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While many visitors seek out Mass Audubon wildlife sanctuaries as places for quiet nature observation and active learning through education programs, we’ve recently added more ways for people to connect with nature by encouraging self-directed, informal play.
Unlike static, traditional playgrounds, nature play areas give children the chance to solve problems and construct their surroundings through natural elements and unstructured exploration. Check out nature play elements at these sanctuaries.
Northampton What: Find everything needed to build fairy homes, add-to or play in a teepee made of black locust and grapevine branches, master the stump jump, and let your seafaring fantasies unfold in a grounded sunken rowboat. Picnic tables near the shade of large staghorn sumacs are great for snack time and watching the fun unfold.
Where: At the edge of the field by the parking lot, facing away from the Nature Center; look for the “nature play area” sign.
Good to know: The seasonal children’s flower and veggie garden is maintained by Arcadia’s nature pre-school students and campers.
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Mattapan
What: The 14,000-square-foot Nature Nook has something for everyone: gardening, building, climbing, and a shaded gathering area with benches for relaxing. Highlights include an akambira (a giant xylophone), a jungle-like tall grass and staghorn sumac maze (complete with secret passageways), and a stone streambed where children can experiment with running water, sand, and sticks.
Where: Face the main building and turn right. Go down the hill and look for the trellis that marks the entrance.
Good to Know: The Nature Nook’s trail is all-persons-accessible and there are raised tables for digging in sand and dirt.
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Worcester
What: It’s all about building at Broad Meadow Brook. Create mini cities with found bricks or design gnome homes with moss, leaves, acorns, and anything else found on the ground. Taking a cue from a traditional playground, a wooden two-seater swing let you soar like the birds above.
Where: Follow the Holdredge Trail to find the Nature Play area. Along the way you will find our tree chairs and swings.
Good to know: The surprisingly comfortable tree chairs were made of trees that were cut down to keep the forest healthy.
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Lincoln
What: Let your senses run wild at Drumlin’s Sensory Tree: smell the cedar, listen to bird calls and woodpecker taps, and search for the hidden animals and insects. The fun doesn’t stop there! Follow the Forest Discovery Trail to find raccoon and coyote tracks embedded in the ground, an over-sized bird nest (eggs included), woodchuck tunnels, a rhododendron maze, and the stump jump.
Where: Check in at the Visitor Services window and follow the path half-way down the entrance hill to the Sensory Tree. The Forest Discovery Trail starts at the Drumlin Underground building (pick up a map at the trailhead).
Good to know: Check out the treasure boxes along the Forest Discovery Trail to see what other visitors have found and to leave a natural treasure of your own.
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Edgartown
What: It's butterfly central on the Vineyard. In addition to a picnic
table that represents the life cycle of these transforming visitors
(i.e. benches shaped like a caterpillar and cocoon), there's a butterfly
garden where you can search out the stages up close and personal.
Looking to get more physical? Build small and large shelters, jump
stumps, or play hide-and-go-seek in a woven bittersweet tunnel hidden in
a pine grove.
Where: Head to the right just before reaching the Nature Center for
Butterfly central and picnic table. Head to the left for stump jump and
building area.
Good to know: Try your hand at nest building! Next to our stump jump
you'll find materials and framework ready for you to build your very own
human-sized bird nest.
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Topsfield
What: Ipswich River’s Nature Play Area provides a new way for children to explore the outdoors. Kids can dig for animal bones, explore a woodland trail, scale a miniature observation tower, or challenge themselves on our stump jump and fallen log balance beam.
Where: Right next to our new visitor center!
Good to know: Materials used in the construction of this area were recycled from the sanctuary property.
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Newburyport
What: The Flats come alive at the Education Center. Here, you can identify sea shells, crab molts, and mermaid purses at a sand table or handle live animals such as sea stars, urchins, and hermit crabs in a 110-gallon tide pool touch tank. Just out back see how you size up to marine mammals at a life-size display.
Where: Find the large sand table and the tide pool touch tank inside; the marine mammal display, and butterfly garden are in the backyard.
Good to know: Two indoor/outdoor scavenger hunts appeal to kids of all ages: there’s the picture-based preschool one and a more challenging nature search for ages 7 and up.
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Marshfield
What: Hone coordination skills at North River’s nature play area. Zig zag along a series of stumps, all of which came from downed trees on the property or climb a fallen log. Coming in June 2011: a stone path that leads through a garden.
Where: The stump jump sits directly in the front of the Nature Center, while the fallen log is at the entrance to the Woodland Trail.
Good to know: Bring lunch or snacks. A picnic table at the edge of the play area is ADA-compliant.
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Attleboro
What: Ever want to know what it feels like to be a nesting bird? Hop in Oak Knoll’s giant (5’ tall and 8’ wide!) man-made bird nest constructed out of sticks and vines. There’s also Sid the Snake Stump Jump, an enchanted pathway hidden by foliage, and a teepee frame waiting for more sticks and logs.
Where: The stump jump, nest, and walkway sit behind the Nature Center and carriage barn. To get to the teepee, as well as a fairy-home building area, take Puddingstone Trail beyond the photovoltaic panels. Stay to the left at the Marsh Trail and go left again on the Talaquega Trail.
Good to know: The mosaic turtle – a decorative rock arrangement embedded in the ground behind the Nature Center – serves as an herb garden in warmer months.
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(formerly Visual Arts Center)
Canton
What: Express your creativity and connect with nature at the
same time. Use rocks as a medium for masterful chalk works of art and
build mini cities from twigs, tree bark, and stones.
Where: Near the large rock outcrop along the path from the parking lot to the Museum.
Good to know: Some of these play elements were constructed by
staff and volunteers during Mass Audubon's 2011 Work for Wildlife Day.
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Princeton
What: A rock is anything but a rock at Wachusett Meadow. Pretend to scale a mountain or steer a ship aboard one of the large boulders. On a smaller scale, use found objects like sticks, leaves, and pinecones, to create shelters for real and imaginary creatures, sculpt in a sandbox, or add to the hickory wigwam frame.
Where: Behind the Visitors' Center and slightly to the right, just behind the program room.
Good to know: This area is reserved for preschoolers and campers when preschool and camp are in session. Be sure to also find a vegetable garden just across the lawn with peas, pumpkins, corn and beans growing in the summer and fall, as well as a garden for hummingbirds and butterflies.
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