Mt. Hood Community College Early Childhood Center Approaches Completion

Mt. Hood Community College Early Childhood Center is nearing completion! As the first new building on the Troutdale campus in nearly three decades, the center will provide a hands-on environment for college students to work with young children. GreenWorks designed a Landscape Site Plan for the center creating three distinct areas focused on different learning environments: an area for infants, an area for 3-5 year olds, and an area for free play and exploration which is less structured and serves as a nature classroom.

GreenWorks assisted the client in building a natural play vocabulary, design sense and product knowledge needed to support the development and approval of a nature based playground. Features include earthen mounds, rocks and logs for climbing, a sand and water play area, a sensory garden and art and music features. The playground aims to inspire a deeper connection between young people and nature that they will continue to develop throughout their lives.

Girl Scouts Bring Change of Scenery to Silver Falls State Park

Silver Falls State Park is home to hundreds of acres of native forest and dozens of beautiful waterfalls. It will also be the future home of a Natural Play Area. The transformation of this animal-themed discovery area moved further last weekend when three local Girl Scouts Abby, Carling, and Kate built bird and bat houses to be integrated into the site. Girl Scouts from Troop #1047 were rewarded for their work, earning the highest award for Junior Girl Scouts, the Bronze Award.

The girls built a variety of boxes for the site – a Screech Owl Box, Small Bird House, and Bat House all of which were pre-drilled with screw holes and mounted directly to trees in the play area. The bird boxes will attract local native birds into the bird themed play area where park visitors young and old explore human sized bird houses.

Last Month’s bird house construction comes after the park broke ground last fall, incorporating animal themed play areas that get children outside and connected with nature. The park is being built primarily by parks staff and volunteers like the Girl Scouts. The Play Area will continue adding on play features this summer and aims to be open to the public by the fall.

Early Head Start Playground Breaks Ground at Clackamas Community College

After a few months of intensive design, the children at the Clackamas Community College's Early Head Start are starting to see their playground take shape.  Little hands grasping the chain link construction fence and eyes set on the excavator, they wait patiently as the sea of bark chips is replaced with a natural area for creative play.

The Clackamas County Children’s Commission (CCCC) is a non-profit organization that serves children in Clackamas County. Their Early Head Start play space was in need of upgrades. The equipment was out dated and not meeting the physical needs of the young children.

GreenWorks worked with CCCC to develop a plan that fit within their limited space, met development requirements of younger children and offered an alternative play experience from traditional playground equipment. The nature based playground design includes an embankment slide, sand play area, trike loop, potting shed play house, lush planting and timber climbers. GreenWorks helped the client re-invision how to use the existing covered space for additional all season play, how to incorporate appropriate storage, and how play surfacing could extend social areas for music, arts, and classroom activities.

Silver Falls State Park Natural Play Area

Have you ever wanted to nap like a cougar, climb into an ant hill, build a birds nest or dig for insects like a bear? In the coming year you may be able to do all these things and more in the animal themed interpretive,  natural play area at Silver Falls State Park. GreenWorks has begun work on phase one of the interpretive natural play area at the Park. The idea grew out of the Oregon Parks and Recreation ‘Stepping Stones’ program with the goal to get kids outside and connected with nature.  A 2009 series of workshops with educators, OPRD staff, designers and of course kids, developed themes, ideas and concepts using the Stepping Stones methodology.

The Silver Falls Play area will be animal themed. The young and young at heart can explore a series of play areas situated in a fir and fern wonderland. The first phase of construction will include bear, ant, cougar and bird themed areas. Below are schematic site plans of some of the areas, as well as sketches developed in the design workshops last year. Keep your wild ears open for further design and construction news.

Have a wildly fun and safe Labor Day Weekend.