A Playground for Mr. Big Legs - STEM in the Outdoor Classroom

"Look! Look at this spider! His legs are so long! Let's call him Mr. Big Legs!"

The children found an interesting spider in the garden one day. Curious, they gently picked it up and let it climb up and down their arms. It was so graceful in its movements that even reluctant children came for a closer look.

"He's so cute! Why was he in the garden?"

"Maybe that's where he lives."

"How do you know he's a boy?" 

"The garden is so boring for him - nothing is growing right now."

"I know! Let's build him a playground!"

Curious about the children's ideas and how I could use their interest in spiders to enrich our outdoor space, I took photos and mentally planned for how we might proceed next. I considered what curriculum expectations might be met, and anticipated the math that might emerge. Such a simple and quick interaction with nature sparked a rich mathematical inquiry in our outdoor classroom that lasted for several days.  

Our first step was to conduct some research. What did children already know about spiders? What did they wonder about Mr. Big Legs specifically? How might they design a playground that he would like? What could they use to help them acquire more information?

We read a number of texts together to gather information that might help enrich their understandings of what exactly a spider was and needed in order to survive. We organized our ideas on a large chart paper and referenced this over the course of our inquiry.

                 

While exploring our school yard for more spiders, we noticed a really interesting tunnelled web just outside our window. The location was the perfect place to set up a 'spider observation window' where children could safely check on the spider during play time and carefully watch it in its habitat. Not only did this give children an additional opportunity to research, it provided children who weren't comfortable holding a spider a safe way to observe one up close without needing to handle it. (We wondered if the spider had eaten two others, or if this particular one shed its skin.)

 

The more the children learned about spiders, the more determined they were in their quest to create a playground for Mr. Big Legs. They designed spaces for him - a garden, house, slide, swing, and bridge - by drawing blueprints on their clipboards. They considered the size, shape, and materials needed for each creation.

     

 

During the next outdoor play time, the children brought their drawings outside and referred to them as they worked in the garden. Some children enhanced their drawings and others started anew. They looked to the materials available outdoors, and planned for how to build using only natural materials found in our space. 

 

                           

Their work was stunning; the level of thought put into creating the tiny structures was incredible. Children considered measurement and proportional reasoning as they built to scale. Here are some of their creations:

A bed - notice how the sticks point upwards in a circular direction and there are leaves to cushion the center. "The leaves will be so comfortable for him! It will be a soft place to sleep, and the sticks will keep other bugs away."

 

A swing - notice how this child has balanced the top section of the swing onto two sticks. Later on he would add a long, slender leaf in the middle for Mr. Big Legs to swing on. "I hope that he can balance because this isn't very stable right now."

An obstacle course - notice how Mr. Big Legs will have to climb through the structure, along the stick, hop on top of each of the stones and land on the leaf. The child who build this sequenced the steps in her course and articulated exactly what the spider would need to accomplish along the way while playing here. "This would be so much fun to play on - do you think he will know where to start and where to finish?"

 

A bedroom - this child created a circular structure so that Mr. Big Legs could weave a web near his playground using the rocks as anchors. She knew that many spiders used webs as a home and place to catch prey, and wanted to be sure he had this in his new area. "Spider webs are circles, so I put the rocks in a circle."

A garden - this child dragged his fingers in the dirt to make rows for Mr. Big Legs to use when planting rows of vegetables. "They need to be evenly spaced, because they need room to grow. That's what my dad does in our garden."

A slide - this child placed two sticks together on a slope resting in the corner of the garden. "I wonder if he will know to lift his legs. If he doesn't then he won't go down as fast because they are long and will bump against the slide."

A bridge - this child broke twigs so that they were approximately the right fit to be placed in the narrow hole in the garden. "I couldn't find any sticks that fit, so I broke them. I think Mr. Big Legs needs a bridge in case this hole is too deep for him. If it rains maybe he can pretend it's his pool.

Towards the end of the week the children found another Mr. Big Legs climbing on the brick wall. They eagerly picked him up and placed him in the garden so he could explore everything they had created. Proud of their work, they pointed out each structure and explained to him how he could use the equipment.

"This is your slide and here's your swing. You can play on those!"

"I made you a garden in case you don't catch any bugs in your web."

"And when you get tired, here's a bed for you to sleep on!"

I couldn't help but smile at their enthusiasm. I was amazed that something as simple as finding a spider in our yard could inspire such authentic STEM learning.