6th July Hop a Park Day

Parks play a crucial role in enhancing our quality of life; they offer a refuge from the urban environment and provide a space for physical activities and mental rejuvenation.

Parks are vital spaces for community gathering, relaxation, and recreation and they give everyone an opportunity to connect to nature, not only on the first Saturday in July, but everyday.

Not sure about the name of the day. It is not an idiom in Australia, but I can't believe I haven't written about parks before. There is so much to write about and so many books to explore. There's national parks, theme parks, skate parks, recreational parks, adventure parks, sensory parks...

I don't propose to write about all of these types of parks, but rather to share some books that I like that highlight what may happen at the park.

Of course you can go there to play

You can walk the dog

These two books by Anthony Browne offer multiple perspectives on what happens at the park and there is much to talk about when you share these books.

You can take a child to the park

Both of these show just what can happen on an outing to a park.

The story can be set in a well known park

The Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney

The ducks walk past a bottle tree, through some gates, and along a road. Then little Alexander falls down the hole and the people work together to get him up and out! 

Boston Public Gardens

Mrs. Mallard was sure that the pond in the Boston Public Gardens would be a perfect place for her and her eight ducklings to live.  The problem was how to get them there through the busy streets of Boston.

The Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

A true story about Bob Redman, a New York City boy who built a series of intricate treehouses hidden in Central Park. 

It might be a park where anything can happen (imaginary or otherwise)

When Leonard takes a shortcut through the park, he finds an egg and takes it home, where it hatches into a lizard (or so Leonard thinks). Leonard names his new pet Buster and takes him all around the city: on the subway, to the library, to a baseball game, and more.

Emily Forbes finds a rock in a nearby park, but she has no idea that it is the egg of a prehistoric creature. She calls it Thing. 

The parks could inspire change

When a girl moves to a new town, she finds a place called Butterfly Park. But when she opens the gate, there are no butterflies. Determined to lure the butterflies in, the girl inspires her entire town to help her.

We Go to the Park is a beautiful, lyrical meditation on going to the park to play-which extends into a reflection on life itself.

A Park Connects Us
An ode to urban parks and the many ways they connect us to community and nature. This picture book excursion through a city park invites readers to discover how shared green spaces bring us together.

Fatima Khazi is excited for the weekend. Her family is headed to a local state park for their first camping trip! The school week might not have gone as planned, but outdoors, Fatima can achieve anything.

So many reasons to go to a park!

30th March Take-a-Walk-in-the-Park Day

It is the last week of term before Easter holidays and it is frantic at school, so the thought of just walking out the door to the park for a little time out really does appeal at the moment. Perhaps I'll get to do it next week. I have several favourite park books, but am only going to mention a few.

1. Off to the Park!  by Stephen Cheetham because it is new, tactile and perfect for preschoolers.

2.  Not Like That, Like This!  by Tony Bradman because it always makes me smile when I read it with classes and see their reaction to what the father has done while visiting the park with his son.

3. A Walk in the Park  and Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne because they are perfect for discussions about point of view and how each participant can have been in the same place and yet have a very different story to tell.

So sometime in the holidays savour a walk in the park, breathe in the fresh air and take sometime time to reflect on the good things in life.