Neither you or your administration may be ready for quite the type of free play featured in this video, but the collections of loose materials listed below offer a good compromise between free play like that and safe and prescriptive common playgrounds. If staff and administration are on board with the idea of free play with these materials, have an assembly (repeatedly) to train students of how to use them and clean up every recess, to not carry heavy things over one's head, to carry sticks vertically rather than horizontally, and so on. As staff, you'll need to make arrangements for classes or groups to take turns with the new treasures.
Just think of the creative fun that students can have exploring, problem solving and playing during recess!
Based on the benefits of free play, consider championing the idea of
collecting these simple materials to inspire that kind of play at recess. Some
of these materials can be had cheaply from a tree service company;
others can come from a thrift store.
Here is a list:
- old bed sheets for den building (or whatever appropriate thing the kids decide to use them for.) Some Natural Play resources show the use of tarps. For asphyxiation safety reasons, I'd rather see the use of bed sheets.
- tree cookies (thin slices of tree trunks or branches)
- tree logs too heavy to lift located in a mulched area. Critters will make their homes under the logs, making them an educational spot as well.
- branches or PVC piping for building
- PVC for water play
- funnels and scoops for water play
- planks
- climbing carabiners
- carabiner bungee cords
- rope to be cut into pieces short enough to not be a choking hazard: 1 -1.5 foot (30-50cm) lengths
- clothes pins
- a patio bin and barrel to store the materials
*"You acquire most of your basic movement patterns by first grade, and our
youth today just aren’t getting the physical [activity] they need.
Lack of fitness is a societal problem. The injury rate is developing
into a taxpayer concern in terms of medical care and lost training
expenses. And the lack of qualified recruits is becoming a national
security issue.” Frank Palkoska, Chief of the US Army’s Physical Fitness Training School