Big Ideas

I'm about halfway through the Quality Connections II Class series through ERC I've been taking this summer. I knew I'd be in trouble. Michelle and Karla are so dang motivating and inspirational. My wheels are turnin'. I've got so many ideas kicking around about so many different things. For now, I've decided to focus on 2 major areas. One of my focus points will be my outdoor play space. Right now it is a blank slate. Almost literally. Big, open yard - short on equipment, big on imagination and, now... ideas. (I'll talk about my 2nd area of focus at a later point).

Running the daycare from our home, lends challenges to our family that are different from those run in a child care center setting. While Bronson and I both want a fun, exciting, interesting area for the kids, we also want an area that is pleasing to look at for us. We don't necessarily want to live in the midst of a park or a school-like playground. When Michelle showed us slides last week showcasing natural play-yards, I got very excited. There are so many possibilities - this is right up our alley! A very natural looking setting that is still tons of fun for the kids! Let's do it!

Obviously, creating a play-yard environment will be a very long, on-going process as we look for resources, time and energy to create it, but the possibilities are incredible! Here are some pictures of things we found this week we like for ideas.

We've started to accumulate some supplies - we've got some perfect sized logs coming - for seats, for steps, for borders - who knows... We've found some great limb-y logs that will create... something; we just aren't 100% sure what yet.

Here's where we need your help now... We need stuff! We could use all kinds of things to incorporate into different areas in our soon-to-be changing play area. Here's a list of things we need. If you have any of this, if you know of anyone who has any of this, if you come across anything in the future, please think of us!

Pallets

Scrap Lumber - at least 4 feet long

Large Tree Branches or Trunks

4" - 3' Diameter Logs

Large Flat or Round (without sharp edges) Rocks or Stones (large like needing several people to move)

Square Straw or Hay Bales

Old Parachute

Big Wire Spools (big enough to climb on)

Saw-Horses

Paving Stones

Wood or Steel Fence Posts

Old Tires

Wooden Ladders

Benches

Large Amount of Pea Gravel or River Rocks

Cargo Netting

Railroad Ties and/or Landscape Timbers

I'm excited to see where this journey takes us! Thanks for coming along with us!