FUN from SCRAP

by Mary Jane Gauen

Everyone did his own thing at Adventure Playground. Making one's own decisions, as well as mistakes, was a built in right guaranteed by leaders who bit their own tongues if necessary in order NOT to make suggestions unless they were specifically requested by the boys and girls themselves. (Photo Credit: Mary Jane Gauen)

"Make Do" makes for fun.

During the summer the Evanston Recreation Department tested out an idea that "junk" materials, when combined with discreet leadership and supervision, stimulates some children to undertake imaginative projects that generate more excitement than that derived from a well-equipped park playground.

The innovative "Adventure Playground" worked well as an alternative choice for youngsters registering to participate in Evanston's more traditional summer playgrounds.A fairly isolated public park area located well off the street and away from a residential area, was selected. The aim was to avoid any possible criticism from residents about "creating an eyesore" or "noise pollution" near private homes. Adjacent athletic fields and a park shelter also provided possible "change of pace" activities. The secluded spot lent participants an intensified feeling of "pioneering" and a greater sense of freedom to "express themselves."

A leader, upon request, lends a helping hand with the girls' fort in the foreground while the "boys" confer about the next addition to "their" fort a short distance away. (Photo Credit: Elliot McCleary)

The initial morning found the boys testing out the new tools and shortly thereafter deeply involved in building together as a team without any direction from the leaders and with a minimal amount of conversation between themselves. That same day the girls, working a few yards away, spontaneously began a doll house. During the second sessions both sexes became preoccupied with erecting independent "forts." Interaction between boys and girls presented no difficulties, although there was a tendency toward segregation. They shared tools harmoniously and when they did work together, did so without arguments.

In researching the summer project in advance, the staff gleaned ideas from a pilot project undertaken in Champaign, Ill., the prior summer and those successfully conducted in Europe and in Japan. They learned that in various countries children had erected unorthodox curving slides, land-locked pirate ships, nonmoving dry land vehicles, ladder-high platforms, maze-like jungles of wood and scrap and, most often, club houses or forts.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 24 July/August, 1975

A basic rule observed by the leaders of the Evanston effort was to permit children to experiment by building anything they wanted in any way they chose, offering no advice and direction unless specifically solicited. Only if the children were in danger of injuring themselves or others would the leaders intervene. An overnight in the "forts" evolved as a special event for each session. Youngsters brought a ground cloth, sleeping bags and food to be cooked over a campfire at night. The Department treated with a sausage and flapjack "cookout" the next morning. Scrap supplies were forthcoming from various segments of the community after a plea went out for "wood, tools, nails, paint, paper, boxes, glue, wooden tubs, ladders, ropes, packing crates, barrels, old tires and other scrap." Some also were acquired when a Recreation Department pickup truck proceeded the City's Street Department vehicles down alleys on Spring Clean-up Day. Some tools and a wheelbarrow were lent by the Evanston Park Department. A supply of hammers and 100 pounds of nails (all used) were purchased.

Occasionally youngsters elected to intersperse building efforts with a hike, softball, Slip and Slide or a rousing game of Capture the Flag on nearby mounds of dirt. On the hottest days they sometimes spent time in the shelter of the "forts" playing quiet games.

The Adventure Playground proved to be a "wonderland" for independent, self-motivated children who previously have felt stiffled by close supervision. However, the program is not a "cure-all" that appeals to all children.

For the Evanston Recreation Department, the Adventure Playground proved to be a happy "transplant" from other climes and staff members express their thanks to colleagues who pioneered "fun-from-scrap."

Illinois Parks and Recreation 25 July/August, 1975