Week of October 13, 2024 – October 19, 2024
by Katie McLaughlin, Environmental Educator
Let your imagination run wild! … but how do we do that?
It all starts while we are young, as our little minds are trying to figure out the world and how it works. We mimic what we know and observe in play. I would pretend to pour water or potions from an empty bottle to fill another cup, but even without telling the others I was playing with they knew that the imaginary liquid was poured into the cup rather than floating into space.
This imaginative play is so important in childhood development. Creativity can spring to life, we can begin to understand how others may think or perceive the world, and we even practice problem solving! How do I get from this stump or log without touching the “lava”? We begin to understand what our bodies can do and if the risk from jumping over from one spot to another is worth it or not.
One of my favorite ways to connect nature to kids is through stories. We recently had a Forest Clay Creations program where we created tree faces. I have been told the stories of the tree dryads, the spirits who live in the trees as long as the tree lives by other adults in my life. I passed my stories to a group of 20 people who chose to create and connect with the dryads in the trees. With little prompting we worked together to gather wild clay and crafted our faces along the Valley Trail. Can you find them?
Each face was unquestionably unique to each attendee. I heard the stories of Chungamungus and his fantastical beard, and a particular clay face with large mushrooms for ears may have overheard these fantastical stories that were created by kids and parents alike. Even the adults who attended this program enjoyed making their own tree faces, much to the surprise of some of them. Being a little silly and messy to create something with our hands connects us back to our imagination that we often forget about as we grow older.
Allowing ourselves even as adults to join in on imaginative play can be relaxing, help regulate emotions and help express yourself. I’m not saying you need to pretend to have a tea party with the fairies, but be willing to see a bit of magic that is out there in the world. Follow your curiosity and creativity, it doesn’t have to be pretty as long as you are having fun!