Cold Day At CNP PlayScape

What do you do with a house full of kids that have been cooped up for days...seems like maybe years...jk...you bundle them up and take them out in nature and run them until they can't run any more!

We lucked out...lots of magnifying glasses to explore with!

And oh the things you can see when you just stop and bend down.

One of the ideas behind the philosophy of PlayScape is that the kids explore and manipulate the things they find in nature.  Someone before us built bridges over the creek bed with logs that are just lying around.

Hollowed out old stumps are places where lots of things can hide and live.

red sumac

We  thought that this looked like deer fur...and it felt like it too.

Ernie practicing his balancing act.

Fiona trying to decide what to do.

If you look really hard at the speck on the rock all the way back in the middle of the pic...you will see Michael.  I could not figure out what he was doing...

...until I saw the arrows that he had made for us on the path.  We had to follow the arrows to get to him at 'picture rock'.

We got a little side tracked when we remembered the stick and log forts in the woods.

And then there is my dream log cabin...just like the one that I have always dreamed of....a small cabin with a porch overlooking a pond (Matt's Pond).  Ahhh heaven on earth!

oh no, more forts...anyone see Ellis looking thru the logs?

I think he thinks his new hat makes him look like a Ninja.

Picture Rock...we might have to find a bigger rock.

Science Experience....which is easier to balance...a long stick or a short stick?  Answer...long stick.

Abner Hollow Cabin...originally located in Adams County at the shallow crossing point on the Brush Creek.  Built in the early 1800.  The upstairs loft was used to store the corn in the winter.  Also the children could also sleep on them.  The house is made of wood from oak and tulip trees.  The original shingles were oak but have been replaced with cedar.  The logs were put together with the steeple-notch technique.

And then we were into tree limb climbing.

And a little bit of hanging...

some with a little help.

We had to check out the inside of the Nature Center...where it was nice and warm.  We even got to sit in front of the fireplace.  There were snowflakes to assemble, fur to touch, animals to read about, birds to watch thru binoculars, books to read....

A little snack on the tree stump.

We give out day a Two Thumbs Up Thursday!