Following Christmas, we encouraged families to bring their disgarded “real” Christmas trees to our outdoor classroom. A lovely early childhood program in Roseville, CA, Roseville Community School, began this tradition years ago with lovely play outcomes. We wondered what might happen when trees were added to the our downtown playscape.

Over a dozen trees, of all sorts, sizes, and species, soon dotted our rooftop garden area. Joyfully, the children began to explore these GIANT LOOSE PARTS by interacting with them. Children pulled, dragged, and propped the trees up — moving them across the space was a grand way to encourage cooperation as children negociated with one another to get the job done. There was also an interest in being ON the trees.