The Marygrove Early Learning Center is an early education facility for children ages 0-5 that encourages learning through play. The school’s natural playground is nested in the existing grove of trees, where children have the opportunity to observe nature in all four seasons with all their senses, develop a curiosity for the environment, and grow with their friends. The playground was designed with opportunities for imaginative play and development of motor skills with several loosely programmed zones. Trees that were taken down for health and safety prior to construction were repurposed into tree stumps, wood cookie pavers, and left as logs. Within the wattle-fenced playground, three distinct zones consisting of the lawn with mound and slide, printed rubber surface, and woodland garden all seamless connect allow children to run, climb, explore, and observe. Outside the wattle fence, children can take a nature walk around the grove, dig in areas off the pathways for fossils, and pluck berries in the edible forest patches. They can also water their vegetable garden using the water table and gather as a group in their outdoor classroom.
The building also consists of three planted courtyards with floor to ceiling glass windows to visually bring the outdoors in.
