Location: Far west of downtown at 7702 Tree Lane a block off of Mineral Point Road.
The City Park Website lists all amenities with a google map.
Haen Family Park looks like a regular playground in the blazing hot sun of a grassy field. The equipment is new and is different, in that standard-but-different way. It has ropes and spinning features and many options for climbing. It is a pretty cool playground (except on a summer day, when it is really hot).
But what you might miss is that right next to the playground is a little trail head. On one edge of the groomed field are woods, and in the woods is a creek. It is the perfect kind of place for exploring. Shady, cool, hidden, and a bit mysterious.
On the day we went to Haen Family Park, the Alicia Ashman branch of Madison Public Library was hosting an event. The Alicia Ashman library has loads of kids programs, but this program was really special. The Children’s Librarian went to great lengths to make Haen Family Park into an Anji Play oasis for Tuesday afternoons in July. I work on Tuesdays but I’ve been so curious about the Anji Play philosophy I took off work early, scooped up the kids, and drove to the edge of town to check it out. What I saw impressed me.
Anji Play is easily summed up as a minimally structured space and a long stretch of time for kids to interact as they wish with simple materials. However, it’s really worth reading more about the history and evolution of the internationally-recognized early childhood curriculum that was developed and tested over the past 15 years by educator Cheng Xueqin.
The idea is that ‘true play’ is when children are realizing their own intentions, and that children will set themselves up for fun. The website explains that “with 10 minutes and a climbing structure, a child might climb up and down and maybe jump. But with two hours and a range of open-ended materials, children will organize and create highly complex structures and rules to govern their use. Moreover they will seek to eliminate those factors that stifle their play intentions. They will solve conflicts, remove danger and create order because it makes their play more fun. They will seek to understand what they are doing and they will ask for help if they need it. Time is crucial here.”
The pillars of Anji Play are Love, Risk, Joy, Engagement and Reflection. Carissa Christner, the librarian-organizer of the Wild Rumpus series, greeted adults upon arrival at Haen Park to lay the ground rules. These rules were simple, but they were hard to follow: “Hands off; Mouths shut.” In other words, leave the kids alone and watch while they do whatever they feel like doing.
I wandered around taking pictures and trying to give my kids space to explore. My girls were deliberate, observant, engaged and bold. I hadn’t prepped them for this and I could see them trying to figure it all out. I sensed it all felt both foreign and comfortable. Some areas were chaotic and some groups of children boisterous. Other areas were calmer, and they gravitated toward those. At one point I watched my daughters in a clump of kids trying to hang a colored ring from a high tree branch. Another parent was right there, forgetting the rules, trying to offer assistance. My six-year-old wandered away, but then came back carrying a ladder. She set it up without a word.
A couple of picnic tables were laid out with booklets and crayons. Kids that had been to earlier Anji Play sessions returned to their play journals at the end of the time, recording and reflecting on their play stories. My girls surprised me in that they happily sat down to draw and write about their experiences. In fact, the four-year-old drew much more sophisticated pictures than she typically draws, explaining she liked the tension ropes and playing in the mud with her sister.
I emailed Carissa later and to find out if more Anji Play happenings are planned. I was curious if things had gone as she hoped. She says it was a great experience and she had lots of ideas for trying Anji Play in other settings. She is even hoping to go to Anji County, China on a Study Tour to observe and learn more.
But without an Anji Play event, what can we do on a regular day to set the stage for true play? Based on what Carissa observed, she suggested this:
Try asking your kids to create their own “Play Stories” after playing at the playground. Processing the activities they’ve just done by writing or drawing about them is really the most magical part of Anji Play in my opinion. Even having a conversation with you (or someone who wasn’t present) about their play helps them to remember and to think through the choices they made.
Maybe we’ll try that as part of our next playground review! Thanks Carissa! You can read her awesome Library Makers blog to see more pictures of the Wild Rumpus series and read about her other hands-on learning ideas!
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