There’s a lot to see and do on Acera’s adventure playground. Cables for balancing. Hammocks and swings erected anew by students. Trees for climbing, with treehouse platforms; pulley systems emerge, along with elaborate imaginative games. Wheelbarrows, shovels, rope and myriad natural found objects enable students to build forts, invent games, envision and open restaurants and stage theatre performances. Students learn to balance on ripsticks and by walking along cables. They reinvent foursquare and soccer with new rules, and navigate conflict around things that are meaningful to them.
A current second grader commented recently “You can create anything if you can imagine it.”
This mindset of invention, along with opportunities for students to galvanize others around ideas, creates authentic play. Intentionally, these habits – invention, making, trying, testing, and leading – ready students to operate with courage in the world after Acera. We consistently see that the team-building, leadership, and creative skills they manifest at Acera – in our adventure playground and throughout our program – become integrated into their identities and habits in their futures.
Acera’s adventure playground is a place where students not only exert themselves physically but also develop agency in their community and place. And in this sense, the playground is an integral part of their world!
