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Chopped off pieces of a once mighty tree. Strong wind blowing. Branches swaying. Fallen leaves rustling.

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A video and poem of a make-believe play inspired by the howling wind, the crushing sounds of dried leaves under my feet, the musky smell of earth, and the drama of the holes in the trees. All fired me to play like a child who believes in magic.

For a child, every place is a playground.

Doorways

Great tree, once tall and mighty

Were you a hundred years old or only thirty?

But does it matter now?

When all I can do is ponder why and how.

Your trunks, they’re gigantic.

They must be full of magic.

Your body, chopped, scarred, scattered

Holes, you have a plenty

The wind whispers to me

They are doorways, come in and forget reality.

So come away with me, vanish with me

To a highland, or to a sea.

Mystery awaits and so does beauty.

Scarred tree, take me to many worlds unknown.

I have nothing to fear though I’m alone.

So off I go

To places only you and I know.

I might be passing through.

I might be gone for a decade or two.

But in every journey, I grow.

One doorway opens to a jungle

Of wild animals that cuddle.

Another to an ocean of waves

That make my boat dance like it’s at a rave.

A pirate leads me to another door

And I find myself twirling in the glitz and glamour.

Through your doorway

I enter a prince, I come out a princess having tea.

I enter with nothing.

I come out with something.

But time in the outside world is fleeting like a setting sun

So sadly, I must return to this world of dwindling fun.

Oh but wait! There’s another one!

By Jirah Life Sobrado-Vadocz

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One of the provocations that moved me during the walk was the holes I found in the dead tree. I remember the scarred trees of the First Nation people and the fascinating stories behind them. This also inspired me.
Looking at the holes, I realised they were not man-made. They were created by time, by the elements of nature or even perhaps by the tree itself. Why? Then the sleeping child in me was awoken and answered, "This hole could be a portal or a doorway to somewhere unknown." Then, I grew more excited when I saw a bottle of a beverage resting right outside the opening. "Someone must have been drinking here, found the doorway, entered and never came back", I imagined.

This make-believe play reminded me of the passage I read about Freud (cited in Brooker, Blaise & Edwards 2014) claiming that 'pretense is a form of pleasurable wish fulfillment through which young children act out doubts or anxieties, and desired outcomes in non-threatening contexts and, thus, learn to manage intense emotion'.
Yes, I may have played as an adult now but I share the same premise with children - make-believe play for pleasurable wish fulfillment and outcomes. Recently, I have been under a lot of stress and I believe that this prompted my "doorway" play. Subconsciously, or not, I wanted to be somewhere else, somewhere far away from reality. Unknown to us educators, young children in our care may probably be experiencing some stressful or harsh reality and pretend play is their escape. After all, it is a powerful influence on children's advancing self-regulation (Vygotsky cited in Brooker, Blaise & Edwards 2014).

During my walk, most of the play only happened in my mind. But I suddenly felt strange when I started filming for my Creative Response. Somehow, I felt self-conscious, silly even. Why? Because I wasn't alone anymore. There was someone else with me holding the camera. I was worried that this person might think I was crazy or silly to be playing this make-believe game. So, the play in the video wasn't exactly the same as my imagination. I didn't twirl in my tutu, I didn't talk or sing with my imaginary companions. It was tainted by this context of "adulthood” – make-believe play is only for children.

In contrast, children do not feel self-conscious. They don't worry about what others think. They simply play - all senses engaged. Then, grown-ups step in and ruin the creative play by telling the children they are silly or worse, that none of it is real.

In retrospect, I did have moments where I thought some children spent too much time playing. I even questioned the role of creative play in school readiness. But this unit enlightened me so much that all I want
to do now with the children in my care is play, play, play. I am now more driven with an understanding that creative play helps children develop the ability to make representation - an essential skill in academic success - and their imaginary world helps them learn critical concepts about the real world (Wilson 2007, p. 2).

In closing, nature has given me a raw yet rich atelier to utilise. I don't really need to spend money on resources. The grass, the trees, the birds, the wind, the rain, the river, the animals, the history of the land, the stories from the elders, the communities, the families and the children's voices; ALL are precious resources of knowledge and understanding.
Therefore, it is time to give children opportunities to be the directors of their own make-believe plays, to engage in the dramas of their senses and to discover
their abilities not only in the classroom but more importantly in the natural environment.
Vecchi (cited in Edwards, Gandini & Forman 2011, p.304) says, 'an atelier assists the adults in understanding processes of how children learn ... invent autonomous vehicles of expressive freedom, cognitive freedom,
symbolic freedom and paths to communication'. So, as an educator, I believe I have just unlocked an indispensable tool that can make me a better facilitator of learning today and in the future.

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Brooker, L, Blaise, M & Edwards, S 2014, The SAGE Handbook of Play and Learning in Early Childhood, SAGE Publications Ltd, https://vucollaborate.vu.edu.au/content/enforced/1752123-ECE2008-1-2023-H1B1-148814/the-sage-handbook-of-play-and-learning-in-early-childhood.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=XxNYi9cmXbhqVGvR8QigfXmel&ou=1752123

Wilson, R, 2007, Children, creative play, and the natural environment, in R. Wilson (edn) Nature and Young Children : Encouraging Creative Play and Learning in Natural Environments, Routledge https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vu/detail.action?docID=324894

Gandini, L 2012, ‘The atelier: a conversation with Vea Vecchi’, in C Edwards, L Gandini & G Forman (eds), The hundred languages of children: the Reggio Emilia experience in transformation, 3rd edn, ABC-CLIO, LLC, pp. 303–316 https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vu/reader.action?docID=820317&ppg=330