OPSR - Nature Environments at Homes and Daycare Centers
Client:
Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness
Architect:
Good Fieldwork
Construction:
About these projects:
Oklahoma Project for School Readiness funded a new concept for bringing natural learning environments to day care homes and small day care centers across urban and rural Oklahoma.
Typically underfunded spaces, and often multi-tasking as both a backyard for regular family use and as a playground for the care center’s children, the existing play yard spaces lacked natural elements that are critical for physical, social, emotional and educational development. The OPSR project was conceived to add elements to the yards that not only create physical play opportunities but set a scene for development beyond a typical indoor classroom setting.
To create equity between providers, and to reduce expensive on-site labor requirements, Good Fieldwork created a prefabricated “kit-of-parts” that included off-the-shelf natural play products and custom-built features that were carefully designed and coordinated to limit heavy site-construction, time on site, and challenges between inherently different site conditions. Jonesplan, Good Fieldwork’s partner contractor turned its office building into a turn-key workshop for receiving shipments, fabricating custom elements, and organizing the materials until each facility’s kit could be deployed on a single trailer, and fully installed in 2 to 3 days.
Each of the spaces includes a custom wood hut that functions as a puppet theater (complete with curtains, a stage and stump seating for the audience), a large magnetic chalkboard and a window-sized transparent dry-erase board, storage bins for art supplies, and a colorful skylight. A custom wood grand entry invites children to “EXPLORE” the natural environment, loose wood cookie steppers allow children to create their own pathways, a large hollow log becomes a tunnel, and fully stocked kitchen equipment tempts children to mimic their families by playing as mud chefs. Also included are a high-quality music instrument, a little library with reused children’s book sets, a worktable with custom blocks, and large wood pieces for a form of “Lincoln-log” play. Good Fieldwork and Jonesplan went the extra mile at each site by adding plants, misters, wind-chimes and more to create a full sensory experience.
The OPSR Nature Environments project is a fully ground-up project conceptualized, designed and built by the Good Fieldwork / Jonesplan team to fill the need of a very worthy group of people – essential daycare providers in our communities and the development of the children under their care.
