September 28, 2023

Ahrens Park will soon be home to a new outdoor play and learning addition. The Ahrens Park Foundation (APF) is developing a naturalized Outdoor Play and Learning Environment, located just west of the Ahrens Family Center, which houses the Grinnell Community Early Learning Center.

This innovative new space will provide access to a diverse, naturalized space that supports play and learning. The new addition will directly benefit infants and children attending the Grinnell Community Early Learning Center and will also serve Ahrens Park users and the larger Grinnell community during evenings and weekends while the Center is not open.

Chad Nath, APF president and CEO, says “The Outdoor Play and Learning Environment will serve as a unique, fun, and engaging place for children and families from Grinnell and beyond.” “There are many benefits to children and youth playing outside and improving the community in which these projects are developed,” Nath continues. “Outside, children and youth can release energy, use loud voices, play vigorously, and engage in messy projects. In addition, children can experience the plants and animals in their local ecosystem.”

Nath has been responsible for leading, managing and promoting this new project for the APF and the Ahrens/Paschall Memorial Park complex just as he does with other projects and overall operations on a daily basis.

Nath and Grinnell Parks and Recreation Director Jordan Allsup several years ago took a class offered by North Carolina State on the college’s Natural Learning Initiative (NLI), focused on creating outdoor learning environments to draw people outside and aid them in learning about the natural environment around them.

Since then Nath has been working with NLI on a collaborative, two- phase process to create a design for an outdoor play and learning environment serving the Early Learning Center children and Ahrens Park users. NLI is assisting APF in creating an outdoor space exemplifying best practices and informed by the latest research supporting the importance of outdoor play and learning in naturalized surroundings for the healthy development of young children.

According to the Ahrens Park Board of Directors, a community survey was completed by APF in early 2023 to gain a deeper understanding of the wellness and educational needs that could be applied to the project. Over 800 people completed the survey, indicating which samples of possible design elements they most favored.

Nath explains that the area is about 0.75 of an acre, located between the walking path bordering Penrose St. and the west side of the Ahrens Family Center which houses the Early Learning Center. The area currently contains one of the large landscaping mounds that have been part of Ahrens Park for years.

Portions of the space are still being designed, Nath continues. When fully developed, the area will contain spaces intended for infants and toddlers, areas intended for preschool kids, and areas intended for kids in kindergarten through fourth grade. Areas will be marked off by use of native plantings and natural materials such as stone with paths enabling easy movement among different areas.

The design thus far includes a variety of spaces for those different age groups, including sand play, earth play, a variety of types of acoustic play – metallophone and petal drum, calypso and harmony bells, a sensory path, balance logs, a mud kitchen with play houses and table and a play village with tables, climbing boulders, a boulder circle, a dry stream bed, and several pergolas with vines arching over the paths.

The design also includes three areas intended for gathering or hands-on teaching and learning, including an amphitheater taking advantage of the existing mound to create a space that will seat 50 who can attend outdoor lectures and demonstrations provided in a flat space in front of the seating, and an arbor area, featuring both trees and shade structures where groups can gather to cool off or to be part of shared learning experiences.

The third general area, expected to include flowing water, has not yet been designed. Nath says water service will be extended to the entire area so drinking fountains and water bottle filling stations can be provided, and that same water will be designed into a gathering area involving flowing water.

Nath says the project has received grants and is hoping to begin implementing the design in the spring of 2024. He adds that contributions to the project can speed up the implementation schedule and can enable the area to add more features.

Anyone interested in donating to the Outdoor Play and Learning Environment project can donate online at www.ahrensfamilyfoundation.org or mail a check to APF, P.O. Box 679, Grinnell, IA 50112. Donors are asked to mention Outdoor Play and Learning Environment in the check memo or online memo when making a gift.

The Ahrens/Paschall Memorial Park opened in 1994 and is named after Claude and Dolly’s son, Paul W. Ahrens, who passed away in 1989 at the age of fifty, and his friend, Jim Paschall, who also passed away at a fairly young age. Building a recreational park had always been a life-long dream for both Claude and his son, Paul.

The park is home to eight youth softball and baseball fields, outdoor basketball courts, a tennis court, four pickleball courts, a sand volleyball court, three youth soccer fields, a golf driving range, several playground areas, three shelter houses, a sledding hill, community gardens, green spaces, and a one and a half mile outdoor walking path. An outdoor ice-skating rink is open during the cold winter months.

The Ahrens Park Foundation (APF) was established in 1997 as a private operating foundation for the purpose of owning and operating the Ahrens/Paschall Memorial Park. APF’s mission is to provide first class recreational and athletic facilities while collaborating with wellness, educational and recreational programs, and organizations for the greater good of the community of Grinnell. APF partners include the Claude W. and Dolly Ahrens Foundation, Greater Poweshiek Community Foundation, Grinnell Community Early Learning Center, City of Grinnell’s Parks & Recreation, Grinnell Youth Baseball/Softball Association, Grinnell-Newburg Schools, Grinnell Chamber of Commerce, and Global Premier Soccer.

For more information about APF or The Ahrens/Paschall Memorial Park, please visit www.ahrensfamilyfoundation.org/ahrens-park-foundation/.