Mobile junk and nature playground in Lyndoch, South Australia | Education

Mobile junk and nature playground

Locality: Lyndoch, South Australia

Phone: +61 429 594 437

Address: jollytown rd 5351 Lyndoch, SA, Australia

Website: http://www.mobilejunkandnatureplayground.com.au

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24.01.2022 https://mobilejunkandnatureplayground.wordpress.com///223/ Getting worn out? Check out this blog.

20.01.2022 Had a great day here last Friday. I love public shows. I get to see adults build cubbies as well for a change

19.01.2022 I have seen some great nature sculptures on FB lately. It has inspired me. Temporary art. It has been documented, now it's ready to be crushed by stickzilla

19.01.2022 Cubbies are the most common stick creations, however, now and then an original idea pops up that I have never seen before. Behold the Magpie nest protector!

17.01.2022 Strange tales out in the field. Today I felt a little naughty and sculptured a mud poo and left it at a kindy for the teachers to find. Just as I placed it (and photographed it) a collection of gentlemen from the men's shed rocked up with a table. I told them I left a little present there for the teachers. They (upon reflection later) made an uncomfortable laugh, delivered the table and left, after informing the teachers of this surprise. I realised, that I failed to mention to the men's shed fella's that I had brought mud to the kindy. I should have said "i left them a little MUD present". I think there must be a group of men out there now who must think the Junk man should be called the 'dump' man.

15.01.2022 Years ago I was at a site and the teacher got totally covered in mud. Well today I caught up with her again and she was getting stuck into the mud again. She said she loves playing with mud. Some literature suggest adults don't play. Play is the domain for kids. That's scary. When is the cut off point. When do we go from wonderous players to disillusioned deflated adults. When I was a kid I didn't think adults played. One day a friend of my dads came over on his large motorbi...ke, and did a massive burnout and donut in the driveway. That was the first time I saw an adult 'play'. I remember thinking, there is hope that I will never stop playing. I think when adults play along side kids, it shows that you are never too old to play. You can be an adult and still find wonder and fun in a great glob of wet dirt. That must be a nice thought to have when you are kid. Growing up is hard without thinking, one day all the wonder and fun will wilt. Power to the adult who still plays. . See more

14.01.2022 Tracking near broken Hill and found T-Rex footprints. Human footprints are next to it to provide scale

14.01.2022 Very interesting. Covid virus suspended in scientist created spit only last 6.8 minutes before the UVB (found in sun rays) inactivates it. This may take longer if it is huge gobs of sticky snot. Lesson would be, play outside, and keep your hands out of great globs of snot. https://academic.oup.com///10.1093/infdis/jiaa274/5841129

13.01.2022 Keep the 13th of September free for a taste of bush school. Fancy poster coming out soon with all the details. We have been very busy with lots of legal and bureaucratic hurdles to jump through. The picture is a little fun way to connect with nature. Follow the leader. Watch this space.

13.01.2022 https://fb.watch/2ydDoeFZP8/ Thanks Niki Buchan for sharing this

13.01.2022 https://www.theguardian.com//the-real-lord-of-the-flies-wh I have said, many times, that watching a large group of kids build forts and start fort wars, reminds me of lord of the flies, except piggsy doesn't die. Well it seems the real lord of the flies group worked out how to get along. I knew it. Even when adults aren't around kids can run a successful and equitable society.

12.01.2022 Just filling my buckets with my special mud dirt. I noticed a webby hole in the dirt pile, and then this groovy wolf spider appeared on my shovel. Nearly scooped her in to the bucket on its way to a childcare centre. I have to consider hazards. Not to the children, but to the spider. It would have been hazardous for the spider to be in the hands of 30 under 4's. It wouldn't have been hazardous to the children because Wolfie's are harmless

12.01.2022 People often ask where I get loose parts from. I never stop looking. take this hot air balloon I scored for instance. All I had to do was get up two hours before dawn most weekends for 6 years, crew for Barossa Valley Ballooning and when the balloon got to old, ask if I could have it, and cut it up into usable strips. I did enjoy ballooning. That would be a lot of work for just snagging cubby material. When you keep your eye open for loose parts they will appear.

10.01.2022 I was at a really cool school the other day. The kids had a real community feel about them. Very chilled. Some girls built this cubby, and purposefully made it over hang on to the footpath. The girls hid behind some bushes and watched as adults walked passed the cubby and had to detour. Everything seemed in very good nature, and none of the local community gave it any mind. Even a 90+ year old hunched over granny detoured around without a care. I had a chat to one of the passing fella's and told him he narrowly missed a trap set by those kids in the bush. He commented on how nice the kids at this school were. We chatted about the concept of community. He reckons, if a neighbourhood has a community feel then the school has a community feel. I reckon he may be right.

10.01.2022 Check this out everyone. Some fantastic speakers on subjects very dear to me. If you want to get an understanding how we learn in nature, and how it can work within a school (or any other learning environment) then this is a must.

10.01.2022 Sacrificing animals on the alter of early education. That sounds really cruel however I have been guilty of it. When a group of 4 year olds discover a millipede I know it will end badly for the millipede. I wait nearby and scaffold the emergent learning, such as "why has it stopped moving when I squeezed the juice out of it", and "look, I have made two millipedes out of one" . I'm not into wanton cruelty, however when learning opportunities arise...... Do you let flies, earwigs and millipedes further the children's understanding of their world? https://mobilejunkandnatureplayground.wordpress.com//sacr/

09.01.2022 Out on my mobile junk bike collecting more junk. All in a days work

09.01.2022 https://mobilejunkandnatureplayground.wordpress.com//fort/

08.01.2022 What he said. RIP Ken

07.01.2022 DEATH TO OVERT CONSUMERISM!! Often when I'm playing with mud I make these little dice. I always tell the kids I can make my own toys from mud. I don't need a toy shop for my fun. I remember talking to a dad from Africa. He told me he use to make all of his toys from mud. They didn't have toy shops and they had lots of ground. Yesterday I was at a school and a girl made her own dice. She said she was going to take it home, and make her own board game. Using mud dice, seed pods bones and sticks. "Nothing from a shop" she exclaimed. Don't let MTA see that or they will package it and sell it to schools. DEATH TO OVERT CONSUMERISM! :) :) :)

07.01.2022 Had a productive meeting with Barb Jones and Ruth Stanton (part of the Acacia bush school group). While we are still working towards a full time independent Bush school we have started to set up a bush school program for term 4 in Balhannah. More details will come out in the coming weeks.But for now I can tell you that myself (Glenn Wagland) and Barb Jones (previous principal of the Upper Sturt bush school) will be working together to deliver outdoor, real world nature based ...education in 30 acres of bush land just outside of Balhannah. As much as I love travelling around to education sites plugging outdoor play-based learning I have always longed to do it in real bush land unhampered by department restrictions. I will still be offering my normal workshops, however a couple of days a week will see me and a group of kids in the bush tracking animals, questioning, building shelters, discovering natures wonders, journaling our progress and basically making sense of our world while still managing to cover all the academic disciplines needed. Exciting times ahead See more

07.01.2022 Twice a year I visit mud mountain and grab a tonne of Clay heavy soil for my mud play. It's perfect for rubbing all over your face, eating, painting, throwing, and making goodies out of.

06.01.2022 On the left is a cubby made by kids when there is unlimited resources. On the right is a tiny doll house size cubby made with very, very, very, very limited resources (a leafy inner suburb park). Funny thing. Both are awesome. Both use a lot of creativity. Infact, I would say the tiny cubby needed more creativity. In the forest it is pretty easy to build a cubby. You just trip over a stick, pick it up and connect it to a bunch of sticks around you. In the super clean inner c...ity park you gotta start getting very creative. Step one. where are the bits and what can I make. Step two. Re-frame my concept of what a cubby is. Can it be for a mouse or fairy, instead of myself? I was talking to an old friend about how constraints can drive innovation and creativity. Something to think about when we are creating learning environments for the kids. Do you have pedagogical reasons for creating constraints? See more

06.01.2022 I was at a site the other day, and a 11 year old girl, had just finished building a cubby in 30 minutes. "What do I do now", she asked with a bored tone.. There was still 3 and a half hours of the session to go. "I reckon you will work something out" I said. 3 and a half hours later, their bird sanctuary they built had attracted a magpie looking for nesting materials, and the local musk lorikeets were eyeing it off looking for tidbits. The three girls who built it created p...erches for visiting birds, a collection of seeds in a cat proof enclosure,, nest boxes and swings for them to play with. It also gave them a reason to notice the bird life nearby, and wonder if they had suitable resources to cater for the needs of the local birds. They wondered about bird diet and habitat, When it was time to pack up they were spewing. "When are you coming back" they asked. "We need to keep working on our bird sanctuary". Who said there is an age limit to play? See more

06.01.2022 My bi-yearly collecting rock trip. I go through two tons a year. I feel sorry for rocks in the loose parts world. Sticks are much celebrated, whereas rocks are normally delegated as garden boarders. The antithesis of loose parts. So un-loose, they are often cemented into place. At one site they were cemented into a wall to resemble an old building. Luckily the kids worked out you could chip away until the rocks were freed of their architect designed resting spot, and given th...eir rightful place in the loose parts world. I have been to some sites where they have given up trying to stifle rocks 'loose parts' potential and let the kids move and manipulate them as they see fit in their never ending quest to make sense of their world through hands on constructivist means. I wonder where your site is on the continuum of rocks as fixed decoration or rocks as a learning tool? See more

05.01.2022 Sometimes when kids create, it is easy to try and identify their creations. I worked out a while back that this often backfires. "Nice boat" I would say. "It's a rocket!" they would reply, with a slight amount of frustration in their voice. "Nice cubby" was another unsolicited announcement of mine. "it's not a cubby" they would fire back "it's a pizza shop!" Well the other day I had to say to some 5 year olds. "that is an awesome train. How many passengers can fit in there with social distancing". "10" was their reply. Their play space was next to a very busy train line. Obviously trains rank high in their play. Kids near beaches play fishing games, kids near farms build holding dams, and these kids do trains. Kids play is always contextual.

05.01.2022 How’s this for an idea. Find a busy place, like a city street, sporting place, or school grounds, then grab some loose parts (sticks, cardboard box, old sheet, truck tarp) and create a small cubby house. Then get inside the cubby house. A few things may happen. One: the passerby’s may stick their head in to see if you are alright (unlikely). Two: passerby’s may call the cops (likely). Three : you may notice you have created another world far from the one that exist outside (i...ncredibly likely). Every time I am invited to get inside a cubby I feel like I have entered a special place (check out David Sobels book Children’s special places). Very little of what happens outside gets through the walls. The rowdy kids, bossy teacher, cold wind, hot sun; it all melts away. It gives the occupants time to chill, or focus on their own needs, and the needs of their special invited group. Even climbing into a 200 litre barrel offers the same escape. The sound of an enclosed space offers a womb like warmth. I was at a very busy site the other day. Fort wars sprung up, children were busy negotiating limited resources, lots of happy engaged excitable kids everywhere. Most of the energy was positive (not forgetting kids are on a continuum of the self-regulation journey). It was very ‘alive’ to say the least. Meanwhile, on the fringes of this society (yet still part of society) inside a beautiful cubby, was a small group chatting about life, the universe and everything. Their world resembled a warm coffee palace on a winters evening. I could almost smell the beans and incense, hear the light pitter patter of rain on the tin roof, as a small fire burns in the corner. I thought I could hear the Maravishnu orchestra piped through the sound system. Very special. I wonder what they would have said to their parents when asked how their day at school was today. See more

04.01.2022 The Border to rural NSW are open so Niki Buchan will be in person at the seminar. Should be good. Tickets are still available.

04.01.2022 I don't normally click videos that have been recommended to me, however this seems right up my alley. Loose parts risky play, African style

02.01.2022 I had a chat to a group of OT students the other day, and mentioned that gender has a role to play when framing how risky play is identified. Please, someone show me a clip of a mum doing this, to prove me wrong :) :) :)

01.01.2022 Just about to start a session at Kapunda primary school. They already have a mass of sticks, unlimited red clay and kids with awesome imaginations. Makes me think....what am I doing here :)