When thinking back to my childhood, I was an adventurous child. We lived in Buena Vista at this time, and most of my day took place outside. Summer, winter, spring or fall, there was always an adventure to be found, a home to be built etc. I would pack up my doll, snacks, and few random toys for the day, everything we would need to survive. Often, I would head off into the bush that divided our yard and our neighbours, this is not a bush like in town, and as a small child, it was a forest.  Usually, my neighbour friend would be meet for a day of fort build, bush cleaning and played some form of house. Other than our dolls, stuffies and blankets, we would use whatever we found in the bush. My neighbour was my age, and she only lived there in the summer months, where I lived there year-round.

Imagination was key, a branch to be a broom, a stick could be a shovel, a weapon to hunt with, a spider web destroyer and a room divider. Rocks were for building and balancing, dishes for the house, fireplaces for cooking. The bush was primarily made of saskatoon bushes, but there were lots to forge in our dramatic play scenarios; our dolls ate almost anything. These moments in time stand out to me because, in these moments, I could be anything: a parent, a child, an animal and a hunter-gather. I had no fear in this play, and bugs were not a thing that sends me running as they do now.

This type of play was very child-chosen, pretend and imaginative in style, but most of all, it was fun.  I exhibited numerous play types such as locomotor play, social play, socio-dramatic play, and even sometimes rough and tumbled play through this space. I learned to be independent, curious, creative, and free-thinking through play. By playing freely outside, I developed socially, physically, cognitively, emotionally with my friend. We learned how to understand our place in the world and how it fits into ours. The play was an experience I will always remember, the joy and freedom it granted, oh how I wish an adult to return to the sense of innocence in a play indeed. I want to inspire that growth and wonderment in my children.