Playscape

This year brought a Playscape area to the Cincinnati Nature Center. It's a great place for intuitive play,

for "pretend you're a troll under the bridge," "pretend we're building a house," "pretend you're camping in a tent and I came to visit,"

for imaginative, unstructured play,

for putting your feet in the stream and running through the grass, for looking at a wetland up close and understanding what that is.

There's a gentle reminder as you leave, that on the other 1,000 acres respect for nature is part of the visit, but in the Playscape things can be touched and manipulated to create whatever imaginary kid world is desired.