As part of his work this summer, BayCoast Bank Summer Land Steward Intern Nate Vanech made upgrades to the Children’s Discovery Garden. Below, he writes about his experience.
The Land Steward Summer Intern spends a lot of hours maintaining the gardens and accessible paths at Westport Woods. From the first blooms in early summer through voracious weeds and regular string trimming, the gardens and paths need regular upkeep. Many times, as I worked, families would come through the Children’s Discovery Garden, and I had the opportunity to observe how children interacted with the plantings and the built structures. Adding to the existing structures became the focus of my internship project.
After researching some natural playgrounds and educational toys popular in schools, I settled on making a gadget board, also called a busy board. These structures are both an educational tool and an interactive toy that have gained popularity over recent years most commonly in outdoor play areas and experiential schools.
Discovering How Things Work
For kids, the boards encourage curiosity and give busy hands the opportunity to fiddle and fidget. But the boards are more than simply a toy. This type of sensory play also builds brain development. Gadget boards provide children with the opportunity to play with various mechanisms that promote the development of sensory and cognitive abilities, as well as fine motor skills.
The combination of visual and tactile stimuli allows kids to understand mechanisms, without needing to be instructed by an adult. Furthermore, this fine motor dexterity and hand-eye coordination helps teach younger children the motions required to learn to hold a pencil or pen. The addition of a mini weather station at Westport Woods’ gadget board promotes a different curiosity and understanding of natural phenomena.
Improving accessibility
In addition to researching, planning, and building the gadget board, I also wanted to polish some of the existing aspects of the Children’s Discovery Garden, which gets daily use by families, school groups, and campers.
Throughout the front part of the Westport Woods campus paths are built in an effort to accommodate individuals who may require solid, even ground for ease-of-access, as well as in support of mobility aids. As part of my project, I widened and extended these more solid paths into the Children’s Garden, so that everyone can safely and easily reach both the pipe xylophone and the library box.
Nate Vanech is a rising junior at Connecticut College, majoring in Environmental Studies. Passionate about the South Coast ecosystem, he is interested in the intersection of politics, policy, and the environment.
