For parents and educators: a walk through Cave Spring Park

Cave Spring Park is World 16 of the City of Creativity, a free reading, writing and nature-learning adventure from United By Creativity, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Ranger Willow invites children to look closely at a garden that has “fallen quiet” and to turn what they discover into a story of their own.

What children practice

Making careful observations (healthy flowers, flattened stems, a worn shortcut); telling what they can see apart from what they think caused it; using clues to support an idea while staying open when clues do not explain everything; gathering sight and sound details beside a pond; choosing a helpful action and explaining why; and writing a story setting, two sensory details and a story seed.

A writing program that grows from real observation

Children write in their own words, with optional tap-in ideas for younger writers. Their nature journal page can be printed, and their story seed is saved to their Idea Notebook for the book they write and publish in the Global Library.

Privacy

No accounts and nothing sent anywhere. Children’s answers stay in their own browser, and they use a nickname only.