Even a Ditch can be a Place for a Nature Moment

Adventure can be found unexpected places

Last summer my kids invented a spontaneous play that they kept playing for the rest of the summer. It started when I bought three little plastic boats, each a different color. Then we took them with us to our nearby park area where there is a ditch that flows. They took off their shoes, rolled up their pants and waded in the muddy ditch. Imagination took over.

They kept floating the boats for hours and they were so excited about such little thing. My job was to make sure they didn’t fall and drown (the youngest was only two years old and I needed to take her hand so she didn’t slip). The four- and seven-year-old waded along the ditch covered with weeds. My son then pretended that was the Amazon river in the jungle. It started to get late but they didn’t want to leave. I promised that we can come back in the morning.

Later in the summer I gave them permission to bring Lego boats to the ditch. Imagination was running wild when they first built their ships and then headed to the dense jungle river. While watching their play, I started to wonder: why do we parents so often think kids need amusement parks, playgrounds, ready travel paths and so on? In reality, kids are often totally satisfied with less. Like this ditch near our home. We adults need to trust that nature itself is enough for entertainment and adventure.

The same play continued this spring in the same ditch, but at a different spot: now they enjoyed two hours (didn’t want to leave so would have enjoyed even longer) under the bird trees, where the field meets the park and a culvert goes under the path. The play changed to a stone age theme, and they started to make campfires and stick shelters, still wading in the muddy water. They even walked through the culvert —or ‘cave’, as the kids imagined it — which I was slightly nervous about, but it went alright and the kids were buzzing with excitement.