Fire in the Hole!

Crash, Snap. Pop was heard as I wandered through the playground.  Then a plastic play doh cup landed at my feet.  I looked at the top of the climber expecting to see the guilty party smiling down at me.  The climber was oddly empty.

Two more steps, then a clunk and a shower of woodechips landed on my head. A bit stunned I looked up to see a Dixie cup floating to the ground.

I rounded the climber and came face to face with a group of children standing around several logs. Stacked on top of the logs, were patio bricks.  Across the bricks, were wooden planks, from an old flowerpot.  On one end of each plank was a container full of wood chips.
View this video to see what I saw.

A child stepped up to one of these contractions and flung a wood cookie as hard as he could onto the opposite end of the wooden plank.  Up went the container of wood chips.  It flipped nicely in the air showering wood chips onto the ground below; the cup continued up, hit a tre branch and then began to come back down.  It ricocheted off the climber, bounced off the slide and landed to the ground. Cheers erupted from the group.  The next child stepped

up, flung an object as hard as he could at the next contraption and a Dixie cup full of debris took off skyward.  It hit the wall and landed not to far from where it was launched.  “Awe man,’ was said by many watching, along with audible groans.  I was tempted to walk up and control the scene.

Something stopped me and I just watched as the above scene was repeated over and over again.  Slowly and quietly I joined the group.  No one really noticed me.  I watched as they figured out they could aim the objects, by moving where the plank of wood pointed.  They catapulted objects of different sizes and shapes into the air and sorted them into piles of “high” and ‘not high”.  They worked as teams and individuals.  They shared materials freely and if someone wanted something they solved any disputes.  Such rich learning.  Physics had come to life.  Math and geometry were beginning to develop.

I wanted to play too.  I just sat back quietly and made mental notes and took video and photographs.  I am so glad the adult in me did not take over.  I would have ruined such rich learning and cooperation.  Crucial skills where being learned and enjoyed while woodchips were sent flying in the air.  Hypothesis were made about how to get them to go higher and faster and then those ideas were tested out.  Crude measuring skills were but into place as the climber levels and tree became the standards for success and failure.