Children of all ages, and one could argue adults too, need to experience free play in order to enhance and develop creative thinking, motor skills, social nous and personal courage, not to mention happiness, self-reliance and most other things worthwhile in life. By the time a young person leaves school he will have spent some 18000 hours in the education environment (Kindergarten to Year 12). At least one fifth of this time is spent before, between and after structured lessons, say 3600 hours (or nearly a full year of daylight) of potential creative play time! Even if a portion of this non-lesson time could be directed towards quality unstructured play, the benefits would be far reaching.

A children's garden at Lorien, teachers, parents and students have been working for the past 25 years on the children's creative play environment.

Our playground flows through the school property, which consists of 5Ha of sloping orchards, gardens and forest. The play areas themselves are shared by everyone from Pre-School to Year 12 (about 350 children and students).  And while some of the younger classes have their own special areas, within the overall scheme the whole school has the feeling of being a creative playground.

During their playtime at school children and students can find: Trees - giant and small, bushes, bamboo, fruit trees, deciduous trees for Autumn leaves, acres of grass, water lilies, flowers, pine cones and their own vegetable gardens: rocks, ponds, sandpits, logs and stumps, stepping stones and claypits; ladybirds, beehives, dragonflies, butterflies and birds of all kinds, tadpoles, frogs, lizards, chooks, ducks, guinea pigs, rabbits and goats; hiding places and cubbies of all kinds, cubby building materials, rope swings, rope bridges, tree houses, steps and paths, trampolines, quiet places and noisy places, a flying fox and a great big boat; spades and things to dig with, hammers, saws and wood to make things with but most of all they find time. Playing is very important.

Our school has a philosophy which places a high value on creative play. As a consequence the teachers, parents and children have always included these needs in their vision of the school as it grew. The past 25 years have seen a consistent and imaginative evolution of our playground. Playground management A creative play environment is a place where children love to be and because it is 'their' place it is never deliberately damaged.