Berkeley Adventure Playground

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/contentdisplay.aspx?id=8656



http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/contentdisplay.aspx?id=8656 

The Adventure Playground at the Berkeley Marina was opened in 1979. It is a wonderfully unique outdoor facility where staff encourage children to play and build creatively.  Come climb on the many unusual kid designed and built forts, boats, and towers. Ride the zip line or hammer, saw, and paint. By providing these low risk activities Adventure Playground creates opportunities for children to learn cooperation, meet physical challenges and gain self confidence. Pictures of a fort building project. The concept for Adventure Playgrounds originated in Europe after World War II, where Lady Marjory Allen, a landscape architect and childrens advocate, studied children playing in the "normal" asphalt and cement playgrounds. She found that they preferred playing with parts that they could move around and manipulate to make their own makeshift structures.  The formula for Adventure Playgrounds includes Earth, fire, water, and lots of creative materials.

Who should come?Adventure Playground is designed for children seven years old and older, however younger children are welcome as long as they are within arms reach of a participating adult. Parents of older children are encouraged to participate (see below) and help out with safety for all children. Everyone needs to sign the walk-in waiver when you come in. What should everyone wear?Everyone must wear sturdy shoes like tennis shoes, NOT flip flops, sandals, crocs or clogs. Stepping on a nail is a possibility and sturdy shoes protect feet. Wear clothes that can get dirty, wet, painted on and you may consider bringing a change of clothes for wet or muddy days. Warning: Our playground paint is water based tempera (school paint) and .( red) may not come out of clothing even with pre treating. The other colors actually have soap in it but that makes for slippery painted surfaces when wet. How can I as a parent or adult help when I am there? When you are here, please, watch your child, respect our staff and our rules. Keep your cell phone in your pocket. Be present for your child. if you need a break from supervising them, register your child as a drop in and we will watch them. Please, Don't read a book, or get caught up in your phone. You children need your attention and we need your help. Do not let your children under the age of 6 ride the zip line, even though you  think they can. Teach them to use good judgment and if what they are doing is destructive and dangerous- please stop them and cleanup. Remember children build these forts. Staff are making sure the playground is safe, you need to be sure your child is safe. Pick up the wood on the ground ( which is a trip hazard) and put it in the wood racks. If it is naily wood put it in the red zones. If you see things that might be dangerous, or if your child gets hurt, please tell the staff- so they can fix it  and help you. Before you leave, if you didn't finish your project, take it apart and put the parts back in the wood racks or take it with you. Please have everyone return all the tools ( including paint, brushes and clamps)  back to the shed and put all unnaily wood to the racks, and any naily unsafe wood to the red zones.   Adult Helper Cards We have 5 X 7 job task cards for adults to learn about each job that they can help with, just ask at the desk. Jobs include: Small wood helper-Assisting kids with clamps and picking out the soft woods for them to learn to saw and hammer on. At the base of the trolley we need help shoveling sand at a 45 degree angle so the children slow down and stop.  We do ask that you do NOT HELP children onto the wooden seat at the top of the trolley platform. If they cannot do it themselves, they are not ready to ride yet. We always need people to assist staff behind the tool counter passing out tools to the children. Please clarify that job with staff so you know which tools should NOT go out .

We are always looking for volunteers to help in the playground- must be 16 or older. Students can get community service hours helping on weekends or in the summer. If you or your child is interested, please call us for an interview and to fill our our paperwork.

Adventure Playground is one of the Marina Experience programs and has been written up as a top 10 playground in National Geographic.
 It was voted the Best Creative Playspace in Diablo Magazine. YELP has rated us 4.5 out of 5. We have been written about in the Chronicle, the Boston Globe and Newsweek as one of the Top 5 playspaces in the country. 

 “Drop-ins”Children seven years and older may be signed in by their parent/guardian to stay in the playground without their parents for up to three hours.
All “Drop-ins” mush have a waiver on file and pay the Drop-in fee.
No Drop-ins on Sundays unless fee is paid in advance.

Every adult who enters the playground must sign in on the waiver at the entrance for themselves and their children. 

IS THERE A FEE?  Individual FamiliesFREE for individual families: parents/guardians who accompany 4 children or less. If you are a large family, call please.
 Groups

• 5 children or more, regardless of how many adults/parents you have
• Organized programs of any size (daycare programs, summer camps, church groups)
• Multiple small families who meet at the playground with 5 children or more -
  including individuals coming in from gatherings (like birthday parties) happening outside Adventure playground in Shorebird Park.

All groups must make reservations and pay the group fee ($73-$174 depending on group size).
Summers and weekend days are very popular with the public. The only way to keep the Playground safe is to control the numbers by limiting groups. So, if you come in a group (5 children or more) without reservations, you will be asked to leave.

Learn More about Adventure Playgrounds and Unstructured Play

Learn More about Adventure Playgrounds and Unstructured Play

• You’ve probably read this very popular article from The Atlantic called “The Overprotected Kid” from April 2014 which argues in favor of adventure playgrounds and risk taking in childhood.
• Darell Hammond, Chief Executive Officer of KaBOOM.org, visited adventure playgrounds in Europe. He wrote “I’m Gonna Sue! How Lawsuits Are Depriving Our Children of Play” (Huffington Post, May 2010) with reference to the wonder these amazing adventure playgrounds provide for our children.
• Read about the importance of adventure playgrounds on Adventure Playgrounds: A Children’s World in the City website. Lia Sutton also has a wealth of links and research on her site.
• Listen to “Adventure Playgrounds a Dying Breed in the U.S.“ from NPR.org (March, 2006).
• The Project for Public Spaces website runs down “Elements of a Successful Playspace” and says: “Experts often recommend adventure playgrounds, which let different ages find their own “level” of activity which suits them best. Older children will actually discourage younger ones from activities too risky for their age.” In fact, they go on to point out: “Adventure playgrounds are often said to be less dangerous than traditional playgrounds because participants are more alert (Bartlett, CERG).“
• Berkeley’s Adventure Playground website (only open on weekends)
• Huntington Beach Adventure Playground website (only open during summer)
• Urban Adventure Playgrounds: The Coolest Places You Probably Never Played As a Kid (WebUrbanist, 2007)

Last Child in the Woods

Currently reading Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
An amazing books that discusses Nature Deficit disorder in Children and how disconnected children have become to nature due to a range of influences e.g. technology, stranger danger, time limitations, ease of access to nature, organized sport.

Sit Spot - desire to find a special place in nature where I can just 'sit' and 'be'.

A developing bond with natural world than can form a foundation for environmental stewardship p44

.....the quality of exposure to nature affects our health at an almost cellular level. p43

peace inducing elements.

p 57 Here you can hear things; in the city you can't hear anything because you can hear everything.

Seeking to find relatively undistributed tracts of land to use for solitude; seeking peacefulness, replenishing the soul, making connections to (flora and fauna) nature and rediscovering my freedom. An emotional refuge.

Organizers of nature activities should strive to make the experiences as unorganized as possible - but still meaningful.

- a mentoring adult who taught respect for nature.

That while knowledge about nature is vital , passion is the long distance fuel for the struggle to save what is left of our natural heritage. Passion is personal. Passion is lifted from the earth itself by the muddy hands of the young, it travels along grass stained sleeves to the heart., If we are going to save environmentalism and the environment we must also save endangered indicator species: the child in nature.

"Pay Attention" (not be careful)

"NSW had 'such incredible diversity and opportunity for adventure' that he no longer felt the pull of the travel bug," Henry Brydon

It's not the lanugage of painters,
but the language of nature which one should listen to.....
The feeling for things themselves,
for reality, is more important than the feeling for pictures.        Vincent Van Gogh

p353 Such organisations are recognizing that the human child in nature may well be the most important indicator species of future sustainability.

p355 the child in nature is an endangered species, and the health of children and the health of the Earth are inseparable.

greenhour.org
kids daily green hour

Nature journal
greenhour.org/content/activity/detail/1525
kids outside info

California - Irvine Adventure playground outdoor, nature, campfire building, cooking, astronomy, gardening,
New kids must complete a safety course before they can take up hammer, nails, and build a fort. Adult must accompany kids less than 6 years of age.
http://funorangecountyparks.com/adventure-playground-irvine-university-park.html

This is a BIG deal! Why?

• The Irvine Adventure Playground is one of only 3 such playgrounds in the United States. According to the NPR story, “there are roughly 1000 scattered across less litigious Europe.”
• Unstructured play is essential to every child’s development. These spaces allow kids to build forts, play in the mud, and get creative with unstructured play outdoors!
• Play opportunities at typical playgrounds are limited to the equipment provided. Here, play and imagination spill over into every corner of the park.
• It will be open and staffed every day with a minimum of two people from 10am to 5pm.

Berkeley Hunting Beach - play in mud and build forts, pond with rafts, rope bridge, 'zipline; tire swing, water slide, and mud.

Respect the nature integrity of place

p292 'look at the world in a way that takes nothing form granted. Everything is phenomenal everything is incredible, never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed'.

Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement.

www.greenteacher.com (magazine)
Book:learning with Nature Idea book
www.arbordy.org

Pics from Mt Stirling walk to Craig's Hut in May 2016.

Happiness at home.

There is so much to be grateful in the last week it really is brilliant.
I landed in oz, welcomed by mum, over to Thai cargo and collected all my personal effects without any hassles.
Drove home, so much fun, brilliantly smooth roads and drivers that actually follow the road rules.
Awesome to sleep in a big comfy bed under a mountain of blankets with a hot water bottle!!
When for a short bush walk and have another long one planned for the coming weekend.
Medicare card reactivated - yipeee.
Completed first aid course and WWCC - all good.
Purchased a car - the silver bullet.
On a roll............happiness, joy, kindness and gratitude abound.

Love

Just did an online quiz and this is the results:

This Simple Test Will Help You Find Out What You Really Want In Life

LOVE
You are ruled by your desire to be connected to others. Whether it is a romantic connection you seek, or the deep abiding intimacy of family or friendship, it is what fuels you and keeps you motivated. You have a warm and compassionate soul and a nurturing spirit which draws others to you. You see people for everything that they can be and all the wonder that they contain within them; and this drives you to connect to them. It is no doubt that no matter where life's journey takes you, you will always be surrounded by those who care for you and a bountiful love which encompasses you.

I'm so happy with my life

 I'm really happy and seem to be able to live in this state of joy recently thanks to many daily practices. Mindfulness has contributed significantly to my well being and just letting things 'be' and they sort themselves out :).
Making a conscious effort to be positive, not gossip, say kind words has really improved how other's respond to me......much more cheerfully and positively.
Sharing stories of what went right on the weekend and not the things that didn't go quite right - in the end the mission was accomplished and I couldn't have wished for a better team to work with. Thank you Da, Phet, Pao, Na, Boula, Dr P, Bossy and all the girls, teachers, principal, village head and parents. You have enriched my life so much.

--------
This article has most of the daily practices that I feel I have incorporated into my life, especially over the last 12 months.
I'm not perfect but I find joy in small things, I smile a whole lot more than ever before, I am way more grateful
http://www.becomingminimalist.com/choose-happy/
“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” —Abraham Lincoln
Happy people realize happiness is a choice. They are not held hostage by their circumstances and they do not seek happiness in people or possessions. They understand that when we stop chasing the world’s definition of happiness, we begin to see the decision to experience happiness has been right in front of us all along. Research in the field of positive psychology continues to reinforce this understanding.
But simply knowing that happiness is a choice is not enough. Fully experiencing it still requires a conscience decision to do so each day. How then might each of us begin to experience this joy?
Consider this list of 12 Intentional Actions to Choose Happiness Today. Embrace one new action item… practice all of them… or simply use them as inspiration to discover your own.
1. Count your blessings. Happy people choose to focus on the positive aspects of life rather than the negative. They set their minds on specific reasons to be grateful. They express it when possible. And they quickly discover there is always, always, something to be grateful for.
2. Carry a smile. A smile is a wonderful beautifier. But more than that, studies indicate that making an emotion-filled face carries influence over the feelings processed by the brain. Our facial expression can influence our brain in just the same way our brains influence our face. In other words, you can actually program yourself to experience happiness by choosing to smile. Not to mention, all the pretty smiles you’ll receive in return for flashing yours is also guaranteed to increase your happiness level.
3. Speak daily affirmation into your life. Affirmations are positive thoughts accompanied with affirmative beliefs and personal statements of truth. They are recited in the first person, present tense (“I am…”). Affirmations used daily can release stress, build confidence, and improve outlook. For maximum effectiveness, affirmations should be chosen carefully, be based in truth, and address current needs. Here is a list of 100 daily affirmations to help you get started.
4. Wake up on your terms. Most of us have alarm clocks programmed because of the expectations of others: a workplace, a school, or a waking child. That’s probably not going to change. But that doesn’t mean we have to lose control over our mornings in the process. Wake up just a little bit early and establish an empowering, meaningful, morning routine. Start each day on your terms. The next 23 hours will thank you for it.
5. Hold back a complaint. The next time you want to lash out in verbal complaint towards a person, a situation, or yourself, don’t. Instead, humbly keep it to yourself. You’ll likely diffuse an unhealthy, unhappy environment. But more than that, you’ll experience joy by choosing peace in a difficult situation.
6. Practice one life-improving discipline. There is happiness and fulfillment to be found in personal growth. To know that you have intentionally devoted time and energy to personal improvement is one of the most satisfying feelings you’ll ever experience. Embrace and practice at least one act of self-discipline each day. This could be exercise, budgeting, or guided-learning… whatever your life needs today to continue growing. Find it. Practice it. Celebrate it.
7. Use your strengths. Each of us have natural talents, strengths, and abilities. And when we use them effectively, we feel alive and comfortable in our skin. They help us find joy in our being and happiness in our design. So embrace your strengths and choose to operate within your giftedness each day. If you need to find this outlet outside your employment, by all means, find this outlet.
8. Accomplish one important task. Because happy people choose happiness, they take control over their lives. They don’t make decisions based on a need to pursue joy. Instead, they operate out of the satisfaction they have already chosen. They realize there are demands on their time, helpful pursuits to accomplish, and important contributions to make to the world around them. Choose one important task that you can accomplish each day. And find joy in your contribution.
9. Eat a healthy meal/snack. We are spiritual, emotional, and mental beings. We are also physical bodies. Our lives cannot be wholly separated into its parts. As a result, one aspect always influences the others. For example, our physical bodies will always have impact over our spiritual and emotional well-being. Therefore, caring for our physical well-being can have significant benefit for our emotional standing. One simple action to choose happiness today is to eat healthy foods. Your physical body will thank you… and so will your emotional well-being.
10. Treat others well. Everyone wants to be treated kindly. But more than that, deep down, we also want to treat others with the same respect that we would like given to us. Treat everyone you meet with kindness, patience, and grace. The Golden Rule is a powerful standard. It benefits the receiver. But also brings growing satisfaction in yourself as you seek to treat others as you would like to be treated.
11. Meditate. Find time alone in solitude. As our world increases in speed and noise, the ability to withdraw becomes even more essential. Studies confirm the importance and life-giving benefits of meditation. So take time to make time. And use meditation to search inward, connect spiritually, and improve your happiness today.
12. Search for benefit in your pain. This life can be difficult. Nobody escapes without pain. At some point—in some way—we all encounter it. When you do, remind yourself again that the trials may be difficult, but they will pass. And search deep to find meaning in the pain. Choose to look for the benefits that can be found in your trial. At the very least, perseverance is being built. And most likely, an ability to comfort others in their pain is also being developed.
Go today. Choose joy and be happy. That will make two of us.

No idea who wrote this......not me.....it's about love