Hidden Oaks celebrates 10 years of free play in nature

Nature Playce offers children a place to explore and play in a natural setting.

Nature Playce, the outdoor play area at the Hidden Oaks Nature Center, gives children a chance to play and be creative outdoors with no rules.

And that’s what they did at the 10th anniversary celebration of Nature Playce Sept. 29: They built forts out of pieces of wood, walked on the rocks around a little pool, and got a little dirty mixing water and sand.

Some of the structures in Nature Playce were built as Eagle Scout projects.

The outdoor natural playground was built with help from the Bailey’s Crossroads Rotary Club, Transurban, other donors, and youths aspiring to become Eagle Scouts.

Eagle Scout Neal Cobert of Troop 681, who returned to Hidden Oaks for the celebration, had helped build the gateway and other structures in Nature Playce.

Hidden Oaks, the first nature center in Fairfax County, will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2019. When it was established, the headquarters of the county’s Park Authority was based at the nearby Packard Center.

Crafts at Hidden Oaks teach kids about nature.

Nature Playce was designed to counter “nature deficit disorder,” as described by Richard Louv in Last Child in the Woods, says Suzanne Holland, visitor services manager at Hidden Oaks.
That book documents research that found direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy child development.

“Children who aren’t exposed to nature are less inclined to appreciate and protect nature when they grow up,” Holland says. “The best way to connect children with nature is to have them play outdoors in an unstructured way.”