What Do You Need?
Dream It!
Workshops
Looking for a fun, inspiring workshop about outdoor play and learning environments? Gardens For Life offers the opportunities listed below, or can do a custom workshop for your child care center, family child care, or school. Please note: Except for the Field Trip, all workshops are 90 minutes long, and available in-person or remotely. A travel fee applies to in-person workshops.
Best Practices for Outdoor Play and Learning
In this interactive workshop, we’ll talk about the benefits of going outside, and how the outdoor environment can meet your program’s child development goals. We’ll also review common concerns about the outdoors, including safety, licensing, physical comfort, and maintenance. Participants will identify challenges and opportunities at their own site, and will start to think about improvements they could make.
Infinite Flexibility: Loose Parts
Loose parts are open-ended materials that offer endless possibilities for creative play and learning. We’ll share some of our favorite materials and encourage discussion about using loose parts at your program, whether you’re just starting out or looking to enhance your practice.
Seeds and Soil: Gardening with Children
We’ll cover the big questions: what, when, and how to plant with kids. We’ll also address potential pitfalls, such as curious fingers, hungry critters, and the ongoing challenge of keeping plants watered and weeded. (Note that a materials fee applies for the in-person workshop, which includes hands-on training and a take-home.)
Let’s Move: Active Outdoor Play
Providing opportunities for vigorous physical activity often goes beyond providing a static play structure. We’ll learn how programs can use unique play elements and loose parts to meet gross motor development goals and foster joyful movement.
Starting with Wonder: Outdoor Science
Many programs want to use the outdoors to enrich science learning and connection to the natural world. We’ll review simple strategies for integrating inquiry and experimentation into daily outdoor time. Our focus is on taking advantage of natural phenomena and children’s interest, rather than planning specific lessons that require a lot of materials and background knowledge.
Healthy Challenges: A Risk-Benefit Approach
“Isn’t that dangerous?” In this discussion-based workshop, we’ll address common concerns about safety, explore the difference between risks and hazards, and engage with cultural perceptions of safety that influence practice. We’ll introduce a toolkit for crafting an approach that allows for beneficial challenges while minimizing hazards.
A Growing Landscape: Site Maintenance
The outdoor environment has unique challenges when it comes to keeping things functional and aesthetically pleasing. This workshop will give your program strategies for managing an ever-changing landscape, including irrigation, seasonal cleanups, and ongoing inspections. You’ll come away with templates for checklists that will help you prioritize limited time and resources.
Shovel-Ready: Building Your Vision
Improving your landscape for play and learning is a marathon, not a sprint! This workshop will cover strategic planning and phasing, identifying resources in your community, and working with volunteers and professionals to implement your vision. We’ll look at some examples of short-term elements that can add rich play value to any outdoor space.
Field Trip!
Join us for an in-person visit to a child care setting to learn about best practices and overcoming challenges. Tours take place in the Greater Boston area.
Outdoor Space Coaching
Gardens For Life can help you address the unique challenges of managing landscapes for play and learning. We offer safety audits by a Certified Playground Safety Inspector. If you want to improve your space but aren’t ready for a long-term investment, we can coach you through short-term additions like loose parts or raised beds.
Maintenance Coaching
Looking for expert guidance on keeping your outdoor play space functional and attractive? Gardens For Life can help you troubleshoot typical issues like keeping plants watered, replacing materials, improving storage, and addressing safety. Services may include direct maintenance work, managing staff/volunteer work days, and advising on materials purchases.
Prerequisite Workshop:
- Best Practices for Outdoor Play and Learning
Loose Parts Coaching
We’ll provide custom assistance with enhancing your loose parts practice. Coaching may include advising on materials and storage, obtaining materials, and providing ongoing support as materials are introduced.
Prerequisite Workshops:
- Best Practices for Outdoor Play and Learning
- Infinite Flexibility: Loose Parts
Short-Term Site Improvement Coaching
If your budget and capacity is limited, Gardens For Life can help you test out shorter-term elements like planters, painted graphics, or edging that creates landscape “rooms.” We offer construction consulting, which may include direct work, managing staff/volunteer work days, and advising on materials purchases.
Prerequisite Workshops and Services:
- Best Practices for Outdoor Play and Learning
- Getting it Built: Fundraising and Community Engagement
- Concept Design (depending on site)
Keep It Growing!
Design Consulting
Gardens For Life specializes in designing landscapes where people of all ages and abilities can engage with nature. We begin by listening and building a shared vision. As we move through the process from site analysis to sketches to final plans, we’ll incorporate your feedback and craft a landscape design that responds to your site and your needs.
We design for people and planet. Ask us about native plantings and repurposed items that become planters or play elements!
Concept Design
We’ll collaborate with you to design a big-picture plan for your outdoor space. This drawing shows basic layout and some suggested elements. A concept plan guides future improvements but does not include specific details or instructions for contractors. Please note that this option is only available for sites meeting certain spatial requirements; get in touch to find out more!
Prerequisite Workshop:
- Best Practices for Outdoor Play and Learning
Design Development
We’ll collaborate with you to design a big-picture plan for your outdoor space, then develop the plan further, getting feedback along the way. The final drawing will show some details such as recommended materials and plant lists, and a phasing plan may be included if needed. For some sites, this drawing will be enough for a creative contractor to build; others may require Construction Documentation (see below).
Prerequisite Workshop:
- Best Practices for Outdoor Play and Learning
Rendering
A perspective drawing of your vision is an effective tool for fundraising and building momentum. The drawing will show children playing, helping people imagine how the transformed space will be used.
Prerequisite Service:
- Concept Design OR Design Development
Construction Documentation
Depending on your site and needs, your contractor may need a high level of detail so the project gets built according to your vision. We provide a full set of construction documents with a planting plan and detailed specifications about layout, materials, dimensions, and quantities.
Prerequisite Service:
- Design Development
Construction Consulting
We’ll guide you through the construction process, helping to make sure your vision is carried out. Services may include meeting with contractors to review plans and provide clarifications, on-site advising during construction, and volunteer management.
Prerequisite Services:
- Design Development
- Construction Documentation (depending on project)
What the world of play needs is more variety, more of the unexpected, places that make one just stop and wonder.
JAY BECKWITH