless Cockspur Hawthorn, three Winter Flame Dogwood, three Yellow Twig Dogwood, one Cornelian Cherry, one Crabapple, three Double File Viburnum, daisies, day lilies, hostas, and various herbs. A linden has also been recently planted in the south-central part of the playground.
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Sugar Maple
Red Maple
Turf & Soil
Red Maple
The western third of the playground has a layer of woodchips a few inches thick covering the ground surface. These woodchips provide a low maintenance groundcover that meets playground safety regulations and prevents soil compaction, however the woodchips are not contained, are sprawling across the playground and have mixed aesthetic review. The eastern two thirds of the playground is covered with a turf grass lawn that is in rough shape, with poorly performing grass and exposed earth.
Sugar Maple
The soil underlying the playground is a compacted silty-clay-loam fill that was deposited during the construction of the buildings. The native soil is indicated to be Buckland series very fine sandy loam with a very stony substratum and a moderate to slow permeability.
Sugar Maple
Thornless Cockspur Hawthorne (x3)
Heavy, frequent traffic and high volumes of run-off water from the roofs of the adjacent buildings contribute to the compaction problems and turf difficulties.
Sugar Maple
Sun/Shade & Wind
The majority of the playground is exposed to direct sun throughout the school day. The exception is a thin strip along the eastern edge of the playground which is shaded from the morning sun by the Elementary House building. Even that shade is drastically reduced by midday. The vegetation along the southern edge is small enough not to cast any significant shade. When the red maples in the playground mature, they will create appreciable shade, but their current location is in conflict with the planned roof-mounted solar array. Located on top of a hill at about 800’ elevation, the school occupies a very windy site. Likely due to the topography of the land and structures, teachers report that wind on the playground seems to come from every direction as it swirls between and around the buildings. Teachers and staff alike have stated that excess wind is a problem, and requested that features and landforms be built into the playground to mitigate it. The actual dynamics of the wind, however, has been only vaguely and anecdotally reported. More information is necessary to develop appropriate design solutions. It is recommended that observation and recording of wind patterns be incorporated into the playground activities to inform future design decisions.
Linden
Legend
Crabapple
Double File Viburnum
Winter Flame Yellow Twig Cornielian Cherry Dogwood Dogwood (x3) Dogwood (x3)
Shade, Winter AM Shade, Summer AM
Red maple adds brilliant fall color.
The playground turf is in poor condition. 11
Hilltop Montessori School
Site Analysis
Children’s House Playscape Analysis Summary
Children’s House Playground - Plan View of Summary Analysis
The Children’s House playground falls short in meeting the needs of the students and teachers in a number of general ways.
40’
First, the playground does not provide for all the recreational needs of the children. It simply does not have the elements to support building upper-body strength, engage all of the senses or foster enough opportunities for cooperative play.
0’
10’ 20’
A second major shortcoming of the current playground is the drainage problem. Combining the inadequacy of water management infrastructure, soil type, and current patterns of usage and circulation leads to a situation where soil is muddied and compacted which leads to more mud and further exacerbates the compaction problem. In the winter, a similar cycles leaves the playground coated in a layer of slick ice. The third primary critique is that the playground offers inadequate opportunities for children to connect with the natural world.
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Considerations should be made for any programmatic expansion that will occurs, such as the possibility of growing the toddler program that shares this space. A comprehensive analysis of the playground as it currently functions ensures that design directives are placebased and reflect the conditions ‘on the ground.’ Such a candid analysis is an important tool for guiding future decisions.
Curriculum Needs
The design team had a number of conversations with the Children’s House teachers and staff about their needs regarding use of the playground to further the Montessori curriculum. The playground is intended to be an extension of the ‘prepared environment’ classroom that Montessori teachers use to promote self-discovery by the students. In general, it seems that the playground will act as a canvas upon which to paint whatever curriculum needs the Birch and Willow rooms have on any particular day, week or season. Designing the playground space to be flexible in this regard therefore is paramount. Ellie Pennell, who serves both on the Playground Committee and works as staff in the Birch Room of the Children’s House, did give one overarching curriculum theme or goal of the playground—to teach and promote ‘Peace.’
Legend Water Flow
Circulation, CH
Mud
Circulation, Parents
Shade, Winter AM
Circulation, Elm.
Shade, Summer AM 12
Hilltop Montessori School
Design
Children’s House Playscape Design Approach
Major Design Constraints
The problems inherent within any design challenge also present opportunities for creative solutions. For instance, the runoff water that is currently causing mud problems on site may be thought of as a resource to be utilized for play or educational purposes, and the undefined and open nature of the playground that the staff say causes too much rambunctious, competitive play also provides opportunities for imaginative and flexible structuring of the space. This embodies a primary principle of permaculture design--‘the problem is the solution.’ A problem can provide opportunities if viewed with a new awareness. This principle informed much of the design process.
The following were identified as major factors that impinge on or inform this particular design:
HMS Strategic Plan These sections of the 2010 HMS Strategic Plan are particularly relevant to the development of a natural or ecological playscape for the Children's House II. FACILITIES Sec. A. Campus Vision Overview: • Goal: Continue to utilize the campus as part of our learning environment. (ongoing) Continue to support the integration of our campus environment with the classroom curriculum. Develop and continue maintenance of our outdoor resources. • Goal: Create a facilities plan to ensure maintenance and development of our grounds and buildings. (one year) Aid the Finance Committee in developing a budget to support the campus. Create provisions for long-term projects such as garden expansion, ... • Goal: Establish our campus as a "green campus." (one to three years) Research and adopt a list of environmentally sound best practices to inform our long-term facilities plan as well as our daily maintenance practices. Sec. C. Playgrounds: • Montessori playgrounds are an extension of the classroom. They are a place for students to strengthen their physical selves, to build their social interactions, and to play. We seek to develop outdoor play spaces that take best advantage of the grounds, the needs of the students, and the vision of the faculty. We hope to provide developmentally appropriate facilities as soon as possible. • Goal: Create Montessori-inspired playgrounds which serve all of our age groups. (one to two years) $10,000-$30,000. Form a playground design group consisting of staff and parents to develop a plan and a budget for a long-term development of playgrounds and playing fields. Develop a timeline to begin improvements and installations as soon as is feasible. Bear in mind our desire to be a green campus. IV. OUR CONNECTIONS WITH THE WIDER COMMUNITY • ... Connection to our broader community can be facilitated ... by taking advantage of the campus to bring the community to HMS. • Develop a policy to guide if, how and by what criteria our spaces are made available to the public. • Explore how public use of the new campus could benefit the school financially.
• Funding: Gathering the capital to implement a playground renovation is understood to be a challenge. Strategies for keeping costs low include: • Look for reuse and DIY options for playground elements. Additionally, these type of play elements tend to foster more creative play than their typical commercial counterparts and build community engagement. • There have been a number of parents and grandparents of current HMS students who have spoken of a desire to help build elements in the natural playground. • Expand the notion of community and involve interested parties in installation and maintenance. • Maintenance: The HMS staff were emphatic that faculty and staff have “zero” capacity for the maintenance required by any natural landscape or play features. Because of this substantial effort was put in by the design team to consider and suggest other sources of support. First and foremost of these was the development of a Children’s House Playground Stewardship Committee. The importance of this committee to the long-term character, diversity and robustness of the playground cannot be stressed enough. Other suggestions included the following: • ‘Work study’ students in the upper grades who would take on complex living natural elements in the playground and maintain them, whether it’s a rain garden, willow house, herb bed, or mushroom log. • HMS has a system of ‘Parent Coordinators’ i.e. ‘Room Helpers’ who sign up for the task of helping to keep the prepared environment of the classroom in order. This could be expanded to include such volunteers working on the playground. • Some of HMS’s immediate neighbors and members of the Brattleboro Permaculture Guild offered to join the Playground Committee and work on elements relating specifically to permaculture, herbs, etc. • With proper outreach and publicity about the project the design team believes that untold support could be found to further this project because it is terribly exciting to just about everyone who cares about children and nature. It is the design team’s belief that maintenance is not a zero-sum game. An exciting and inspiring natural playscape will attract people who want to participate in it. The more innovative and exciting it is, the more people will want to be a part of it. Gardening is renown as an emotionally and spiritually rejuvenating activity, and there are throngs of young permaculturists in the area wanting to engage in permaculture-designed landscapes. To achieve this HMS will need to foster a culture of welcoming and inclusion with regard to the participation in school activities by outside community members. The care and nurturing of volunteers is a skill that we strongly encourage HMS to actively develop. • Scheduling Implementation & Use: There is an identified need to carefully consider when the playscape implementation occurs because the playground is in use throughout most of the year including when school is not in session, but the SummerFun program uses the space. The design team was told that the SummerFun program has some flexibility in terms of finding alternate spaces and using smaller areas. • It was determined that the best time for major construction would be early June immediately after the school year ends. • One option is to leave the Outdoor Classroom area relatively untouched so that it would be available for use even when other areas are not. • Other options include closing the playground turf entirely for the summer in order to utilize the peak summer sunlight for establishing healthy turf. The pathways would be available for running, tricycling, etc., immediately after they are constructed and the boardwalk and bridge are built. • Sight Lines: Teachers and staff monitoring the children in the playground need to be able to have visual access to the children and they play. The current strategy has been described as a type of ‘zone defense’ where responsibilities are divided among the monitors. From their various vantage points, the monitors need to be able to see one another, so that when a specific task requires individual attention of one monitor, the others can keep an eye on their zone.
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Hilltop Montessori School
Design
Children’s House Playscape
Grading Concept
Grading Concept
10’ 20’
40’
This landform Grading Plan was developed as a solution to address the existing drainage problem while at the same time creating a varied and challenging play environment. By viewing the water that currently causes mud, compaction and other problems in the playground as a resource to be utilized for education and fun, we can maximize play and work opportunities for the students while reducing long-term costs and improving the ecological function of the site. This plan uses an approach where the amount of soil cut to create the Swales and Rain Garden/Splash Garden is equal to the amount of fill needed to create the Earthen Mound, meaning no foundational soil needs to be imported or exported. We do, however, recommend importing topsoil to aid in turf establishment and compost mixes for specific planting applications.
0’
As an important note, any landforming that is to be done must be done at the very start of the playground’s re-development. This is in order to avoid the disruption of other playground elements, which would happen if grading were to take place other than at the very beginning of Phase I work.
N
This Grading Plan provides the foundation upon which the rest of the proposed playground design described in this Report is based.
Alternative Drainage Options Aside from the solution proposed by the design team, other solutions were proposed by outside parties to solve the drainage issue on the playground. Nora & the committee explored installing gutters on the eaves of the building. It is our recollection that Nora gathered a few different price quotes, and that Dave Manning included in his estimate for land forming the playground the cost of burying one drain line. Dave Manning proposed a different solution that involved curtain drains installed underneath the roof eaves and drain extensions added to the in-ground drains in the middle of the courtyard in order to extend the area that drains water immediately after a storm event. Paul Wyncoop, the BreadLoaf Architects project manager for Hilltop School construction, informed the design team that gutters could be added but were not recommended due to maintenance and upkeep, especially in Vermont’s winters. Roof diverters could also be installed, but were not deemed necessary due to the porch protection. With roof diverters, the same amount of water will end up on the ground, but in more concentrated locations. Adam Hubbard of Stevens & Associates has proposed a ‘turf management’ option. This would be a protocol of intensive re-seeding of the playground combined with fairly strict access rules for when the turf can be used. Access would be denied for the first year or so while the grass root system developed, then after that every time it rained or other weather or traffic events started to re-create bare patches. Access could be allowed on a rotating basis.
Legend Water Flow 14
Hilltop Montessori School
Design
Children’s House Playscape
Children’s House Playground Design
Design: From Vision to Master Plan
40’
Through a process of iteration and refinement, this design was developed as a means to meet the vision of what is possible for HMS’s Childrens’ House playground. For an overview of the design approach and major design constraints, see page 15.
10’
Children’s House
The design builds upon a concept of using subtle alterations of the landform to address the drainage problems plaguing the site by transforming the water and the land itself into the main play features. A detailed description of the landforming and drainage solutions can be found in the Grading Plan section.
0’
Rainwater Cistern Raised Bed Garden
Swings
Line-Up Spaces
Parking
Music Maker
Shed
Play Hive Red House
Sea tin g
Greenhouse
Boulder Pile
Bed
Pergola
Boardwalk
Stump Jump
N
am
Labyrinth
Monkey Bars
/Sw ale
Zen Garden
Stre
This design was shaped by the need to create an order-of-operations for construction of the playground in a manner that provides a logical series of steps progressing forward. See the discussion of phased implementation on page 17 for details of this design. Due to budget constraints, a tension exists between immediately installing the elements that the teachers most desperately need and laying the groundwork to create a successful playscape over the longterm. This tension continues to shape the design process. The proposed elements shown in this design are discussed on the following page.
20’
The Barn
Bridge
Seating
Shade Garden
Elementary House
Sand
Splash Garden
Earth Mound w/ Slide
Area for Tent Pathway
Soccer Field
15
Hilltop Montessori School
Children’s House Playscape
Design
Playground Elements & Play Features Maria Montessori observed what she referred to as ‘sensitive periods’ in children under the age of six. She believed • Sand - A sand pit, like a natural sandbox, is located near the Stream Bed so children have to opportunity to that children in these sensitive periods need to exercise all of their sense facilities as fully as possible. The ecological experiment with the combination of sand and water. Sand may also serve double duty as a play feature and as an playground for the Children’s House has been designed to do just that. Below are descriptions of the elements shown impact surface below climbing structures. Use play-grade sand. on the Design on page 15. • Shed - A shed houses many play toys including: four tricycles, two wagons, child-sized wheelbarrow and garden cart, kids snow shovels, kids gardening equipment, and ‘loose parts’ as construction toys. The Playground • Rainwater Cistern - A means to capture rainwater off the roof to water gardens and educate about the water cycle Committee discussed the option of dividing the shed to provide a dedicated space for the garden coordinator’s and the importance of water conservation. Placed near the roofline and garden beds. Connect students to plants adult equipment. The shed is located near along the western fence so that it does not obstruct sight lines within and their needs and provides for play. There is possible availability for affordable cisterns through the Windham the playground. Clustering the shed with play structures and the greenhouse creates the feel of a ‘tiny village.’ County Career Center. • Seating - Several benches located at key points throughout the playground allow for teachers to sit and maintain a • Raised Bed Garden - Easily accessible garden spaces that allow students to interact with and nurture growing watchful eye over their students. plants. Located along the south wall of the Children’s House for the growing season extension benefits of a • Music Maker - A percussive Music Maker that is made from salvaged piano guts or metal pipes or other available warmer microclimate. parts allows children to engage their auditory senses through experimenting with tone and melody. • Labyrinth - A simple, meandering walkway, possibly made from inlaid stone or living herbs such as chamomile, • Monkey Bars - Provides a challenge and engages upper muscle groups. Clustering elevated activities can reduce allows students a few peaceful moments to reflect. Located away from the busiest parts of the playground, in a the amount of protective ground surface needed and create options for obstacle courses for the children. location where it is easily accessible to the indoor classrooms. • Zen Garden - A place of peace and artistic concentration where students spend mindful moments tending to the • Boulder Pile - Utilizing boulders existing on-site, this play feature creates an open-ended opportunity to climb, jump, hide, explore, and pretend. order of a sculpture garden. Located near the Outdoor Classroom for potential access during free time. Teachers • Stump Jump - Black locust log rounds, harvested on site, buried end up in the ground provide a fun game of requested a size of approximately 6’ x6’. balance and coordination. • Pergola - A Pergola is proposed to frame a portion of the Outdoor Classroom, defining the space. It provides much • Earth Mound w/ Slide - An Earth Mound is created from soil moved from within the playground during the initial needed shade within the space and has the added benefit of doubling as a trellis for vining plants. landforming. This natural feature is the epitome of open-ended play, with children climbing up and rolling down • Swale/Stream Bed - Runoff water from the buildings’ roofs is directed down through this eastern swale and into or sliding down on the built in slide. Because the height can potentially obstruct views, placing this element where the Splash Garden. Children can build dams and interact with flowing water when the weather allows. When it is teachers have the ability to cover it from different vantage points it crucial. A slope close to 50% is desired for the not serving as an active water channel, it mimics a dry stream bed and allows for exploration among its pebbles, slide, but the rest of the mound should be around 33% slope. stones, and plants. • Beehive Play Hive - Climbing on the outside or hanging out on the inside, children use this DIY play structure in • Splash Garden - The Splash Garden is a type of rain garden designed for play. It is planted with plants that can many ways and it contributes to whole body health. withstand deluge and drought, and the purpose is to absorb rainwater and recharge it into the water table. During • Red House - The Red House is an existing play structure that, with a few minor repairs, can continue to serve as a heavier rain events, the water may pond a few inches deep, allowing children the opportunity to stomp and splash beloved play feature. Clustering the Red House with the Beehive and other play structures creates the feeling of a as they love to do. The existing drainage pipes are utilized as overflow outlets, ensuring that only designated area ‘tiny village.’ get saturated and the playground remains usable regardless of weather. • Shade Garden - A little nook tucked in along a north-facing wall provides a rare microclimate in this playground for a variety of shade-loving plants. This garden will illustrate different patterns and lessons about habitat types. • Pathway - A roughly oval pathway that winds around the playground provides a place for children to ride their tricycles and push their trucks or wagons around. Many different textured surface materials provide sensory feedback. Access in and out of the playground has been rerouted to avoid placing the heaviest traffic under the dripline of the CH building. • Bridge - A slightly arching bridge crosses over the Stream Bed, providing tricyclists with a slight challenge in their circuit and stream explorers with an interesting tunnel. • Boardwalk - A boardwalk provides an interesting pathway crossing over the subtle grassy swale that moves water from the northwestern portion of the playground into the Splash Garden. • Line-Up Spaces - Forty tiles in two rows, each one foot square and placed six inches apart, provide designated space to help students line up in an orderly fashion at the end of recess. • Swings - A set of four swings is located in the northwest corner of the playground. The minimum clearance zone for a swing set of this size is 36’ x 32’.
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Hilltop Montessori School
Design
Children’s House Playscape The Design -- Phased Implementation
Phase I Priority Elements
This design project aims to coalesce an ideal vision for what the playscape may evolve into and then identify a few discrete phases of implementation necessary to achieve that goal.
Mounded Earth, Slide, Balance Elements, Zen Garden, Swings, Rain Garden/Splashing Element, Line-up Space, Paths (Tricycle & Foot), Boardwalk, Bridge, Picnic Table, Red House, Seating Bench, Shed & Construction Zone, Shade Element/Pergola, Climbing Element, Boulder Pile, Sound Makers & Music, Willow Tunnel, Sand(box) #1 - big, Labyrinth, Toys, Play Log.
The idea of phased implementation responds to pulses of funding, implementation, growth, celebration, and use. It also allows for easy adaptation to the changing needs of the school over time while providing a living, growing, evolving playscape that can be guided to best address the needs of students and teachers. In addition to these things it allows for an extended period of observation, which is a critical aspect of permaculture and good design in general.
The Phase I Priority Elements list can be found in the separate document ‘Playscape Criteria List,’ a spreadsheet available on the accompanying CD, which ranks the different playground elements by the goals and objectives that they achieve and provides a budget for each. The Criteria List spreadsheet also tabulates the number of times that each of the specific design objectives are met by different elements in the playground during the different phases.
To determine the appropriate set of implementation phases, a number of considerations were identified by faculty, staff, and administration and ranked in terms of priority and urgency. The design team took all of the input and developed a three-phased plan to move the natural playground forward. This phased system takes into account urgent needs, costs, the long-term vision that the Playground Committee developed for the project, and the school’s desire to not have to backtrack and undo playground elements in the future because inadequate planning was not performed.
It should be noted from this that Phase I accomplishes the following abundantly: Sensory Experiences, Individual Play, Group Play, and Different Types of Space. The following are not met nearly as well: Seasonality, Shade, and Permaculture Principles.
Phase I
Phase II
The initial phase must: • Address the drainage problem • Create a new and varied landform that will underlay the entire playground and upon which all of the new natural playground elements will be built • Lay the “foundation” for the future playground to be built upon • Foresee and allow for future development of the natural playground as new needs, conditions, curricula, teachers, students, and opportunities present themselves • Immediately incorporate a number of critical elements identified as most pressing by the teachers & committee.
The committee has yet to decide whether to install Monkey Bars as the initial climbing element, or build the Beehive Structure in Phase I to serve that design purpose.
The following playground elements were identified by the committee for Phase II: Covered Bridge, Dry Streambed, Sand(box) #2 - near water, Specialty Plants/Gardens such as an herb spiral, Raised Beds. It is unclear at this point whether the Covered Bridge will replace or supplement the Red House. It could do either.
Phase III
The following playground elements were identified by the committee for Phase III: More Gardens with Special Plants such as the Shade Garden, Beehive Playhouse, Pond, Rainwater Cistern with Irrigation.
The following list comes from the Playground Committee meeting on May 21: • Drainage - resolve the issues of mud and compaction • Swings • Monkey Bars • Repair the Red House • Sand feature - move & rebuild the sand box • Wagons & Wheelbarrows • Establish Willows for Future Use • Move the Red Maples • A Temporary Shade Structure or Pergola Based on all of the above needs and constraints, the design team developed the following list for Phase I of the playground’s build-out. Note that this list was developed at a time when it was thought that there was adequate funding for the project, and when the build-out would take place starting in mid June of 2012.
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Hilltop Montessori School
Community Input
Children’s House Playscape Community Input Into the Playground’s Design Because stewardship and participation are so critical to the success of natural playgrounds, the design team made painstaking efforts to solicit and honor input into the design process from as many stakeholders as possible. The two sections below describe all of the venues utilized for this and the major creative ideas that were generated and seriously considered by the committee.
Venues for Community Engagement in the Design Process Playground Committee
The first and foremost step to gather key community input was the creation of a playground committee to oversee both the design process and long-term stewardship of the ecological playscape. Experts on natural playground development agree that the single most important factor in the long-term success of a natural playscape is having a stewardship committee that is involved from the design process forward and adopts an attitude that the playground will never be ‘finished,’ but will continue to evolve indefinitely. At HMS this committee was formed in mid March of 2012 with Nora Gordon and Ellie Pennell leading it. The other two founding members of the Committee are parents Ruth Wplk & Rosie Wojcik. The first, big task was to develop a vision statement, a set of overarching goals for the project, and a list of specific objectives that the playground is intended to achieve. These are delineated in Appendix 1.
School-Wide Design Charrette, January 28, 2012
At the very start of the contractual work of the design team on the HMS playground, the team was asked to lead a portion of a school-wide design charrette for the playground. Appendix 3 contains the notes from that meeting, as well as a ‘Feedback Cloud’ graphic representation of the ideas generated that ranks them according to popularity and shows relationships between them. Three tables of roughly 8-10 people each participated in this charrette for about an hour. On the same day Tad Montgomery gave two Powerpoint presentations on natural playgrounds to a school-wide charrette process, a short introduction and a longer expose’ on the elements and features of natural playscapes and permaculture design.
Idea Poster on the School Wall
Nora Gordon installed a large piece of paper on the wall of the hallway outside of the Birch Room with these words: “Children’s House Playground -- What Am I?” Over two dozen ideas and drawings were posted on the paper, which is archived in the Children’s House.
Playground Committee Design Meeting, March 26, 2012
Another charrette process was arranged by the design team well into the design process that focused exclusively on the Children’s House playground. This group was much smaller than the first charrette, consisting of the design team, Playground Committee, a few parents and a neighbor. The conclusion from all involved was that it was highly productive. Appendix 4 contains notes from this design meeting. At the time of this event the design team had developed a couple of proposed plans, and the main purpose of the meeting was to gather creative feedback on the proposals.
Other Community Engagement
There were a number of specific venues where the broader Hilltop community was informed of the design work taking place on the Children’s House playground and offered an opportunity to give feedback for it.
Survey
A survey was developed to solicit specific ideas and recommendations from the school community on the re-design of the Children’s House playground. An electronic version of this survey, as well as scanned images of the three returned copies of it, can be found on the CD that accompanies this design report. We believe that this survey could be a useful tool for gathering creative ideas and support for the project, but it was not used by the school in as effective a manner as it could have been. This could have been due to it not being left in a highly visible location for people to see and fill out. None the less, three people did fill it out and offer substantial ideas and specific support for the project. We recommend that whoever on the school’s staff leads the playground installation review these returned surveys, contact the people who filled them out to discuss their input, and perhaps re-issue the survey to solicit more support.
Newsletter Articles
The following articles on the re-design process were written by the design team and published in the school’s weekly electronic newsletter. This is a valuable medium for creating regular information about the project in a way that builds momentum and excitement: • Towards an Ecological Playground for the Children’s House, 2/3/12 • What Is an Ecological Playground? 2/17/12 • Playground Update; Request for a Hollow log, 3/2/12 • Playground Design Meeting Invitation, 3/16/22 • Playground Design Meeting Results, 4/13/12
Grandparent’s Day Presentation
On May 25th the design team presented its preliminary design plan for the Children’s House playground re-design. This took place in a room full of people amidst the hustle and bustle of a number of different activities. There was not an opportunity to speak about the design work, but a visual image of the draft plan was projected onto a wall and numerous people came to the committee’s table to hear about the work that has been done. A few expressed a substantial offer of assistance during the construction phase of the project (Nora took down their names). 18
Hilltop Montessori School
Community Input
Children’s House Playscape Community Idea Generation Meetings with Teachers & Students
The design team met with the Children’s House teachers and students on March 12th, 2012. Notes from these meetings can be found in Appendix 5. There were a number of important points that the teachers brought to the design process to inform the playground’s development. Some of these were: • The importance of what the Montessori method refers to as ‘setup for success,’ i.e. that activities engender a sense of empowerment and self esteem. • The need for flat, open space was said by the teachers to be minimal, perhaps a 30’ circle. They believe that wide open spaces lead to wild, rambunctious, competitive play while a diverse landscape that has a variety of spaces, varied terrain, and more of an enclosed feel fosters creative play and cooperation. • Having ‘pavers’ in a line leading to the exit gate, one for each student, would greatly facilitate the playground exit process. • The need for shade was reiterated. • They expressed special desires for a labyrinth and Zen garden in the playground, preferably close to the quiet room. • There was a general sense of frustration that the designers picked up on. When pressed the teachers said that this was the result of having been through years worth of brainstorming ideas for the design of the playground, attending design charrettes that resulted in no progress, and watching nothing happen to substantially improve the playground. Both before and after the meeting with teachers the design team made a strong effort to solicit ideas and feedback from the teachers, mostly through the staff on the Playground Committee -- Nora & Ellie. We believe that the teachers are paramount when it comes to the effective development of a natural/ecological playground, and its use to support the Children’s House Montessori curriculum. There were also a number of wonderfully creative ideas presented by the students themselves, who seemed genuinely interested in how the playground would be re-designed. Much to our surprise, a few of the ideas they presented were close or identical to ideas that the playground committee had been developing, with some interesting embellishments. Notes from these meetings are also in Appendix 5.
Responses from Meeting with Children
Committee Ideas
The committee also proposed and deliberated over a number of specific design features within the context of the Vision/Goals/Objectives statements. Specific ideas that were discussed include the following: • Playground as Watershed: early in the design process it was proposed to create landforms in the playground that reflected one or more of the watersheds in the surrounding region. • Cistern & Water Piping to Play Elements &/or Gardens: In order to teach water conservation and give children access to water for play and for garden irrigation, significant time was spent by the committee considering water elements in the playground. One that is considered for Phase II or III is a cistern to catch rainwater off of the western most edge of the school’s roof and pipe it to raised water features in the landscape and/or the greenhouse and affix spigots and hoses to allow for irrigation of garden beds. • (Dry) Stream to Rain Garden w/Wet Sand Area: Other water features that have been designated for Phase I or II make use of water coming off of the roofs in the northeast corner of the playground. A stream bed is proposed to capture and channel that water past a wet/dry sand box and to the central rain garden. The stream bed would be dry except for during and immediately after a rain event. Eventually a water catchment & storage device can be incorporated so that water can be available to children to flow into the stream bed other than during storms events. • Covered Bridge as Local Vernacular: With a stream bed flowing from the northeast corner to the central storm drains, and a walking/bike path forming a loop around the inner circumference of the playground, a focal point is created that poses a design challenge where the two intersect. The committee decided to address this challenge in a manner that solves the potential problem of water flowing over the path by proposing a covered bridge to reflect the local architectural vernacular of Northern New England. This feature would be designed 19
Hilltop Montessori School
Children’s House Playscape
•
•
•
•
•
to provide a high aesthetic & craft value while also serving the design goal and function of helping children to build upper body strength through a climbing structure that would replace the beloved but dilapidated red house. Nora had a volunteer in mind to lead the building of this complex project. Pond: Another water feature that was seriously considered, but eventually discarded or delayed indefinitely, was a small, shallow pond near the drains. While having standing, ‘living’ water available to children was appealing on a number of different levels, it was decided that the regulatory and liability issues outweighed the advantages, especially with another pond and stream available on Hilltop property. Conversations were had with Jennifer Taylor of Vermont’s Child Development Division and are summarized in the ‘Codes’ section of this Report. Beehive Climbing Structure: The Playground Committee is very enthusiastic about the possibility of creating for the playground this semi-enclosed climbing structure made of wood and resembling a beehive. Originally developed as open source technology by Thoughtbarn of Austin, TX, a description and pictures of this element and instructions for how to built it can be found at: http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/ 2012/03/diyplayground-2-playhive-playhouse-by.html A series of conversations and emails was had with local logger/forester Dan Healey, who specializes in highly rot resistant black locust wood, about the possibility of his harvesting trees from the Hilltop campus, transporting them to the Thurber farm or another local mill, and having them cut to the size necessary for components of the Beehive. He was very open to doing this work, perhaps in exchange for some of the other locusts or other trees on the property. Willow Tunnel: Another playground element that the committee is quite keen on and wants implemented starting in Phase I is a living structure made of willow branches, Salix vimnalis. It is recommended that the school plant a number of cuttings of this sp. as soon as possible to grow out and be usable to build structures starting in fall or winter of 2012/2013. Sean Walsh brought a number of cuttings to the school that he had rooted out for the school to use for this purpose, and committee member Rosie Wojcik compiled a lot of information on this technique, which is included in Appendix 10. Rain Garden: While a pond was deemed impractical for now, a rain or ‘splash’ garden to temporarily hold water after a storm event was accepted by the committee. Two swales will direct water from the roof edge of the building to this rain garden filled with a deep layer of mulch and planted with a number of species of ‘facultative’ plants that can tolerate both dry and wet conditions. Appendix 7 contains references describing the construction process and a number of appropriate species. Pergola: A relatively inexpensive shade element that would provide an enhanced sense of ‘Outdoor Classroom’ and could be built easily by volunteers is a Pergola. The design team has proposed this for the ‘toddler area’ right outside the Quiet Room. By itself the pergola would provide only partial shade, but the designers have proposed a variety of flowering and fruiting vines to be grown at its corner posts to provide near full shade once they are grown out. The CD that accompanies this report contains design & construction drawings for a simple pergola, and a cost estimate for materials was developed in the ‘Playscape Criteria’ spreadsheet.
Community Input Responses from Playground Charrette
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Hilltop Montessori School
Children’s House Playscape Plants in the Playground
Plants in the Playground Specific Plant Recommendations for the CHPG at Hilltop
In addition to the plants already present in the playground, the design committee recommends the following for Phase I installation:
Plants & Kids Database
The design team worked with Playground Committee member Ruth Wplk in particular to identify plants that would be good additions to a natural playground at Hilltop. Roughly 50 species were identified and assembled into a database that classifies them by type and gives their relevant characteristics for use in a learning environment. This database, and an accompanying folder of photographs of each plant, can be found in Appendix 8 and on the CD that accompanies this report.
General Guidelines for Plants in a Playground The following are a set of general guidelines for considering plantings in a playground setting15: • Vary the texture of leaves: evergreen & deciduous, shiny & rough, serrated & smooth edges, thin with thick. • Plants with different forms, sizes & shapes. • Plants that display seasonal changes: deciduous, early leaves or flowers in spring, fruit in early spring or late fall, provide seeds or nuts that mark a particular season. • Plants with color: trees, vines, groundcovers and flowering plants. • Species that exemplify the differences between native and exotic. • Plants for fragrance (listed as ‘aromatic’ in the plant database). • Plants that exhibit strange or unique functions (listed as ‘performing plants’ in the plant database). • Plants that contribute to craft opportunities for children. • Plants that offer culinary opportunities or new taste experiences. • Plants that can be used to facilitate curriculum by connecting children to other cultures or historical events or people. • Plants for auditory effects: beech leaves or grasses that rustle in the winter wind; bamboo that clatters yearround.
• Facultative & wetland spp. in the rain garden (see section on Rain Garden in Appendix 7 and links to online documents about rain garden plants for Vermont). It is up to the Playground Committee to choose which plants to incorporate into the rain garden. • Willow tunnel (description in Phase I playground element recommendations and information in Appendix 10) • Chamomile as a groundcover for the labyrinth, chosen for its hardiness to trampling and drought, aromatic qualities, and folk medicinal property of soothing and relaxing which would complement the overall purpose of the labyrinth nicely. This playground element, like the willow structure, has the potential to become a ‘keystone’ feature and attract attention from the broader community by itself. • Vines for the Pergola The design team recommends three spp. of flowering and fruiting vines to shade the pergola when it is built. They are: hardy kiwi, with at least one male plant to accompany the fruiting females, trumpet vine for its flowers and to attract hummingbirds, and passion flower which has both fruit and beautiful flowers. • An Herb Spiral or mound that is planted with various different culinary herbs. This is a technique from permaculture wherein a small space provides growing area for a disproportionately large number of plants. The herbs are chosen based on different habitat needs - dry on the top of the mound and wetter at the bottom, sunny on the south side and shady on the north. See the Brattleboro Permaculture Guild’s website for more information. • Shade Garden there is one spot up against the eastern edge of the playground where sun never reaches. This would be an ideal place to have a small garden of shade-loving plants and/or mushrooms.
A Note on Tree Climbing
In almost every playground that wishes to go ‘natural’ the issue of children climbing trees arises. This was validated at Hilltop during the Jan. 28 design charrette in which tree climbing was a favored element for the natural playground. Children love to climb trees. There is something deeply, viscerally satisfying about the activity for many if not most kids, especially boys. Unfortunately, in our litigious society adults are especially fearful of children falling out of trees. Since children always want to climb trees anyway, it is perhaps wiser to include climbing trees in a relatively controlled environment of a playground than to have children seek the experience elsewhere. This issue needs to be addressed on a policy level by the school, and trees intended for climbing or swinging must be properly chosen, located and managed with a soft surface underneath them and shape that will offer children adequate hand and foot holds as the tree matures, i.e. trees with low, horizontal branches. The design team did not include climbing trees in the final plan at the request of the playground committee, but we feel that good design and stewardship could avoid the feared risks. Appendix 9 is a table of tree species recommended for climbing.
Climbing trumpet vine flower
Balloon flower in bloom
The fuzzy lamb’s ear 21
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Children’s House Playscape Codes
Due to budget constraints, an assessment of codes and regulations was not included in the scope of work for the design phase of the Children’s House playground.
References
The following are some of the pertinent regulations that the design teams suggests be reviewed by the staff responsible for implementing the design and construction phase of the Children’s House and other future playgrounds: • School Safety Review Checklist developed by the VT Department of Education, VT Department of Public Safety and VT School Boards Association, summer 2005 (included on the CD accompanying this Report). • Public Playground Safety Handbook developed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, November, 2010. • Early Childhood Program Licensing Regulations, State of Vermont Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, Child Care Services Division, 2001 (included on the CD accompanying this Report).
Codes STep Ahead Recognition System (STARS) In addition to the above, the design team would like to point out that pre-schools in Vermont are rated based on a five-star ranking system, and the health and diversity of the school’s playground factors into how many stars a preschool is awarded. As of July, 2012 there are eleven pre-schools in Windham County that have been awarded five stars while Hilltop is rated with four. Programs get points in 5 arenas, one being connection with families and the community, another being in ‘programs & practices.’ Improving the playground’s design could affect either of these two arenas, and the STARS administrator that we spoke with seemed very excited about the potential for a natural playscape to do exactly that. She said that they would be happy to talk with representatives from Hilltop about how to achieve this. For more information: http://dcf.vermont.gov/cdd/stars
Tad Montgomery did approach Jennifer Taylor of the Child Development Division of the Dept. of Children & Families, VT Agency of Human Services. In a conversation on March 9th she said that there is not a whole lot that they regulate with regard to playgrounds, but they do refer schools to the Public Playground Safety Handbook. She did mentioned two specific regulations in particular in the conversation: • Regarding loose-fill surfacing depths underneath climbing structure on a playground, 6” of shredded/recycled rubber will protect fall heights up to 10’, 4” of sand will protect up to 4’, and 9” of non-pressure-treated wood chips will protect up to 10’. • If any play structures contain bolts to hold them together, a structural engineer’s stamp it required on design plans.
Standing Water
The design team also had a series of correspondences with Jennifer Taylor about having a pond in the playground. The primary issues that CDD had are summed up in the following excerpt from an email dated May 2nd, 2012: Hello Tad I have had a chance to discuss with my supervisor your idea of a living pond for the outside play area at Hilltop Montessori in Brattleboro. Our concern would be that the children would have access to water that could pose as a hazard. Here are some questions we had thought of that you may find useful when considering your design; where would this pond be located? Do you have plans to include it in an existing play area or outside the existing play area? If it is within an existing play area, could a fence or some sort of barrier be built around the pond that would restrict access by the children unless they were in direct supervision of staff members. Perhaps the portion with the shallow, free flowing water could be included in the play area the children use during outdoor play with the standing water portion outside of the fence. If the pond will not be included in an existed play area, could it be utilized as a site to visit still located on the property but as a supervised group? Along with the Public Playground Safety Handbook I sent you, another great resource is to contact an inspector from the National Playground Safety Institute for consultation. . . . I am forwarding your message on to Elaine Crawford, the licenser for the Brattleboro area. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact Elaine at: Elaine.Crawford@state.vt.us 22
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Budget
Children’s House Playscape Budget On the CD that accompanies this report is a spreadsheet entitled ‘Playscape Criteria List.’ This spreadsheet details costs for Phase I of the playground’s redevelopment. The first worksheet, ‘G&O ver. 2’ lists numerous proposed playground elements in three different phases, with costs of each element listed in the far right hand column, totalling $12,423 for Phase I (cell 35X). If this is added to the cost estimate that Nora obtained from the contractor for the basic landform work, grass seeding, etc.: $14,800 from Dave Manning, the estimate for the total for Phase I of the CH playground’s redevelopment is: $27,223. In the second worksheet of the spreadsheet provided: ‘Costs,’ each of the playground element’s expenses are detailed with the assumptions used to develop the different amounts. These two worksheets are linked, such that changes made to specific line items in the ‘Costs’ worksheet, say cost of pressure treated corner posts for the pergola, will be reflected in the total budget line in the first worksheet. We have provided the budget for Phase I of the redevelopment in this format in order to facilitate its manipulation and adjustment in the time between when this Design Report is submitted and eventual construction. Some of the elements budgeted may be dropped from the list, or bounced down into Phase II or III, while other new ones may appear. Providing a spreadsheet allows for the Playground Stewardship Committee and staff to adjust the budget easily to reflect these changes, as well as cost inflation, etc. A few important notes regarding this budget: • This cost estimate of $27,223 is extremely low for the major build-out of a natural playground, or any playground for that matter. One major reason for this is that the budget figures rely on substantial volunteer effort in building the playground elements. For this volunteer work to be successful it will have to be coordinated very effectively, either by Nora, a highly functioning playground committee, or someone else hired explicitly for that purpose. We did not put in a line item for hiring such a person, but recommend that you consider doing so. • All of the volunteer project work needs are spelled out in the ‘Costs’ worksheet. Look for the notes with an (*) in them. • The shed is a big ticket item: $4,000. This estimate is based on a figure of $20/sq. ft. from Andrew Pennell (Ellie Pennell’s husband). It is unclear if this figure includes a carpenter to do the actual building, or is based all on volunteer labor. If the latter, the cost will be substantially higher if a carpenter is used. It is also unclear what sort of foundation and floor for the shed were factored into that cost estimate. • We estimated$300 for toys, including tricycles, but that was a very rough estimate without consulting CH teachers or staff. Toys may be taken care of in a different budget anyway. • There are a couple of specific land forming items that it is unclear if the contractor will handle under their present estimate, or if they will be treated as ‘change orders’ and increase the contractor’s costs. These are noted in the ‘Costs’ worksheet. • CH teachers and the Playground Committee have identified a climbing structure as a priority playground element for Phase I in order to help build upper body strength in the children. To date we have been unable to identify a safe climbing element that isn’t exorbitantly expensive, so there is simply a question mark in the Cost column for that element. You might want to add something to the budget for this. • Costs have not been estimated for the Boardwalk or Bridge elements because it was not decided as of the time this Report was written whether they would come in Phase I or Phase II. It is also assumed that costs for these elements should come out of a bidding process. If the landforming, swales and paths are created these elements or something similar will be needed soon thereafter to handle traffic at the junctions where the swales and paths intersect.
The design team considers this a rough estimate of costs, a first-pass so to speak. Detailed budgeting for the playground’s redevelopment was not included in our contract’s scope of work.
Revenue Generation Potential
The design team and Playground Committee spent some time brainstorming the possibility for developing revenuegenerating projects and events from the natural playground that is to be built at Hilltop. In particular we came up with a list of workshops that could be offered on such things as: • • • • • • •
Willow tunnel design & construction, i.e. living structures Plants & children Natural Playscapes with a big-name designer like Rusty Keeler Permaculture design courses Natural soil/turf building techniques with compost teas Mushroom cultivation Construction of specific play elements such as the beehive climbing structure, labyrinth, Zen garden or rain/ splash garden • School gardening, etc. • Herb workshops (neighbor Rebecca Golden has offered to do these) Offering such workshops would also further the school’s stated goal of increasing broader community engagement at Hilltop.
Fundraising
The design team put significant effort into helping Nora to think about grant opportunities for the playground. These should be kept as records in the binder notebook on the CHPG that Nora gathered.
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Recommendations
Children’s House Playscape Conclusion & Recommendations Stewardship
The development of a natural playground is a substantial undertaking that requires vision, persistence and strong organizational support. In the absence of substantial funding up front, the success of such an undertaking is generally dependent on a committee of individuals who commit themselves to the long-term development of the project. In fact, it has been found consistently that having a stewardship committee is much more important than starting with a big pot of money. Natural playgrounds are living things with many elements in various stages of sprouting, growth, transformation or decay. They are like big, complex organisms that thrive with care and oversight, becoming ever more complex and offering ever new and exciting learning opportunities for the students who play in them. This requires a level of stewardship above and beyond what most school faculty and staff are able to give, so bringing in outside members of the community is critical, whether it is parents, grandparents, neighbors, alumni, members of the local garden club or rotary, permaculturists, or the local master gardeners association. Natural playgrounds are highly charismatic spaces and attract attention from far and wide. The more ‘ecological’ and innovative a playscape is, the truer this becomes. The challenge for a school like Hilltop Montessori is how to publicize the new playground in a way that invites participation. This has been started with the formation of the Playground Committee, but we encourage the school and committee to make the enlisting and welcoming of volunteers to the project a top priority. Gardening is renown as an emotionally and spiritually rejuvenating activity, and there are throngs of young permaculturists in the area wanting to engage in permaculture-designed landscapes. To achieve this HMS will need to foster a culture of welcoming and inclusion with regard to the participation in school activities by outside community members. The care and nurturing of volunteers is a skill that we strongly encourage HMS to actively develop. The success of the project will correlate directly to your success in doing this.
Publicity
The design team recommends greater use of publicity to advertise and promote the natural playground, to solicit support and resources for the Playground Committee and to instigate a conversation in the broader area on the importance of natural play. This was recommended by the design team numerous times and we continue to believe that it is of paramount importance. One of the laws of advertising is repetition, so find as many opportunities as possible to announce this project to the world. This will be especially helpful in fundraising and gathering volunteers for work days, but people will need to be aware of the project beforehand in order for a call for volunteers to be most successful.
Phases of Implementation
The playground Stewardship Committee, in collaboration with the Children’s House teachers and school administration, should review the recommended playground elements for Phases I, II & III, to see if build-out of each playground element is timed properly in light of budget constraints, needs, etc. This activity should be repeated annually in conjunction with planning, fundraising, and stewardship processes.
Red Maple Issue
The school needs to make a decision very soon as to whether or not to move the red maple trees from where they are growing outside of the toddler area to where the design team recommends they be transplanted on the southern edge of the playground. The suggestion to move them was so that they would not grow to shade the prime solar potential on the south-facing roof, but moving them also works very well in the redesign of the playground. The playground design team believes that the solar potential of the existing roof is great, and all other factors being equal recommends that the trees be moved. Even if the roof cannot structurally bear present-day solar panels covering it, the technology is evolving so rapidly that in the foreseeable future lightweight panels should be developed that the building will be able to bear. Ancillary issues here involve where to put the trees temporarily while the playground landforming is taking place, and whether the fully grown trees will affect the ability of the playground just north of them to grow grass robustly due to their shading effect.
Preparation for a Phase II or III Cistern
The Playground Committee was very enthusiastic about the possibility of having a cistern to catch water coming from the southwest corner of the school building’s roof and making it accessible for play and other activities. They also understood that this was unlikely to happen during Phase I of the build-out. The design team proposes that the school instruct whoever contracts to do the landforming of the playground under Phase I to run piping from the rough location of the cistern to the greenhouse to allow for this future water use without having to dig up lawn, pathways, elements, etc. The contractor should be instructed to incorporate some mechanism for draining the line, too, to prevent its bursting during freeze events in the winter.
Tent Space for School Functions
Towards the end of the design process the Playground Committee was informed that there was a school need for an open, flat space just outside the elementary school doors for functions that would involve a 20’ x 40’ staked tent. As of the writing of this report it was still unclear how unimpeded this space needs to be, i.e. whether permanent paths can run through it, whether garden beds can come right up to the edge of it, if it can overlap with the playing field, etc. A decision about the nature of this specialized space within the boundaries of the CHPG needs to be made quickly in order to inform the rest of the design.
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Children’s House Playscape
Footnotes
Much of this research was compiled by natural playground expert Rusty Keeler. Grahn, P., Martensson, F., Lindblad, B., Nilsson, P., & Ekman, A. (1997). “Ute pa Dagis.” Stad & Land, 93/1991. 3 Fjortoft, I., & Sageie, J.). (2000). “The Natural Environment as a Playground for Children: Landscape Description and Analysis of a Natural Landscape.” Landscape and Urban Planning. 48(1/2), 83-97. 4 Taylor, A. F., Kuo, F. E., & Sullivan, W. C. (2001). “Coping with ADD: The Surprising Connection to Green Play Settings.” Environment and Behavior, 33(1), 54-77. 5 Wells, Nancy M. (2000). “At Home with Nature, Effects of ‘Greenness’ on Children’s Cognitive Functioning.” Environment and Behavior, 32(6), 775-795. 6 Grahn, P., Martensson, F., Lindblad, B., Nilsson, P., & Ekman, A. (1997). “Ute pa Dagis.” Stad & Land, 93/1991. 7 Taylor, A. F., Kuo, F. E., & Sullivan, W. C. (2002). “Views of Nature and Self-Discipline: Evidence from Inner City Children.” Journal of Environmental Psychology. 22. 49-63. 8 Montessori, Maria, The Montessori Method 9 Montessori, Maria, The Discovery of the Child 10 Ibid. 11 Moore, R., &- Wong. H. (1997). Natural Learning: Rediscovering Nature’s Way of Teaching. Berkeley. CA: MIG Communications. 12 Taylor, A. F., Wiley, A., Kuo, F. E., & Sullivan, W. C. (1998). “Growing Up in the Inner City: Green Spaces as Places to Grow.” Environment and Behavior, 30(1), 3-27. 13 Fjortoft, I., & Sageie, J., (2000). “The Natural Environment as a Playground for Children: Landscape Description and Analysis of a Natural Landscape.” Landscape and Urban Planning. 48(1/2), 83-97. 14 Malone, Karen, & Tranter, Paul. (2003). “Children’s Environmental learning and the Use, Design and Management of Schoolgrounds.” Children, Youth and Environments, 13(2). 15 Plants for Play, Robin C. Moore, 1993, MIG Communications. 1 2
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Appendices
Children’s House Playscape Appendix 1: Vision Statement, Goals & Objectives Children’s House Playground Vision and Goals Statement Second draft, 1/18/12
Vision
The Hilltop Montessori School Children’s House Playground promotes healthy outdoor play and ecological stewardship, while guiding children towards responsible independence.
Goals • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Provides developmentally appropriate challenges for children ages 3-6. Promotes safe, joyful, cooperative play. Inspires care of self, community, and the Earth. Is aesthetically pleasing. Is an extension of the indoor prepared learning environment, and facilitates the physical (ex. climbing), cognitive (ex. problem-solving), and social/emotional (ex. sharing) development of the child. Spaces are structured and intentionally designed to allow independence of the child (“Let me do it myself”). Provides multi-sensory experiences that connect children with nature. Allows for many types of movement, including upper and lower body strength-building and gross motor skill development (e.g. running, hopping, hanging, balancing, pedaling, swinging, climbing, and sliding) Includes a number of different types of spaces, including shade areas, sunny areas, and areas for individual play and group play. Increases the topography—is a three dimensional landscape. Allows for continual revision and redesign after initial installation based on observation of the children by teachers. Incorporates elements of permaculture in education and maintenance plans (example: for every function, many elements; for every element, many functions). The design process, playground development, and ongoing maintenance inspire community engagement and become a model for other educational institutions. Brings delight and learning opportunities to adults as well as CH students.
Specific Objectives • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Has a permanent shade structure Is enclosed all the way around, so that children cannot run into the parking area Unimpeded sight lines allow for easy oversight by two or three adults Adheres to recommended child safety standards (equipment spacing, materials, railing spacing, heights, etc.) Children have access to water (not necessarily potable) Includes a space for storing outdoor play equipment and tools Children can ride tricycles and pull each other in wagons and sleds Children can construct, deconstruct, and rearrange part of the play environment Three or four children can swing at the same time Mud and ice build-up caused by poor drainage is eliminated Natural building materials are used preferentially and materials are sourced on-site as much as possible Provides shelter from southwest winds—perhaps an earthen berm along the south edge of the playground? Climbing structures have multiple exits and entrances
• • • • • •
Log elements provide opportunities for tunneling, hopping, and balancing Low hanging/monkey bar element Paths meander and are organic in appearance; straight paths are avoided Includes elements for percussive music-making (drums, piano innards, etc) Provides activities during winter/cold (icy weather) Children continue to be challenged by playground as they grow (ex: trapeze, climbing wall, monkey bars for 6-yrolds) • Flora and fauna are compatible with safety concerns such as allergens and poisons. Design decision-making, problem solving, and continuing maintenance are the ultimate responsibility of the Children’s House Playground Stewardship committee. This standing committee consists of Children’s House faculty, the buildings and grounds manager, and interested parents and community members
Appendix 2: Items Provided on the Accompanying CD • Playscape Criteria List -- A spreadsheet with worksheets containing the lists of different playground elements proposed by the Playground Committee, listed by phase, and the cost estimates for Phase I playground elements. • Natural Play Research -- A compilation of research on the value of natural play to child development. • Pergola design -- a description of the design and construction of a simple pergola. • Plant Database, ver. 4 -- A spreadsheet of ~50 plants that are great to introduce children to. • Plant Database Photos -- Photographs of the plants in the database. • Poster -- A digital copy of the poster presented at Grandparent’s Day. • Questions to Other Schools -- A list of questions that were developed by the design team to ask other schools that have designed and built natural playgrounds. • Regulations -- A couple of documents relating to regulations pertaining to natural playgrounds. • References -- Outdoor Play/Learning Links • Surveys -- A folder the contains pdf’s of both the blank survey that was developed for this project, and the three completed surveys that were filled out. • Plans -- The completed plans for the playground, both plan view and axonometric view. • Report -- An electronic copy of this report.
Hilltop Montessori School
Appendices
Children’s House Playscape Appendix 3: Notes from the January 28th Design Charrette There were three tables represented during the charrette, and the notes from each table are compiled below. At the very bottom is a ‘Feedback Cloud’ created by design team member Sean Walsh. It is a graphic representation of all ideas that emerged from the 1/28 charrette process and depicts the relative weight of each idea based on number of times it was mentioned, as well as relationships between ideas. Note that this charrette was not exclusively for the playground. The day was split between three school projects, the others being the barn renovation and a solar array for the school, with a strong emphasis on fundraising. The playground charrette period was relatively short and was accompanied by two Powerpoint presentations.
Table 1 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
windy paths – tricycle, walk, run, sled, ski, snowshoe built in slide build up hills water – running – wind turbine open area – ball skills, etc. PE? Sand box type area perennial bed – beauty Brattleboro Gardening Club edible stuff supervisory needs willow structures – who maintains? artists yearly Stone wall of climbing structure Stone Trust (dry stone wallers) construction are – build things, pulley, buckets construction company supply shade spaces – vines nooks and crannies – with natural materials seating areas windbreaks reusing materials – wood, tires, etc. fire pit → elementary?
Table 2 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
climbing slope with slide in ground patterns of rocks tree stumps – balancing + games boulders to climb willow forts sand box pathways temporary: in grass or snow kids create installations moveable parts for building climbing trees – variety mountains hills collecting things + sorting rocks alone outside space with others individually floating in water ice skating structures of the kind local Native Americans made not all flat border of fruit trees and crabapples salvage parts from the barn hollow log – hiding places semi-permanent works that comments on environment that kids can create berm – built-in slide, climbing shade classroom interchangeable parts zipline plants – indigenous, edible, fun to play with frogs + animals rocks wood fired oven fire pit for campfire style singing Elementary & Middle School playscapes: climbing walls and slide built into slopes willow structure + living forts music/tonal areas, tiles, structures benches + gazebos boulders
• • • • •
fruit trees bordering areas free art space / mural space / changeable zipline shade classroom wood-fired oven
Table 3 • • • • • • • • • • • •
wheelbarrows bike path low swings low ropes course zipline building fairy houses birds nest-building hill feature / sunken area building with natural material water peace/beauty/shade some things in nature are very strong – vines growing up trees, rock fort • opportunity to climb – trees, rocks • monkey bars • animals: goats, chickens, ducks
• • • •
middle-schoolers project? family involved, esp. outside school time found object music/sound installation opportunity for older students to looks for things and contribute to children’s house childhood experiences – exploration on my own – not tightly supervised – in natural, safe space. • discovering things other people ignore • differences in grade/topography This graphic represents a drawing that accompanied the work of Table 3:
Feedback Cloud for the 1/28/12 Children’s House design charrette:
Hilltop Montessori School
Children’s House Playscape Appendix 4: Notes From The March 26th Playground Committee Design Meeting Hilltop Montessori School Design Meeting Notes We had an excellent and very productive design meeting in the Quite Room. Eleven people in attendance contributed to a lively discussion of Children’s House playscape needs and design elements. After reviewing layers of analysis and familiarizing ourselves to the constraints and opportunities of the site, we dove into alternative site designs. Participants used construction paper to make to-scale mock-ups of site elements, and negotiated arranging the elements in relation to one another and the space. Some of the great ideas about playground elements that came up include: • planting a young tree and pinning it sideways so that it grows a crooked trunk to serve as a play feature in the future (See photo in Appendix 9) • a soccer ball barrier with a gong as a backstop • piano guts strung in a way to serve as a musical feature • a rain cistern that gravity feeds to a high point for water feature play • piles of boulders that create mini caves for looking into and exploring with the eyes • boulders + sandbox for soft landings • open ended ‘organic’ building blocks, inspired by driftwood • herb spiral • scent garden • herb labyrinth • porous pavers to resist frost heave • benches with storage cubbies outside the Quiet Room • shed for storing tricycles and construction materials, rectangular shape take less interior space • shaded seating and hang-out space near Greenhouse to promote more Greenhouse interaction • bird houses, bat houses • butterfly garden, monarch butterfly houses • naming of playscape areas such as ‘little village’ and ‘splash garden’ More great ideas about process: • A prominently displayed board with the finalized playground displayed and a wishlist of elements that people can contribute funds or energy into buying/building • Workshops where people can come learn interesting topics in exchange for their help in the implementation of a playground feature. • The design team should consider a seasonal analysis of how the playscape will function in summer and winter.
Appendices
Hilltop Montessori School
Appendices
Children’s House Playscape Appendix 5: Notes from The Meetings with Teachers & Students
• •
Meeting with Teachers:
•
• Melissa said that the most important aspect of the Montessori system is that all activities be “set up for success.” By this she means that students feel good about themselves after engaging in an activity, that the activities promote empowerment and self-esteem. Students are not tempted to partake in forbidden activities. We talked about how some children’s activities inherently do this, and others do the opposite. • Bring Montessori philosophy & curriculum out into the playscape. • Other characteristics that are to be encouraged in the students are: independence, responsible choice, and safety. • The concept of ‘visual boundaries’ was discussed, i.e. mechanisms or features in the playground that alert the students to rules and limits. An example was that the top of a hill feature could be a boundary -- children may not go over the edge of the hill and out of view. These “visual cues” should help “set students up for success” by providing a clear structure that makes rules and intended actions clear and obvious. • Cheryl described having a berm on the southern edge of the playground to create a boundary there as well as a play feature. • We asked the teachers how much flat, open space they need in the playground. Their response was “enough to play duck, duck, goose.” We interpret this to mean a circle or square roughly 30’ in diameter, as a minimum. • Regarding shed/storage space, the teachers could not give a specific square footage needed, but mentioned the following items that need storage: tricycles, bikes, wagons, wheelbarrow. Everything needs a place to live. We also learned that it would be best to decentralize toy storage so that all of the students are not crowding around one door at the beginning of recess trying to get their toys out. Some things need to be closed up. Be careful of hinges that may pinch! • Loose parts building materials: hollow blocks, large lincoln logs, notched crooked logs, pavers, bricks • Capacity: 40 students, max. • We saw a ‘zone chart’ on the wall of the Quiet Room that depicts areas of responsibility of staff supervising the current playground. We had a discussion about how staff supervise children, and the need for every portion of the playground to be visible to staff. This presented us with a design constraint of creating nothing in the middle of the playground that would impede the sight-lines of the staff. Importance of clear sight lines. Three teachers need to be able to cover entire playground in “zone-defense.” • Suggestion: Pavers of different textures to make pathways. It would be great if the place where the children line up to exit the playground had pavers about 1’x1’ in size, spaced about 6”-1’ apart for the students to line up on. Test spacing! • Suggestion: A tunnel and bridge vs. a big mound or hill. Any hills in the playground do not have to be too tall, 3-4’ high would provide ample height to allow climbing and rolling. A bridge to go under as well as over would be wonderful. Perhaps with hanging/climbing elements on both levels. • Suggestion: Tall mounds of hills could be at the edge of the playground, with a slide built into the hillside. • Suggestion: a (non-drinking) fountain at the top of a water feature, with a bench or benches to watch. (Note from designers: if we do incorporate a pond feature with standing water in the playground, it might be good to have bench(es) close to it for staff to sit on, and to make sure that the water is visible from everywhere that staff might be stationed during recess.) The water flow through the playground should be shaded so as to reduce overheating of the water, which would diminish biological diversity. • The teachers would very much like the playground to have water in it, as well as sand and mud. There could easily be a plan for everyone to have boots so as to be able to play in the water/mud and then change back into dry shoes afterwards.
• •
• • •
SHADE! The need for this was emphasized, and we have heard it from others as well, including the children. Re Rain: Some sort of roof structure would be good to provide a space for students and staff when it’s raining. The teachers said that students go out in almost any weather, up to a heavy rain. Gross motor skills development is important -- paths for pushing trucks, climbing, balance structures. These do not have to be too tall, 6” would be adequate. Could be log rounds and/or a labyrinth. Textures: it would be good to have different textures in the landscape. (Note from designers: how about rocks with different textures gathered from nearby geological structures?) “Room Helpers” -- these are volunteer parents who take on very specific tasks in different classrooms. The teachers wondered if room helpers might be assigned to the playground stewardship committee to help with ongoing maintenance and development. The Head of School facilitates the Hilltop Parent Association that coordinated these room helpers. Fine motor skills: playground elements that help in developing these, too, would be good. Cheryl talked about their desire to have a ‘Zen Garden,’ possibly right outside the doorway to the Quiet Room, possibly with a wheelbarrow to help with upper body strength development. Students exit the school to the playground by lining up in the Quiet Room when they are appropriately dressed. When 2/3 are ready they are allowed out. It was noted that they re-enter the school by lining up in front of the fence gate, and then going around to the main entrance and in. The reason for this was to avoid dirty shoes tramping through the quiet room. It was wondered if there might be shoe/boot storage incorporated into the covered space immediately outside of the quiet room, with benches, for shoe changing.
Meeting with Willow Room Students:
• tire swing (the ‘spinny’ multi-axis kind): low, possible to get hurt • “I like getting dizzy” • 2+ swing sets, not too close • practice flips on trapeze • swinging on the Red House • racecar - pedals, steering wheel, seat belt, breaks, stop signs, rules, keys or drivers licenses • sand & woodchip stay separate • bring aquarium tank to the pond to catch fish and tadpoles in nets • castle/fort • slide (into water) • nets, buckets, fishingpoles, goggles for water • Spongebob house • no sharks • favorite plant: blueberries x2, black raspberries, raspberries x2, money plant, apples, strawberries, maple, rose, lavender, rosemary
Meeting with Birch Room Students:
• tree house with elevator & slide • face house: in through the nose, look out the eyes, climb out the ears • beaver dam/lodge: water running through it, might need flashlight! • bridge between structures • multiple swings • path for trucks & wagons & racecars • sugar shack cloud machine • pirate ship • no sharks! • don’t swim in lightning • boots or watershoes for playing in water • slide into water • climbing wall: bigger, taller than current one • stream: 2ft wide, 2ft deep, removable dam, bridge over
Hilltop Montessori School
Appendices
Children’s House Playscape Appendix 6: Resource List The following annotated list of natural/ecological playground organizations and resources was compiled by Hilltop Montessori School Playground Committee member Rosie Wojcik. • http://msbarbarasblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/our-top-5-outdoor-musical-activities.html - outdoor musical activities, the first one is a wooden xylophone and there's a link to an instructional page for a how to. In the comments is a link to a blog I'd come across before (titled "I'm a teacher, get me OUTSIDE here! : The emergency exit to outdoor learning...") which linked back to her blogposts on musical instruments in outdoor playspace, the last post also has a roundup of links to similar posts on other blogs: http://creativestarlearning.blogspot.com/ search/label/outdoor%20musical%20instruments • http://www.teachpreschool.org/2012/03/outdoor-adventures-with-rope/ - blogpost about using rope with preschoolers. Also some links at the end of the post to ideas for storage of small parts for use in outdoor play areas. This also reminded me of an activity we saw on vacation last summer that Marian enjoyed for learning and practising tying knots. I'll look for a photo – found and added to dropboxfolder (BayOfFundy2011-Knots). • Found this Australian blog which is mostly about musical stuff for children (outdoors), but this blogpost about an amazing "naturescape" in Perth: http://childsplaymusic.com.au/2012/02/02/the-best-playground-in-perth-thenaturescape/ I like the "tangle" made with rope which made me think again about the ropes as in the link above, if we didn't want a permanent rope structure up could we have a box of materials that would allow the children to create a small tangle/maze/obstacle course during recess? Would we need to have some posts/tree trunks that could be used to wrap the rope around, could they be multipurpose? • pinterest good place to look for visual ideas eg: http://pinterest.com/mamabare42/early-childhood-outdoorlearning-environments/ • http://momenttomomentdk.blogspot.com/2011/10/childrens-garden-in-making.html - blogpost with a teepee structure that's sturdy enough to be climbable but also they're growing plants up it. It could serve different functions at different times of year. Could grow beans/peas/nasturtiums/morning glories in growing season (use few enough plants that it would still be able to be seen through), and outside of growing season climb on when safe, but also could weave ribbon or similar around it perhaps. Saw other examples of less sturdy teepee structures with plants trained up but one section left completely open and used as a little shelter/den - perhaps if planted at the outskirts of play area with opening facing center wouldn't matter so much if the plants were denser around the other sides? Also saw a ribbon tent which gives the representation of a tent but view through not obstructed: http://pinterest.com/pin/188517934371769533/ (this was made with crepe paper strips but could be done with a more durable type of ribbon.) • http://busybeedaycare.homestead.com/Photos.html - photos from a daycare with lots of outdoor play happening including a large chalkboard attached to fence and a few music/noise activities. • http://playgroundology.wordpress.com/ “PlayGroundology scours the web for all things bright, beautiful and occasionally tarnished in the world of playgrounds. You'll find posts here about design, art, civic engagement, history, equipment old and new, photography, advocacy groups, bloggers and oddities.” • http://www.aahperd.org/headstartbodystart/ - “At Head Start Body Start National Center for Physical Development and Outdoor Play (HSBS), we are dedicated to promoting physical activity, outdoor play and healthy lifestyles for young children and their families. “Our website is full of resources and ideas to help you bring active play and meaningful movement to your Head Start or early childhood program. Parents will also find activities and tools to inspire creative, movement-based play and healthy food choices at home. “So, what are you waiting for? Let's PLAY!” • http://www2.cambridgema.gov/cdd/cp/parks/common/index.html - “Photos and info from the Alexander W.
•
•
• • • • • •
Kemp Playground Renovation at Cambridge Common, MA The playground design is a landscape of hills, valleys, sand, wooden branches and stumps, living plant material, and loose wooden blocks to build with. It is a place where kids can invent their own forms of play. Many features are made from naturally decay-resistant wood. Slides are embedded into hills. Turning a crank sends water cascading down a series of tables into the sand area. There is a swing set for toddlers, a multidirectional dish-shaped swing that can be used by several children at once, a see-saw with multiple seats at each end for groups of children (or adults), and a “merry-go-round” that is at ground level to provide wheelchair access.” (Healthy Parks and Playgrounds Initiative - http://www2. cambridgema.gov/cdd/cp/parks/healthy/index.html ) http://www.childrenandnature.org/ “WHAT: Let’s G.O.! (Get Outside) “Let’s G.O.! is a youth-inspired, youth-led Children & Nature Network initiative to rally people of all ages to Play, Serve and Celebrate. This year, we’ll take another giant step toward creating healthy communities! Participate and spread the word! “WHEN: All of April 2012 “WHO: You and Your Community! “We’re encouraging intergenerational groups of people to get outside together to be active, have fun, and connect with nature. Families, teachers, students, mentors, grandparents and grand friends— and especially children and youth—are invited to participate.” http://childrenandnature. ning.com/group/letsgo http://www.playengland.org.uk/ “Our purpose is to ensure that children and young people in England have the space and opportunity to play freely as part of their daily lives, at school and other services, at home, and throughout the public realm... “We also give advice and support to anyone involved in the strategic development of children's play.” (associated site: http://loveoutdoorplay.net/) http://greenplayproject.co.uk/blog/ http://www.naturalplaygrounds.com/links.php http://rethinkingchildhood.com/2012/03/07/playground-safety/ http://creativestarlearning.blogspot.com/2012/03/wild-about-this-space.html?spref=fb http://sunflowercreativearts.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/risk_safety/ http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2012/03/politics-playgrounds-history/1480/
Hilltop Montessori School
Children’s House Playscape
Appendices
Appendix 7: Rain Garden References Vermont Rain Garden Manual
http://www.vermontconservation.org/images/stories/vtraingardenmanual.pdf (20 pgs.)
The Vermont Rain Garden Manual “Gardening to Absorb the Storm”
Helping to protect and restore Vermont’s rivers and lakes.
Rain Garden at the Covered Bridge on Route 30 in Dummerston, VT
Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District
Vermont Rain Garden Manual - Plant List
http://www.vermontconservation.org/images/stories/vtraingardenmanual.pdf ( 4 pgs.) The Vermont Rain Garden Plant List This plant list contains 150 plants that are suitable for Vermont rain gardens. These plants can be placed in any part of your rain garden with success. However, some plants will be more successful in the wetter or drier sections of your garden. Therefore, when de‐ signing the garden, be aware of each plant’s ideal soil conditions and place in the garden accordingly. This plant list includes three separate tables: 1) Ferns, Grasses, and Perennials, 2) Shrubs, and 3) Trees. Each table provides categories specific to the needs of each type of plant. An explanation of the plant list categories are provided below.
Plant List Categories
Ferns, Grasses, & Perennials (suitable for all hardiness zones in VT) Latin Name
Common Name
Tolerant Mature to Salt Height
VT Native
Exposure
Seasonal Pollinators Interest
Athyrium filix‐femina Deparia acrostichoides
Lady Fern Silver False Springwort
Dryoptera filix‐mas x marginalis Vermont Wood Fern
x
x
1‐3'
PSH/SH PSH/SH
Light‐green, finely‐divided fronds, can tolerate full sun if kept moist
Fronds have a silvery sheen when young
1‐3'
Ostrich Fern
x
3‐5'
PSH/SH
Medium‐green, feathery fronds (hence common name)
Sensitive Fern
x
1‐3'
PSH/SH
Bright green fronds, leathery triangular leaflets, drought sensitive
x
2‐3'
PSH/SH
Matteuccia struthiopteris
Cinnamon Fern
PSH/SH
Onoclea sensibilis Osmunda cinnamomea
1‐3'
Hybrid between Marginal Wood Fern and Male Fern
F
Yellow‐green erect fronds, cinnamon color fibers near frond base, can tolerate full sun if kept moist
Osmunda claytoniana
Interrupted Fern
x
1‐4'
PSH/SH
Broad fronds "interrupted" in the middle by spore‐bearing leaflets, can tolerate full sun if kept moist
Osmunda regalis
Royal Fern
x
2‐3'
PSH/SH
F
Broad fronds, large well separated leaflets, brown tassel‐like fertile clusters, can toler‐ ate full sun if kept moist
Polystichum acrostichoides
Christmas Fern
x
Evergreen, leathery, lance‐shaped fronds, fountain like clumps, full sun ok if kept moist
Thelypteris noveboracensis
VT Native: X = Yes Using plants native to Vermont is recommended when planting a rain garden (or any garden). Native plants require less watering, fertilizing, and overall maintenance and care as they have adapted to and thrive in Vermont’s climate. Tolerant to Salt: X = Yes Salt can injure plants by scorching leaf margins, ulti‐ mately leading to leaf drop, poor vigor, or death. No plant is immune to salt damage but some plants are more tolerant than others. Plants may accumulate salt from the soil over a number of years without re‐ vealing any overt sign of the problem until the accu‐ mulation reaches a toxic level. In winter, the road salt ‐ ice water solution is whipped into fine droplets by passing vehicles and may be carried considerable distances by the wind. When selecting plants to in‐ stall along paved roads, sidewalks, or in areas where snow runoff might become an issue, choose species that are tolerant of salt. Mature Height: This is the height that the plant will reach when ma‐ ture if planted in its ideal conditions. Exposure: FS = Full Sun; PSH = Part Shade; SH = Shade Exposure refers to the amount of light a plant will receive. Plants assigned “full sun” (FS) should re‐ ceive at least one‐half day of sun meaning at least six hours or more of direct sunlight. Plants assigned “partial shade” (PSH) should receive full or dappled shade during the hottest part of the day or 4‐6 hours of direct sun. Plants assigned “shade” (SH) should be protected from the sun, with no or little direct sun exposure, usually less than 2 hours.
Comments
FERN
1‐3'
PSH/SH
W
New York Fern
x
1‐2'
PSH/SH
F
Agrostis stolonifera
Creeping Bentgrass
3‐5'
FS
S
Andropogon gerardii
Big Bluestem
x
3‐7'
FS
F/W
BM
Yellow‐green fronds that grow in tufts, can form ground cover
GRASS
3‐4'
Side‐oats Grama Grass
1.5‐2.5'
Calamagrostis acutiflora
Feather Reed Grass
x
3‐5'
FS
Carex flacca
Andropogon virginicus
Blue Sedge
6‐8”
FS/PSH
x
1‐1.5’
FS/PSH
Sp
Bouteloua curtipendula
Carex flaccosperma
Bushy Broomsedge
S/F S/F
Good as specimen plant, tolerates clay soils
Sp
Forms a mat of gray‐blue foliage, very drought tolerant
Ideal for growing in masses or meadows, orange golden color, graceful Ideal for growing in masses or meadows, bright purple flowers
Slow spreading blue‐green textured leaves
x
2‐3’
PSH
S
Pale green spiked seed heads
x
2‐3'
PSH/SH
S
Subtle yellow variegation, showy seeds, can tolerate full sun if kept moist
Carex vulpinoidea
Fox Sedge
x
x
1‐3'
FS/PSH
S
Not showy
Cinna latifolia
Drooping Woodreed
x
Juncus effusus
Common Rush
Gray Sedge
FS FS
Carex muskingumensis ‘Oehme’ Variegated Palm Sedge
Carex grayi
Blue Wood Sedge
Not showy Purple, good for erosion prevention due to large root system
x
1‐5'
FS/SH
S/F
Not showy
x
2‐3’
FS/PSH
Sp/S/F
small, non‐showy yellowish cymes in summer
Panicum virgatum
Switch Grass
x
x
3‐6'
FS
Sp/S/F
Quick growing, spring wild life cover
Schizachyrium scoparium
Little Bluestem
x
x
3‐4'
FS
F
Turns reddish orange in fall, loose clusters
Sorghastrum nutans
Indiangrass
x
4‐6'
FS/PSH
S/F
BM
Sweetflag
x
2‐4'
FS
S
B/BM
Red Baneberry
PSH
Sp
Golden‐brown
PERENNIAL Acorus americanus Actaea rubra
Vertical interest
x
x
1‐3'
White flowers, berries are toxic
Agalinis purpurea
Purple False Foxglove
x
3‐6'
FS
S
B
White, red, purple flowers
Agastache foeniculum
Lavender Hyssop
2‐4'
PSH
S
BM
1.5‐2.5'
Alchemilla mollis
PSH
Sp
L
Yellow‐chartreuse flowers
Allium cernuum
Nodding Onion
x
1‐3'
FS
Sp
B
Pink flowers, edible fruit
Amorpha canescens
Leadplant
2‐4'
FS/PSH
S
BM
Purple flowers, favorite of deer, rabbit and livestock
Anemone canadensis
Windflower
x
x
1‐2'
PSH
Sp
B/L
Pure white blossoms, tuber
Aquilegia canadensis
Columbine
x
x
1‐2'
FS/PSH
Sp/F
BM
Showy red and yellow, beautiful foliage
Arisaema triphyllum Aruncus dioicus
Lady's Mantle
Blue flowers, self seeds readily
Jack‐In‐The‐Pulpit
x
Goatsbeard
x
Asarum canadensis
Wild Ginger
x
Asclepias incarnata
Swamp Milkweed
x
2'
PSH/SH
Sp Sp
5'
PSH
0.5‐1’
PSH/SH
Sp
L
2‐3'
FS/PSH
Sp/S/F
B/BM
B/BM
White flowers, poisonous to cattle White flowers, plant males with females for better bloom Purple=brown cup‐shaped flower, ginger aroma Orange, suitable for a dry or wet garden
The Vermont Rain Garden Manual 11
Hilltop Montessori School
Appendices
Children’s House Playscape Appendix 8: Plant Database Exceptional Plants for Teaching Children -- Database Common Name TREES Beech, dwarf or weeping Elm, Camperdown Harry Lauder's walking stick Mullberry, weeping
Sensitive plant
Latin Name
Function
Fagus sylvatica Hideaway tree; ornamental 'Tortuosa' or 'Pendula' Ulmus glabra Hideaway tree; ornamental 'Camperdownii' Corylus avellana Hideaway tree; interesting 'cordata' branch/twig structure; nuts (?) Morus alba 'Chaparral' Hideaway tree; edible fruit; food or 'Pendula' for the silkworm; used in Chinese medicine; performing plant Mimosa pudica Performing plant; attractive flowers and fruit
Photo
* * * *
*
Smoke tree
SHRUBS Bayberry
Cotinus obovatus
*
Vaccinium spp.
Butterfly bush
Buddleja davidii
Calycanthus spp.
Fixes nitrogen; craft - fruit contains wax; wildlife birdfood; aromatic - leaves; play prop - berries Edible berries; colorful fall foliage; wildlife - food Insectiary esp. butterflies; attractive long, purple flowers are aromatic (smell like honey); interesting texture; Aromatic - entire plant; attractive flowers;
*
*
*
* Willow, basket
Salix vimnalis
Willow, goat
Salix caprea
Willow, pussy
Salix discolor
Living structures; basketry; crafts Texture - 1" long pinkish-gray catkin like stiff suede; forage; medicinal - salicin; dried flowers; seasonal - spring harbinger Texture - 1.5" long silver-gray catkin sofy/silky; medicinal aspirin derived from; seasonal; dried flowers; forage
HERBS & PERENNIALS Anise Hyssop Agastache foeniculum Tea leaves; aromatic; insectary; seeds attract birds in winter Balloon flower Platycodon grandiflorus Performing plant; big blue or white flowers that look like balloons before opening up; edible root; used in Chinese medicine Bee balm Monarda sp. Attractive flowers; attracts hummingbirds & butterflies; shade; used in Native American medicine including as an antiseptic (used in many mouthwashes); aromatic leaves Carnation (clove Dianthus caryophyllus Aromatic; attractive flowers pink or cottage or plumarius pink)
Chamomile
Chives
Compass plant
Notes
Smooth bark; shallow or even superficial roots; holds its leaves through the winter; good for climbing Susceptible to beetle damage and, more rarely, Dutch elm disease A dwarf cultivar of the common hazelnut tree with curly-cue branches and twigs Fast growing but generally short lived; fruit is blander than the red or black mulberry trees; shoots its pollen out at tremendous speed; birds like the fruit; livestock like the leaves A creeping annual or perennial herb often grown for its curiosity value: the compound leaves fold inward and droop when touched or shaken, re-opening minutes later; hardy to zone 10 or indoors; fixes nitrogen; likes full sun, high humidity & temp. >65°F; allow to dry between waterings; may be mildly toxic to some; susceptible to spider mites
Hardy to zone 3; a striking, charismatic shrub/tree that really stands out; to 15' tall; flowers turn to smoke in summer; seasonal interest: some spp. with bright fall color; prefers dry, infertile soil - drought tolerant; sap is mildly toxic
Echinacea pupurea
Cup plant
Silphium perfoliatum
Medicinal root; insectary; attractive Performing plant - leaves catch water; edible leaves; attractive flowers; medicinal properties Impatiens Impatiens sp. Performing plant - seeds scatter when touched; medicinal properties - bee & bug sting, poison ivy Jerusalem artichoke Helianthus tuberosus Attractive flowers; edible tubers; visual barrier; medium-sized yellow flowers Lambs ear Stachys byzantina Interesting color - silvery; texture - soft and fur-like; medicinal - antibacterial properties; leaves can be eaten Lavender Lavendula sp. Aromatic; attractive flowers; medicinal properties; dried flowers can be made into bouquets or potpourris or used in tea Lemon balm Melissa officinalis Tea leaves; aromatic; dynamic accumulator of nutrients; edible/culinary; many medicinal properties Mignonette Reseda sp. Highly aromatic; root can be used as a yellow dye; flowers used in perfumes and potpourris Mints Mentha x piperita var. Aromatic; edible/culinary
*
Likes full sun; can tolerate wet feet; cut back above ground parts in fall
Honey suckle
Very large plant; indigenous; good for fodder; produces a resin
Aromatic; attractive flowers; ground cover; used in folk medicine as a relaxant; other medicinal uses Allium schoenoprasum Edible/culinary; acts as an insect repellant (Japanese beetles) and insecticide; attractive pink flowers; Silphium laciniatum Performing plant - align their foliage north - south to present the minimum surface area to the hot noon sunshine; used in Native American herbal medicine
*
Many species of shrub, some deciduous some evergreen; dioecious; hardy to zone 4; berry wax used to make candles; grows in poor soil; a fragrant essential oil can be extracted from the leaves; drought tolerant Blooms April; berries in July; antioxidants; water after planting every other day August-November; amend with sulfur once every 2-3 years to keep soil acidic (if needed); drought tolerant Vigorous shrub with an arching habit; can grow to 16'; pale brown bark becomes deeply fissured with age, branches are quadrangular in section; >100 cultivars and many hybrids, some dwarf; flowers best on new growth; flowers hermaphroditic; hardy to zone 5 Hardy to zone 6; magnificent maroon to dark-purplish flowers in early summer; aroma is said to be pleasantly spicy and is found on bark and twigs (camphor/cinnamon) vs. flower (bubblegum); likes rich, well drained soil in a sun or partial shade with moisture; makes large, yellow fruit-capsules in late summer; grows 6-13' tall Best if planted in winter - 4-6" deep, 8-12" apart; water for the first year; trim branches at eye level to prevent injury A deciduous shrub or small tree to 30' tall; flowers are soft silky, silvery catkins produced in early spring before leaves appear; dioecious; good forage for goats; pure spp. does not root from cuttings but most hybrids do; the wood is brittle
Scarlet runner bean
*
*
*
**
*
Genus that includes jewel weed and touch-me-not that have the characteristic of acting in an unusual way when touched, such as scattering of seeds; foliage looks unusual when held under water; some sp. mildly toxic
Trumpet vine
4-10 ft. tall, robust plant that fills a space easily and therefore needs to be contained to prevent spreading. Requires little care and produces abundant tubers.
Wisteria
Nasturtium
Obedient plant
Lunaria annua
Tropaeolum sp.
Physostegia virginiana
Performing plant; attractive flowers
Oregano
Origanum vulgare
Culinary
Rosemary
Rosmarinus officinalis
Aromatic; many culinary and medicinal uses; performing plant
A weak-wooded deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 20' tall; native to N. America; dioecious; catkins appear early in spring; sprigs with catkins can be brought in at winter's end and forced
Its oil can be harvested and used for antiseptic or aromatic purposes, esp. Lavendula angustafolia; flowers used culinarily. Prefers dry, sunny, well drained sandy to gravelly soils, needs little fertilization, mulch or watering; attracts insects; many varieties; blooms late spring to late summer Make a tea with leaves to uplift the mood; anti-viral; cut back above ground parts in fall; leaves have a gentle lemon scent; small white flowers full of nectar appear during summer that attract bees
*
*
**
*
Blooms mid to late summer; many colors of flower available; prefers full sun and moist, well-drained soild; often used to attract pollinating and beneficial predatory insects; acts as the primary food source for a number of indigenous moth sp. in the genus Coleopthorea; native to N. America
Sage, Purple Meadow
Salvia officinalis
Snapdragon
Antirrhinum sp.
*
Chamaemelum nobile
*
*
*
Native to N. America; flowers in June; attract bees; Containing numerous organosulfur compounds such as allyl sulfides and alkyl sulfoxides; thrive in well drained soil, rich in organic matter, with a pH of 6-7 and full sun Perennial herbaceous plant similar in appearance to a sunflower, growing to 3-13 ft. tall; The taproot of the compass plant may grow to more than 9-14 ft. deep, making it hardy and resistant to drought; native to N. America
Attractive and highly fragrant flowers; fragrant leaves; ornamental; medicinal Tea leaves; culinary/edible; medicinal; insectary; aromatic; attractive flowers white to purple Performing plant
Sorrel
Rumex acetosa or scutatus Artemisia dracunculus
Edible leaf with tangy flavor; dynamic accumulator of nutrients Culinary; medicinal properties
* * *
**
**
* *
Thyme
Thymus sp.
Culinary; aromatic; groundcover
VINES Akebia
Akebia quinata
Fragrance: flowers like chocolate; fruit edible; shade; craft - vines used for basket weaving; medicinal - Chinese; texture & play prop - dried pod Edible/culinary fruit; shade; visual barrier Edible/culinary fruit; shade; visual barrier
Grape Hardy kiwi
Vitis sp. Actinidia arguta or kolomitka
Many varieties with special aromatic properties, including: 'candymint' with reddish stems; 'Citrata' that includes a number of varieties including Orange Mint, Eau De Cologne Mint, Grapefruit Mint, with hairless, aromatic leaves, 'Crispa' with wrinkled leaves; 'Lime Mint' with lime-scented foliage; 'Variegata' with mottled green and pale yellow leaves; 'Chocolate Mint' with flowers that open from bottom up reminiscent of the flavor of chocolate mints; 'Pineapple' Biennial; flowers in early spring, seed pods produced the 2nd year; full sun to partial shade; stays green overwinter in the 1st year
**
*
Tarragon Eurasian plant, fringe-petaled flowers, spicy fragrance; two general groups - the border or garden carnations and the perpetual flowering carnations; border carnations include a range of varieties and hybrids 1 - 2.5 feet tall; the flowers come in a wide range of colors, are usually less than 2 inches in diameter and are born on wiry, stiffly erect stems Hardy, sweet-smelling yellow/white flowers; mentioned in Shakespeare's Henry IV: 'The Camomile; The more it is trodden on, the faster it grows;' dwarf varieties
Salvia sclarea
Campsis radicans
Wisteria sp.
*
* *
*
An evergreen twining shrubby vine growing to 7' high; may grow aggressively; cut back only if not wanting it to spread but there's no need to prune; diff. cultivars with a variety of colors; some cultivars' berries are mildly poisonous; these spp. all hardy to zone 5 Annual vine with beautiful flowers and a heavy producer of vegetables & protein (beans); grows to 7'; beans mildly toxic and should be cooked before eating; many varieties Large and vigorous woody vine native to N. America; some cultivars are hardy to as low as -30°F; trumpet-shaped red/orange flowers; grows to 32'; vigorous & usually requires pruning; spreads by seed & could be invasive Can grow to 60' with thick trunk and branches; blooms in early spring in some sp. and late summer in others (the American variety); seed pods poisonous; colors vary; some varieties very cold hardy (to zone 5) & fast growing; can grow in fairly poorquality soils but prefers fertile, moist, well-drained soil and full sun; excess (nitrogen) fertilizer can cause failure to bloom; may take many years to bloom; flowers on previous year's growth, best viewed from below; likely needs pruning; flowers of some varieties are edible but others poisonous
GROUND COVERS Green and Gold
Chamomile Rosemary Variegated leaf Clover
Chrysogonum virginianum
Nectary specialist; groundcover; attractive yellow flowers
Trifolium sp.
(see above in herb section) (see above in herb section) Nitrogen fixer; insectary; medicinal uses; groundcover; attractive foliage
**
*
No maintenance, will spread over time; keep area mulched with leaves, straw etc. until green and gold spreads; indigenous to eastern N. America; best grown in loam/peat; flowers from June to Sept.; hardy to zone 5; 6-9" tall; needs well-drained soil; tolerates moderate foot traffic
If seeded in summer will sprout in spring; children can suck the nectar out of flower parts; will break up compacted soil
OTHER
*
Sage, Clary Use leaves to make iced or sun tea; tastes like licorice; cut back above ground parts in fall. Easy to grow; bloom in profusion mid summer to early fall; drought & insect tolerant; started from seed that sprouts late in spring; perennial to zone 3; deadhead to increase blooms
Performing plant - seedpot is a flat oval that makes a good play money; can be used in dried flower arrangements; attractive purple flower Attractive edible flowers yellow to orange; edible leaves
Phaseolus coccineus
Insectary; semi-evergreen; attractive, aromatic flowers known for attracting hummingbirds Attractive flowers; edible/culinary; shade; attracts hummingbirds Attractive flowers; attracts hummingbirds; shade; bird nest habitat Attractive flowers; shade; fixes nitrogen
Flowers in late spring and early summer; prefer well-drained soils, not too rich; can tolerate partial shade; a number of cultivars have been developed with special characteristics; easy to grow
Propogated by seed sown directly into the garden
*
Money plant
Lonicera sempervirens, periclymenum, heckrottii or fragrantissima
*
Bamboo Myrica spp.
Blueberry, lowbush or highbush
Spiceshrub or Sweetshrub
Feathery flowers that look like smoke; seasonal interest; texture; hideaway tree; play prop - dried flowers
June, 2012
Cone flower
*
Flowers are peppery in flavor; the hardiest variety is T. polyphyllum, down to 5°F; prefer full sun to partial shade; are considered widely useful companion plants repelling pests and attracting benefitial insects Perennial plant grows 4' tall; flowers are on swivels that can be bent right or left on the stem, giving rise to its name; bloom in late July to October; flowers are light purple-pink or white; native to most of the United States Perennial herb; prefers a hot, dry climate; may not live through the winter in VT; many cultivars with unique flavors Woody, perennial herb with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple or blue flowers that bloom in spring or summer; requires very little water; easy to grow and pest resistant; can be pruned to form a topiary; many cultivars with differing properties; can grow tall or act as ground covers with a dense and durable texture; likes friable loam soil best in neutral to alkaline conditions with average fertility and good drainage in an open sunny position but not too much water; not cold hearty Biennial herb with very interesting appearance at many stages of its growth; used to produce essential oils; seeds mucilaginous; flowers also go through different stages with different colors; ht. to 4', leaves to 1' long; grown easily from seed Good for stomach aches; grows to 2'; flowers in late spring or summer; cut back above ground parts in fall
Flowers resemble the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when squeezed; perennial or cold-climate annual; do best in full or partial sun and welldrained soil High in vitamin C (sour) due to oxalic acid; can be eaten directly from plant; cut back above ground parts in fall Perennial herb grows 4-5' tall; bet cultivated from root stock; likes a hot, sunny spot, without excessive watering; some cultivars have a stronger flavor (French) or are hardier ( Russian) than others; tolerates drought & neglect Perennial herbaceous plants and subshrubs to 1.3' tall; many different sp. with varying properties and characteristics -- lemon (Thymus citriodorus)
Woody vine; hardy to zone 4
*
***
*
Many varieties with different flavors, colors, cold hardiness, seed content, etc.; historical/cultural significance A few different varieties with different hardinesses down to zone 4; hairless fruit tarter, sweeter and smaller than regular kiwi but higher in vitamin C; need at least one male plant for pollination; relatively fast growing but >3 yrs. to fruit; bears on 2nd year fruit; pest resistant; considered an opportunist sp. by some; tolerates partial shade; needs well-drained soil but good water supply; fruit has a short shelf life
Many genera & species
Structural elements; crafts; edible/culinary; performing plant - makes sound in a breeze; windbreak and visual barrier; cultural importance (Asian); hideaway spaces Sedum or stonecrop Sedum spp. Interesting texture - dried seed capsule/corymb, & shape succulent; leaves of many spp. are edible; attractive flowers; drought tolerant; groundcover Tufted hair grass Deschampsia cespitosa Performing plant - waves in the wind; ornamental grass; hideaway plant
*
*
*
Classified as a grass, there are many varieties of bamboo that will live in zone 5 exhibiting a multitude of characteristics, colors, textures, heights and shapes; require moisture and decent fertilizer, esp. nitrogen; warning: can be agressive spreaders, should be bounded with deep barriers; prefer full sun; reference & source: http://www.tripplebrookfarm.com/ Many spp. ranging from annual herb to shrub; water-storing leaves & stems; commonly used as a green roof on natural/green buildings; often planted as an ornamental amongst rocks
A cool season/semi-evergreen clump forming grass with medium green foliage 2432"; flowers - bronze, arching in May-June; full sun to light shade; moist fertile soil, but is happy with average soil; tolerates hot, dry conditions with ample water; hardy to zone 3 Copywrite © Tad Montgomery. All rights reserved.
REFERENCES: Plants for Play -- Robin Moore The Edible Schoolyard -- Alice Waters
Landscapes for Learning -- Stine Shared Widsom -- Hines Children & Nature -- Kahn A Child's Garden -- Molly Dannenmaier NOTES: Plant toxicity to humans is a highly complex and variable phenomenon. Care should be taken in choosing plants for playgrounds. For the time being, photos of these plants are in a separate location. As an Excel spreadsheet each of the sections are sortable for any of the listed characteristics.
Hilltop Montessori School
Appendices
Children’s House Playscape Appendix 9: Climbing Trees
COMMON NAME
LATIN NAME
ZONE
SHAPE
SOIL COMPACTION SENSITIVITY
HEIGHT
SPREAD
Beech, American
Fagus grandifolia
3-9
oval
Sensitive
50’to 70’
< Ht.
Elm, Chinese
Ulmus parvifolia
Hackberry, Common
Celtis occidentalis
Maple, Red
Acer rubrum
4-9 2-9 3-9
oval to round
Intermediate
40’ to 50’
round
I
40’ to 60’
oval to round
Resistant
R 40’ to 60’
70’ 40’ to 60’ ¾ Ht.
Maple, Sugar
Acer saccharum
3-8
oval to round
S
60’ to 75’
2/3 Ht.
Oak, Sawtooth
Quercus Acutissima
5-9
oval to round
I
35’ to 45’
35’ to 45’
Oak, White
Quercus alba
5-9
round
S
50’ to 80’
50’ to 80’
Oak, Willow
Quercus pheffos
5-9
oval
R
40’ to 60’
30’to 40’
Pagoda tree, Japanese
Sophora japonica
5-9
spreading
I
50’ to 75’
50’ to 75’
Pine, Japanese Black
Pinus thunbergii
5-8
irregular
R
up to 40’
Variable
Sycamore, Eastern
Platanus occidentalis
round
R
75’ to 100’
Yellowwood
Cladrastis lutea
4-9 3-8
round
S
30’ to 50’
75’ to 100’ 40’ to 55’
Zelkova, Japanese
Zelkova serrata
5-8
vase
R
up to 100’
50’ to 80’
Beech tree
Plants for Play, A Plant Selection Guide for Children’s Outdoor Environments, pg. 30, Robin C. Moore, MIG Communications, Berkeley. 1993.
Weeping Beech
Camperdown Elm
Photo By Rosie Wojcik
Tortuosa Dwarf Beech
Hilltop Montessori School
Children’s House Playscape Appendix 10: Resources for Willow Structures The following annotated list of Willow Structure references and resources was compiled by Hilltop Montessori School Playground Committee member Rosie Wojcik. • http://www.bluestem.ca/living-willow-structures.htm - this has a list of different varieties of willow (including which varieties are hardier). Not much on creation of structures there but there are links to other resources and a book recommendation: Living Willow Sculptures by Jon Warnes. They also say: “Your best and cheapest approach is to purchase cuttings and harvest rods from your own plants. If you start a bundle of 10 cuttings this year, two years from now you will have a yield of approximately 3-6 rods (per plant) of 6-10' in length, depending on the variety and the growing conditions. The following year you will have many more.” • http://www.creativewillow.com/ - this website has an example of a large willow dome built at a primary school. The couple who run this site work with schools a lot and do willow workshops. This is a UK based site – from their contact info it looks as though they live not far from my parents. • http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=588 Royal Horticultural Society page on Willow. Some info on tree sculptures. There’s a link to a page that goes through creating a living dome. It’s done using apple saplings but they say it could be done using willow among other things also. There are also some links at the bottom of the page I didn’t follow yet: http://www.hort.cornell.edu/livingsculpture/tree_sculpture/index.htm • A page on how to create a willow tunnel (the website has an online store for buying living willow but it’s UK based: http://www.kingsbarnfarm.co.uk/living_willow_structures.html They also have some pdf files on planting and care of living willow here: http://www.kingsbarnfarm.co.uk/willow_data_sheets.html • http://www.willowworks.co.uk/html/willow_structures.html • This page shows a few different willow structures with photos of each structure at different stages of growth: http://www.simplywillow.co.uk/willow1/page3.html • This page shows a photo of different colors of willow stems growing from a distance (not in any kind of structure). Links from the left sidebar on this page to examples of different kinds of willow structures – wigwam, dome, “fedges”, tunnels and living chairs/benches (which during leaf season provide their own shade! – see photos below) - http://www.willowkits.co.uk/index.html
Appendices
Hilltop Montessori School
Appendices
Children’s House Playscape Appendix 11: Playground Survey
5. Would you be willing to help with any parts of the project? Do you have special areas of interest or expertise that might be brought to bear?
Children’s House Ecological Playground Survey
PLANNING ☐ collecting tools/materials ☐ delivering questionnaires & tabulating results ☐ surveying neighbors
January, 2012
The Hilltop Montessori School Children’s House Playground promotes healthy outdoor play and ecological stewardship, while guiding children towards responsible independence.
☐ involving the students
Name: __________________________________________ Phone number : __________________ Best time(s) to call: ___________________________
☐ helping with site inventory ☐ organizing the launch or big celebration
Email: ________________________________ I am a:
☐ student
☐ parent
☐ school board member
☐ neighbor
☐ teacher
☐ administrator
☐ alumnus
☐ other: ____________________________
FUNDRAISING ☐ researching & writing funding proposals ☐ organizing an event
☐ community member
1. What would you like the playground to achieve? Who should it serve? How? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 2. What objects do you think should be in the playground? (This could include living and nonliving elements) ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 3. What qualities, features, or patterns in the playground do you particularly like already? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________
☐ donating/collecting used items or auction items ☐ approaching local groups and businesses ☐ creating an adopt-a-tree program ☐ soliciting plants ☐ bookkeeping ☐ suggesting &/or approaching potential donors
PLANTING & IMPLEMENTATION ☐ laying bricks ☐ excavating ☐ planting trees ☐ building bird and toad houses ☐ making shade structure(s) ☐ building seating areas ☐ organizing volunteer work bees ☐ creating pathways
MAINTENANCE ☐ watering, esp. after planting & during summer months ☐ weeding ☐ planting ☐ creating a year-round maintenance schedule ☐ overseeing safety inspections for built structures ☐ edging ☐ harvesting
☐ gardening
☐ collecting seeds
☐ orchestrating artistic elements ☐ building a labyrinth
☐ organizing tools
☐ loaning/operating tractor, excavator, dump truck, pick-up truck
☐ mulching ☐ maintaining a potential waterscape ☐ writing a maintenance log or journal
PUBLICITY & VISUALS ☐ writing articles
OTHER IDEAS
☐ painting signs
______________________
☐ creating murals
______________________
☐ communicating with neighbors ☐ preparing press releases
______________________ ______________________
______________________________________________________________________________
4. Please list any questions or concerns you may have about this project. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________
Tad Montgomery & Associates, Ecological Design
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Please return this survey to Hilltop Front Desk
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