The Joy to Be Found in a Pile of Pots
Feeling a little stir crazy after consecutive days of rain, Immy and I headed out for a walk to a local park. We live in an area with a lots of little parks, most with some green space to run, garden beds and a small piece of pretty standard play equipment – ladders up with a couple of platforms, abridge, slide, fireman pole – that kind of thing over a sandpit. Usually Immy plays on the equipment for a little while, whilst I sit back and act nonchalant, trying not to stress that she will fall (she had a spectacular stack 12 months ago which scared the life out of me). Then we run across the grass or roll down the hills or find gumnuts – ordinary kids stuff 🙂
Anyway, this particular day we headed to a nearby park, chatting to ourselves and stopping to pick up a takeaway hot chocolate on the way. When we got there Immy noticed that someone had left a small number of plastic plant pots (the type you bring plants home from the nursery in) in the sand pit. She had a quick look at them and then changed her mind and headed off to climb up onto the play equipment. Imagine her surprise when she climbed up and found that on one of the platforms someone had lovingly arranged a flower nursery. Quite a collection of the plastic pots had been filled with sand (and I imagine they would have had to be carried up one at a time with the sand trickling through the little holes in the bottom the whole time) and some unknown child or children had ‘planted’ an assortment of flowers, twigs and little branches, one to each pot.
Immy was fascinated and began rearranging the pots to suit her style, careful not to disturb the contents of each. She then climbed down and filled one of the pots she had originally come across and painstakingly carried it up the ladder and across to the platform. Then she climbed down again and found her own little branch to ‘plant’ in it. This process was repeated a number of times. She was clearly enamored by the little scene we had stumbled upon.
It was such a little thing (and for the first time in forever I did not have my camera with me to record it!) but it reminded me a little of urban guerilla knitters or environmental sculptor, Andy Goldsworthy’s work, this little tableau had been lovingly created by hands unseen and left for others to enjoy. And when our time was done, this is exactly what we did, leaving the little flower nursery in the most unexpected of places for another little person to discover.
An idea so simple but so lovely and it certainly brightened up our visit to the playground. And it has got me thinking. What other little, inexpensive props could bring such joy to the minds and faces of the children who discover them in their neighborhood playground?
What a lovely idea. And one thing I love about it is that the items left behind are not expensive or precious in a way that discourages others from playing with them. We once spent a long afternoon at the local playground, and while the kids ran around and played on the slides, I messed around, taking apart the acorns that littered the ground. When they came over to investigate, I told them these were one of my favorite toys when I was little, because they had so much potential. We then spent an hour or more taking them apart, making them into hats and bowls and cups and little scenes of all kinds, just out of acorns and their caps. It was utterly spontaneous, and the kids (6, 4, and 2) still call that "the acorn park." Free, spontaneous, and creative–such wonderful play!
What a lovely idea to leave a little surprise for children who visit the playground after you.
You have reminded me of a game my eldest son used to play when working in the garden with Grandma. She has a large collection of pots from plants she buys and he used to spend ages stacking them by colour and making patterns and so on.
What a gorgeous idea. I really like it. Reminds me a little of Bookcrossing but for children 🙂