Nurturing Imagination and Wonder

There’s a new outdoor playspace for GCDS Nursery and Pre-K students. Located at the circle in front of the Lower Elementary School, this flat, grassy circle transformed over the summer into a space that celebrates natural play, encouraging imaginative and physical engagement.

There are purposely no stationary play structures in the space—no jungle gym or monkey bars. Instead, the children climb boulders, roll down the newly formed hill, balance on logs, and play with leaves.

Pre-K teacher Merritt Merritt describes Nature’s Playspace as versatile. “The pieces in the Playspace are fluid. They can be moved by the children to create many different scenarios. Wooden boxes can be a stage, part of a train, cars, wooden planks propped on wood for bridges. The sand table can be used for collecting, the children like to pretend it’s the kitchen where they fill bowls and cook stew. The hill is a favorite spot—they love to sit up there and roll down.”

For Ms. Merritt, the Playspace supports learning goals as an outdoor classroom where children can investigate and apply early mathematics, literacy, and science topics in the real world. They engage in open-ended, collaborative play and sensory exploration. “Children develop a sense of wonder and connect with the natural world through exploration.”

NATURE’S PLAYSPACE was created with a generous donation from the Sanders family, a multi-generational GCDS family: parents Pamela and Art, and children Jordan Sanders ’01, Remy Sanders Dowd ’03, and Erin Sanders ’05.

Their collaboration with the school’s Lower Elementary leadership ensured the space met safety standards while nurturing imaginative play. The space reflects the family’s commitment to maintaining the essence of childhood within the school’s community-oriented ethos.

“As a family, our goal was to enhance this space for the youngest students at the school by creating a unique, natural, and versatile area,” says Jordan Sanders. “When we attended GCDS, our parents were extremely involved in the school, and we are continuing that legacy with the Nature’s Playspace. GCDS has been, and continues to be, an important part of our family and we are very happy to support the school.”