Can a playground change the way we think about learning?

Okay, I have been trying to figure out the best way of sharing this presentation because I've put so much time into the slides, but I also recognize that I was there. So when I look at these pictures, I remember these moments and the looks on these kids' faces that honestly, I was exhausted at the end of every single one of them. I had a little bit of help, but for the most part, I did this all on my own. Which I thoroughly enjoyed. But at the end of each one of them, it took me like 2 days to recover. And I remember thinking, I have to do this. Like, this is, this is so amazing. And it was because of the looks on the kids' faces. And I remember every single month I would think, well, maybe somebody's not going to show up this month. And then I would have everything laid out and I had people to help me set up. For sure. And, um, we'd have the blankets laid out and all the loose parts laying around. And I'd have this moment of, but what if nobody shows up today? And, and then I would look up at some point a few minutes before we officially started. And by the third year, I would look up and I would look around and I would see families coming in from all directions, like in front of me, behind me, on each side, because it was in the middle of the park. So everyone had to park along the street. And I was just like, oh my God, okay, okay, this is good. Like, people are showing up again. And it happened every month. I mean, I guess it kind of lessened a little bit as it got bigger and a little more predictable, but yeah. And then at the end, I was like, oh my God, this is like— this is what I'm here on this planet to do. Anyway, I'll stop talking and we'll move on to more of the pictures. So it was in 2016. When I originally had this idea, I had a 6-month-old son and 6 or 8-month-old son, and I was thinking, I really feel called. I already knew that I loved events. I used to do dance events in LA. I introduced a brand new dance to Los Angeles a few years before that that I had found in Europe while I'd been traveling. So I knew I had loved that. I love doing events. And then you become a mom, and I didn't care about dancing anymore, um, in the same way. But I loved doing events. So I had this question: do other parents want this kind of play for their kids? I didn't— I didn't— for at least the young years, I really didn't like most playgrounds. They're just— I just didn't like much— many playgrounds that I ran into. So I was like, I have this other idea. I've seen it happen in other places. I think I can do it as a pop-up, and I'm just— I wonder if other parents want this too. So this is where we started, and I tell you what, it was so worth the 80 hours a month that I put into it. Um, it was so worth it. These kids— um, this is like a concrete form for when you pour concrete, uh, pilings down into the ground. And honestly, I don't even know where it came from, but it was right at the beginning. I think it was the friend. There was a mom that was doing these with me at the beginning. She helped load stuff up. And I think, I think this came from them. I remember, I'm pretty sure she asked me one day, like, would you be interested in this? And I was like, I mean, that sounds amazing. Sure. And this was such a hit. The kids loved it. Okay. So adventure playgrounds, it's not a concept I came up with. These are all over Europe. It's my understanding that it's like post-World War II. Kids didn't have playgrounds, so there were these old sites that would be bombed out that kids just had free rein to kind of explore. And if you've ever seen like the typical playgrounds with swings way back when, you know, they already looked very different. But this is just a way for kids to explore. So there's not many in the US. It's my understanding there's 3 or 4 permanent ones. I think that there is a handful of pop-up ones. I do have a dear friend in Buffalo that's been running one for several years. Oh, cool. So, um, there's, there's a, there's a few around there, but there really isn't many compared to, again, what you find, um, in Europe and other places. So, um, what really impressed me, and this, you know, wasn't until like the second summer that I recognized that people were really driving, like they were coming up from like below Hudson and over into Vermont, um, And I also remember by the third summer, people were saying like, because up until then I had started, I had planned them each month because I didn't know how to plan around other events in Albany, like 5K runs and different festivals that happened. So I was doing them by the month. And it was by the third summer, families were saying like, we want to plan our summer around this. Can you please schedule them all in advance? Or maybe that was the second summer. I guess I scheduled them all in the second summer. Anyway, that was really exciting for me. Like, for people to say not just that I want this, but that I will plan other things around making this happen. Okay, I'm not going to talk so much through the rest of it, but, um, it really did grow quickly. We had like me and this friend's family that first one, maybe like one other person. But then— and I didn't do advertisements. I had created a Facebook page, um, so I was talking about it on there. But I really didn't do any advertisements. By the second year, I think I put $20 total on Facebook ads, but I didn't really need to. I just kind of wanted to play with what would happen. But every single month, more people showed up. And so these first pictures you see are pictures that I took or other parents took and then posted on social media. So this is, I want to say, like maybe the first year. I made the sign at the very beginning because I really wanted adults to understand that this wasn't a typical playground. This wasn't a space to follow your kids around and direct them in how to interact with the things. I really wanted the parents to just have conversations with other adults. The kids were safe, they were right there in the space with them, but I wanted them to really step back and give kids just a chance to explore. And these were some of my favorite pictures from that first year. Sadly, when I left social media in 2020, I took down all of my social media because I knew I wouldn't be doing the pop-up like this. And I think, like, I feel like it's kind of a millennial thing to, like, at some point say, I'm never doing social media again. At least I went through that phase. But here are some of these earlier, the earlier pop-up pictures. And I just, I mean, we really had— I made it a career basically of going to thrift stores and finding any random kind of thing that I could find to create. So this is really— this is learning. What you're seeing in these pictures is not just play. It's— this is how kids learn. They interact with real things and explore real things. And I mean, imagine, you know, try stepping back into these years where like everything is new. And you're just exploring it in awe of all the amazing things around you. So this is really what learning looks like in childhood. And this starts from birth, really. So, and really watching all of these kids told me something that I knew, and it's why I did the pop-up, which is all of these— I think that we've set up society in a way that does not support the way that kids naturally explore things, right? There's a lot of things that are off limits, and I, I totally understand that. There are definitely things that need to— you know, it's good to remain off limits for the younger years. But we also need to create environments, in my opinion, that foster this kind of exploration. And I am a staunch believer that I cannot sit here complaining that spaces like this don't exist if I'm not willing to step up to the plate and create them. So I created them. And we already have too many kind of passive consumer— passively consumed kind of spaces, things where kids are entertained at, or that they're just observers and not able to interact with things. And I really want to create a space where kids can explore. These are not that those passive things are necessarily bad, but childhood is such a limited amount of time. That every— all the moments that they're passively consuming entertainment, they're not doing what they're here to do and explore. And so we expect them to hit 18 and know who they are and what they're interested in and to go out and build something in the world. But if we want that, we really need to support them in exploring things in these younger years. This is my belief, and this is kind of the foundation of everything. That I do. So my belief is that kids don't need fixing. The environments that we provide to them do. And I also don't want— I don't— for me personally, I don't believe that I'm here to try to go into different spaces and have them do them differently, right? The spaces that are created, the way that kind of education or learning is done Currently, that's just not my space to be. But what I would like to do is create a model that makes that being the only way obsolete, if that makes sense. Okay, so this presentation really exists because this was my passion for these years, and I have never stopped thinking about it. And now we're coming up on, I guess, 6 years since it was closed. And I have spent all of those six years continuing learning myself and refining kind of my message and what's important to me. But I cannot let go of wanting to have another space that is permanent. I don't want it to just be a couple three hours a week that pops up. It was three hours to four hours. I don't want to just space that pops up randomly. I want a space that all day, every day can be available for kids to have these experiences and not just create something that then gets taken apart, but create something and then add on to it and build on it and build on it. And that space being protected. So I am really in a stage these last couple months of wanting to find a place that this can come alive again and really become a destination kind of location where people want to travel from all over the country. to be there with this, as well as from all over the world. Um, there's a real interest in this kind of play, and it just does not exist for families. And right now there's a lot of road schooling families like myself, or world schooling families where people are living on the road at least part of the year and traveling, um, and really want these kind of experiences. So these are just— I mean, it's just incredible to watch what these kids are capable of doing. This actually, the foam that you see her hammering into was like kind of amazing. It was a friend's electric bike packaging and it was this dense foam, so the nails would stick in it very easily and hold them sturdy. So little kids could really like— it felt like you were hammering into something. Oh my God, it was such a— it was such a hit. And some parents were very nervous at the beginning and then It was so perfect. Um, she just sat there hammering. There was one kid, and I don't think I have a picture of it, where there were like, like 100 nails in this foam. This came back to the pop-up several times. It also— you'd pull the nails out and you could do it again, so it wasn't destroyed, which is amazing. And I am all about recycling these things. Um, and the, the paper around a tree was amazing. There's something about kids standing up and painting in front of them that was Very popular. And then I just had lots of just loose things. And, you know, we all say that the kid plays with the cardboard box and not the toy inside, and that is so true. So paint— this was all non-toxic. This was all, um, like finger paint, non-toxic finger paint. And I would water it down in so it fit into spray bottles, so it washed right out of clothes. Although families started bringing a second set of clothes, um, but it washed off really, really easily. Didn't, didn't stain. So I was very fortunate that a local photojournalist— I didn't actually realize at the time the difference between, uh, just a photographer, which they do amazing work, and a photojournalist. So with Katie's work, I really kind of understood, oh, she is like— after I got the pictures, she is documenting processes, um, in a way that I had captured in single pictures, but she was able to really document them. So she donated her time, her talent. She actually printed all of them out. We made an art exhibit. Habitat— or one of our local Habitat for Humanity donated the frames, old used frames, and I repainted them to match the, the colors of the brand. And we blew these pictures up. They were in a local coffee shop for several months. Um, it, it was amazing. So this is an example of documenting kind of the process that played out. So you see this little guy in the yellow striped shirt, and he's watching the older kids. And then something draws his attention. And then he moves on to that. And this, this is what played out all the entire day with many, many, many kids is they would— and that's what I loved about the multi-age group thing, because you'd have little kids looking at older kids. And we do a lot to segregate kids, like all the 6-year-olds are together, all the 9-year-olds are together. And this was a space that everyone was welcome and everyone worked really well together. So these are the pictures that the photojournalist put together, and these are the pictures that were printed and put into frames and hung in this coffee shop. And some of these were large, like 12 by 36 prints. So she has a used bike tire here. This is actually one of my very favorite pictures. Working together with a rope. They are really— this little guy was a hoot. This is actually a frame. I did co-sleeping with my son, so I didn't use a crib, but someone had donated a crib to me that they were going to throw away, so this became a ladder and it worked beautifully. Katie did a fantastic job really showing the spirit In all of these pictures, this guy was amazing. He said with this, he said, "Hey, look! I made a head of poles." It was one of my favorite pictures. And we've got the the classic cardboard box again. It was it was very amazing to watch these kids. So I would find this. I think was a curtain or sheets, but 100% cotton. sheet that we would hang up between these 2 big trees that we had. Part of why the pop-up was in this location of the park is because it had these 2 big trees. And then I would water down the finger paints, put them into these spray bottles that you'll see she is holding, and then, um, and then I would try to pull these sheets down before they got saturated. This was a little oversaturated, but if I could pull them down before, they were much brighter. You can see it kind of gets I don't know if saturated is the right word. Yeah, it is. But I tried to pull them down before this point, and then actually I'd lay them out and dry them, and for the next pop-up, they were the blankets that were on the ground that the loose parts were on. So then she documented in all of these pictures that I got from her a very specific process where this group of kids had an idea, and they took this ladder, or this crib wall, aka ladder, That they had found, and they started working on this process, and they had this idea. No adult gave them this idea, but they had this idea. They wanted to build something. And you see this little guy with the helmet is watching the older kids, and you see how parents are in the background. Like, parents were there the whole time. I just encouraged them to not interfere with what was playing out. So these are the little messages, you know, allow them to take risks, allow them to have their own idea, and not put your adult ideas around what's going to work or what's not going to work onto them. Just let them Explore and let them have time to trust. So I would like to say here, this is why the pop-up was at least three hours because it takes time, I think, for all of us to really kind of get into our creativity. And so I feel like that last hour is where things kind of like came together for a lot of people and or for a lot of the kids. And so they would really get into their creativity. And so it's it's just reiterating the like trusting them to try something and then test it and work together. Together as a group. So we want, as adults, we want adults that can work together and can communicate with each other. Those skills are practiced here. And as adults, we don't work with everyone exactly the same age. We're working with people from different generations, with different backgrounds, with different understandings, different knowledge. These skills on how to work together are built at this age. And then This is really, for me, really, this one really highlights the importance of these kids being together at different ages. This little guy, these are brothers actually, and being able to see the little ones watch the older ones is just amazing. And like what they came up with was amazing. And not just that it was amazing that they made a swing here, but they came up with the idea, they created it, and they tested it. Right? And then I think they changed it. So there was no adults planning this. I— there was nothing. I just had the loose parts there. There was nothing that input that I made or other adults made for them to have this idea. No adults assigned these roles to the kids. You do this, you do that, right? No one explained to them how to do it. They just were exploring. So this is a quote that I think is very important. I think that the best thing that we can do for our children, all children, is to allow them to do things for themselves, allow them to be strong, allow them to experience life on their own terms. That doesn't mean give them free rein to do anything and everything whenever they want. That is not what I mean. But it does mean giving them space to create things on their own and not be hanging over their shoulder for everything that they're doing. I think that is so important. But I would also like to say That I don't blame any parent for feeling like they need to be there and more because we don't have spaces where kids are safe to explore in these ways. That's why I had this pop-up, right? There's a lot of situations like being in this park. There's cars, you know, flying by on the road not too far away. So there were adults paying attention. If there was a kid that was like, I'm gonna, you know, head toward the road, you had people looking out. Um, so I don't think it's about giving kids just free rein to just be, you know, you know, completely free. There is a line, but they also need these spaces. Um, and to understand that the things that just look like play to us are— can be incredibly important to them. So I just want to again shout out to Katie Levering. She's an amazing photographer. Um, and then this is just a little collection of how this group was working with this spool. And again, that Ladder, crib leg, or crib wall was pretty popular. So this is something that, because I was unschooled my entire life, I've always had a very personal relationship with what learning looks like. But this is the first time that I had evidence for my, my own evidence of something that I created and then watched play out. And I think that that is why my heart swells every time I see it. And this is one of my favorite pictures. An older kid actually built this, or 2 older kids closer to teens. And then all the little kids, you know, wanted to take a test drive. I think there was an Infinity Stone somewhere on it. So all of this is to say the next iteration of this for me is what I envision as Journey Junction. So a real place, and it's built for how people actually learn, and a permanent location so people can come if it's a campground or it's on a farm or I think it can play out many, many different ways. It's a space where people can come for extended periods of time and interact with other people, where adults can make connections and kids can make connections. And it can be multi-generational. Like, I think that part of what we need to get back to is where kids are learning from, you know, generations, 2 or 3 generations older than them. And also the older generations are learning from the kids. It's not just a one-way street. Um, so I really am looking for the kind of right partnership for this. This is something that is— again, I've— I'm gonna sound like a broken record, but this is near and dear to my heart. And I am ready to put, you know, the hundreds of hours that I put into the first iteration of this in now. Um, because this is in my— I really believe this is what kids need. We don't need another passively consumed thing. We need real spaces that are fundamentally different for kids, to support kids. So again, this could be many, many different things, but I see it as a camp on a campground, an addition to a campground that wants to expand and become more of a destination for families specifically. multigenerational families, um, a farm looking to expand and create experiences. Um, I think that that's super important, but I'm also open to things that I have not considered yet because I think that's the most amazing thing about being human is that everyone has different ideas. So, um, for me, the principles of what this is are the most important thing. How that actually plays out in real time, I am much more flexible on. What I am not flexible on is that these are important principles that we need to uphold for the next generation. So if something in this sparked something in you, even if, even if you don't have the land or you don't have an idea of where it can be, I really want to hear from you because I really want to connect again with people that understand how important this is for the next generation and for the current generation and for, I mean, all ages, you know, birth, birth to 100. Um, this is super, super important. So I would love to hear from you, um, and I really am open to any and all locations. I mean, my preference is the US, but I'm pretty much open to any location in the US. Um, But I want to talk to every— you know, I want to talk to anyone. So if you'd like to reach out, here's my email. Um, I also write a lot on Substack, not Journey Junction specifically, but around my kind of principles and ideas, um, and an overall vision for education. I also work with branding for, um, entrepreneurs that want to authentically share what they're doing. I'm, you know, also really passionate I won't go into it now, but for me, what you see in the pop-ups and what I do with branding with adults is hand in hand. So if any part of this spoke to you, then I would really love— even if you just say, I watched it and that was really cool— that honestly means a lot to me. And even if that's not you, what I would really appreciate is if you would share it with anyone that you know that you think might even want to watch it. Just watch it. I mean, again, I would love to hear from people. It's not really my forte to sit here and stare at a screen and talk to a little lit-up camera staring at me. I really like conversations. So thank you so much for bearing with me. 25 minutes and 13 seconds. I know it's a bit long, but thank you so much. I really, really appreciate it.