When picking up his daughter from summer camp one day this past summer, Fraser Woods Montessori School parent Ryan Knaggs had an idea.

There was a circle of stumps, up a small but slightly steep trail and beneath trees on the school’s property, and the students were using the stumps as chairs while listening to school teacher and summer camp instructor Christine Mitchell.

It occurred to Mr Knaggs that with a little “natural work” the space could be transformed.

Mr Knaggs, while walking the area on Wednesday, September 10, said he began his work by using a blower to clear the area of leaves, and from there “the whole thing just started.”

For about six to seven weeks over the summer break, Mr Knaggs worked, volunteering his time as many parents at Fraser Woods Montessori School do.

Many things came together to make his work possible, Mr Knaggs said, including the school’s project of having a new “natural playground” being built and the theme for the 2014–15 school year being chosen as “nature.”

Mr Knaggs said he focused on drawing children back to nature to help expand their imaginations and help remove stress that may be associated with being indoors.

Now, situated just a few paces from the school’s front parking lot, Mr Knaggs has created an area with a bench at the foot of the trail. At the start of the summer, Mr Knaggs said, students sat on the ground, and the stumps now give them a more appropriate place to wait for parents to pick them up.

Up a slope near the benches, Mr Knaggs used rocks to mark the trailhead, and at the top of a short walk, the area opens up to reveal a number of areas he has designed to offer outdoor learning areas for students and teachers.

Many volunteers helped Mr Knaggs throughout the summer and continue to help, he said. Tim Byrne, owner and designer of Get Back Inc, a vintage industrial furniture and lighting company and a fellow Fraser Woods Montessori School parent, met Mr Knaggs at the start of the trail on Wednesday, before his team began the work of lugging large pieces of wood up the slope to install on a supply shed.

The supply shed will hold teaching supplies so teachers do not have to bring those along with them when bringing students to the outdoor classrooms, according to Mr Knaggs. The shed sits between two outdoor learning areas, one Mr Knaggs calls the “Rectangle Classroom,” and one area designed to offer students a place to study nature.

The Rectangle Classroom, has long log seats and tables formed in an “L” shape with a place for a teacher to sit on the opposite side. The supply shed was also designed with a fold-out table near the area for teachers to easily hand out supplies, according to Mr Knaggs. Stumps form the base of each log bench and table, and a set of three alternating heights will allow for students of different ages to use the benches as either seats or tables to write on.

Other “break out areas” Mr Knaggs said, include the original area of stumps that inspired his idea. The area is now cleared of leaves and more benches, at different heights, have been added to the space. The half-circle of stumps and benches also now faces a small stage, that Mr Knaggs said is used by students when performing or presenting for their classes.

When working on each area, he said he knew he would need to design the spaces for multiple purposes and also wanted to make sure different classes could use the classrooms areas at the same time.

As he was walking the area on Wednesday, Ms Mitchell happened to bring her eighth grade art history class out for a lesson on monoliths, megaliths, and Stonehenge. Ms Mitchell challenged the students to build small stone designs while using only one hand and working with partners.

Fraser Woods Montessori School Head of School Myriam Woods said Mr Knagg’s efforts have fulfilled a vision years in the making, from when the property was purchased for the school’s new home roughly 15 years ago. Ms Woods also said it was a vision Maria Montessori had, who opened the first Montessori school in Rome in 1907, to have children outside.

Trails were already on the property then, but, as Mr Knaggs pointed out, years of leaves were covering them. Trails still snake off from the main area where he focused much of his energy this summer.

“It was like, what can I do to help,” said Mr Knaggs, remembering his thinking from the start of the venture.

Ms Mitchell also remembered the start of the effort, saying the focus was also on, “what can we do to get kids outside.”

While Mr Knaggs said some of the expense for the undertaking came from lumber, other costs included purchasing a blower and a chain saw. Otherwise, he said many items were repurposed or salvaged for the outdoor classrooms. The long wooden benches in the Rectangular Classroom and at the base of the trailhead, he said, were created using existing stumps and wood from a tree that was downed during a tropical storm. Ms Woods also said the school raised money to fund the efforts.

Down another area of the trails, sits a gazebo that was already placed on the property, just near another entrance to the outdoor classrooms that feeds off of what will be the school’s new natural playground.

Mr Knaggs said the way the property is situated will allow students to flow from the indoor learning spaces, to a natural yet artificial playscape, and finally to the even more natural outdoor classrooms.

While Mr Knaggs said he is unsure when his efforts on the project will be complete, he also said his goal was always to hand the area back over to the school’s oversight. A few weeks before school began, he said, he asked teachers and students for more ideas on what the area could include.

“I just think the opportunities area immense now for these kids,” he added.

Eve Ackert, who is helping on the natural playground committee also helped Mr Knaggs with his efforts.

“I think [Mr Knaggs] has done an amazing job of getting everything up,” Ms Ackert said.

When he first began working, he said he made a pact with Ms Mitchell that he would pass each of his ideas by her first. Ms Mitchell, he said, was concerned that altering the area would “spoil nature.”

Now, each trail that leads away from the outdoor classrooms, Mr Knaggs said leads to other spaces “where the imagination can be facilitated.”

“Thank you Mr Knaggs for making all of this,” one of the eighth grade art history students said as Mr Knaggs passed by the class.

“You’re very welcome. I hope you enjoy it,” he responded.