Photo courtesy of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church
On July 21, Youth and Family Program Coordinator, Meghan Goldman, enjoyed an afternoon in Sterling with the St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church Youth Group. Her mission was to train the 12 to 15-year-old members on how to be Junior Play Rangers.
What is a Play Ranger? Play Rangers are volunteers that help us set up Nature Play areas where younger children get the opportunity to experience unstructured free play in outdoor environments. Preparing a site involves putting up signs and placing a variety of items like old pots and pans to make mud pies, and random sticks and branches to build things.
The Church Youth Group assisted in setting up a “Mud Spa”, a café specializing in “deep fried” chalk sticks coated in mud and a “Mud Corporation” built from scrap wood panels held together by mud mortar. While attendance by younger kids was low, the 12 to 15-year-old newly trained Rangers had a great time. Everyone was covered in mud by the conclusion, a five-star success rating by Nature Play standards!