“The philosophy behind all Nature Based Play projects is simple: We believe people of all ages enjoy ‘being in’ and ‘playing in’ artfully designed and constructed, nature-based environments. Such environments encourage us to both interact with and manipulate the space, whilst stimulating and engaging our imagination and senses..”
~ Nature Based Play
After our highly successful Public School Review Report in October of 2023, our staff looked at ways we can continue to strengthen our outdoor learning spaces to provide the best possible learning experiences and opportunities for our students. Through consultation with Nature Play providers, we collaborated with the highly reputable Nature Based Play company to work with our school in developing a 4-Stage Project to improve out outdoor nature play space. The blueprints for the design are in the attached document below.
The team provided blueprints for our improvement project which has been shared with staff, students and the community for input around their favourite features within the design, and their ‘even better ifs’. This information will be collated and presented to our designers for consideration to ensure we have an upgraded nature play space that captures the voice of the school and community.
We welcome your input and feedback on the designs. If you would like to share your input, please complete the short, 2-question survey before the end of 2024.
https://forms.office.com/r/zyh40ftj4y
The Dalmain nature play space project began its conception in August 2014 through a desire to provide new and diverse play opportunities at the school and to more closely connect our children to nature.
The nature play space was seen as a vehicle to encourage this connection. Through a series of classroom workshops run by Amanda Wood and observing children’s play in the school grounds, students shared their ideas about what they would like to see in a nature play space – this was the impetus to make their dreams a reality.
Final approvals for the Dalmain Nature Play Space were received by February 2016 and construction planning began in earnest. The plans were divided into three phases:
Phase 1 – Log climbing area
Phase 2 – Tree fort area
Phase 3 – Creek bed and sand play area
This was a huge project that was delivered on time and on budget only due to all of the amazing support from our school community and it is incredibly rewarding now seeing our children playing in an enjoying the amazing space our school community has created.
