Durham Parks and Recreation: Play More!

By: Shannon Mallery, Program Assistant Sr. - Mature Adults This week of Play With Me: Ages 6-9 continues the Family series. The Play With Me: Family activities will help you and your child get to know each other and your family better. Play With Me is a series of interactive and meaningful activities that you can do over technology with the children in your life. Before getting started, adult assistance will be needed to help collect and setup supplies for the children. Consider sending the supply list ahead of time so the adult can prepare in advance. Activity: Where did I grow up? In this activity you and your child will both create maps with the important things in your life like your house, school and work. You can also include whatever else is important to you. Use the printout sheets as a starting point for your maps. Draw in as much detail as you like; you can also cut pictures from magazines etc. if you feel for instance you cannot draw your beloved pet that you had growing up.

Durham Parks and Recreation (DPR) recently collaborated with a licensed wildlife rehabilitator to provide a safe home for orphaned opossums. Wildlife Welfare Inc., is a nonprofit 501C organization that trains, mentors, and helps with supplies for dozens of rehabbers throughout the area with the desire to 'give wildlife a second chance'. Two baby opossums, Thomas and Valerie, were released on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, into one of Durham's parks. Volunteers from Wildlife Welfare Inc. assisted the opossums in the transition. Upon their release, the opossums seemed very relaxed, curious, and comfortable in their new home at the park. Opossums are a natural part of the urban landscape, and are common throughout the state, including in North Carolina’s biggest cities. In general, wildlife should not be captured and released away from where they were found unless done so by a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. The catch and release of wildlife can be harmful to the animals, spread

By: Shannon Mallery, Program Assistant Sr. - Mature Adults This week of Play With Me: Ages 6-9 continues the Family series. The Play With Me: Family activities will help you and your child get to know each other and your family better. Play With Me is a series of interactive and meaningful activities that you can do over technology with the children in your life. Before getting started, adult assistance will be needed to help collect and setup supplies for the children. Consider sending the supply list ahead of time so the adult can prepare in advance. Activity: What's in the bag? Supplies/Setup Paper bag-lunch or grocery sized bag depending on your need. 5 items that tell about you Get a paper bag and put five items in it that tell about you. They can be things that tell about your life now or things from your past; things that represent memories. Your child should do the same. Keep the items in the bag when you are talking with your child over technology. Take turns taking the

Santa Squirrel Is Comin' To Town! Durham Parks and Recreation’s retired mascots, Earl and Pearl, have been enjoying retirement in sunny Florida…but we were all missing them so much (and anything goes in 2020) that we are bringing replicas of them to you this holiday season!  If you love giant mascots, squirrels, Mrs. Claus, and Santa you won’t want to miss out on these unique photo opportunities coming to a park near you! Have your family photo taken with not one, but two, giant stuffed squirrels! Staff will snap your photo and post all pictures to Facebook for you to download. Please note, we are requiring preregistration for these events to ensure all proper social distancing measures are taken. Pictures with Santa Squirrel – Canine Have your pup (and the entire family) take a picture with Santa Squirrel and Mrs. Claus Squirrel! Saturday, December 5 10 a.m.-2 p.m. timeslots available Piney Wood Park Picnic Shelter, 400 E Woodcroft Parkway Free! Preregistration is required!

By: Shannon Mallery, Program Assistant Sr. - Mature Adults This week of Play With Me: Ages 6-9 starts the Family series. The Play With Me: Family activities will help you and your child get to know each other and your family better. Play With Me is a series of interactive and meaningful activities that you can do over technology with the children in your life. Before getting started, adult assistance will be needed to help collect and setup supplies for the children. Consider sending the supply list ahead of time so the adult can prepare in advance. This week we will be making a family crest and getting to know more about your family. Supplies/Setup Print out of the Family Crest Markers, crayons or colored pencils Scissors Glue This time of year brings to mind family, and although you may not be able to be in person with your little one this year, you may have the opportunity to spend some one on one time with them. You can use this time to not only discover more about each other but

By: Shannon Mallery, Program Assistant Sr. - Mature Adults Durham Parks and Recreation would like to invite you to use the parks as subject matter for your art. With an eye for art we have taken a closer look at our parks and are inviting you too as well. We have found the most artistically inspiring places in our parks and we want to encourage you to use them for everything from painting what is in bloom to photographing a newly engaged couple. These artistically inspiring places in our parks are Art Spots. We will feature new Art Spots periodically so please be on the lookout for them. The first Art Spot we will feature is Leigh Farm Park. The day that we visited Leigh Farm Park was clear and beautiful. We had a chance to walk  around and discover what was there in the warming rays of the sun. Leigh Farm Park is old and was once the home to a family of over twenty. There are remains of gardens and enclaves of fig trees. It is truly a lovely spot only made lovelier by the passage of t

It has been a few weeks since the reopening of our indoor pools and we couldn't be more excited to offer Durham residents a safe place to reserve lap swim lanes! To ensure the safety of our patrons, our Aquatics staff have developed and are implementing a variety of safety measures to be followed in our facilities. This blog post will share everything to expect during your reservation: Upon arrival all patrons will need to have a face covering on or one will be provided. Please scan the QR code on the entrance door (if you have a smart phone) and complete the wellness screen.  Staff will be available to verbally ask you the questions and record your answers, if you need assistance. You will need to answer all of the questions then stop and show the staff the "cleared" screen before hitting the "submit" button.  Staff will have you step inside and you will be asked to sanitize your hands and step up to the front desk to pay or use your passes to swim.  Then you w

By: Shannon Mallery, Program Assistant Sr. - Mature Adults This week of Play With Me: Ages 6-9 finishes out the Work series. In this installment your little ones will get the chance to do the work that they have always wanted to do, "grown ups" work. Play With Me is a series of interactive and meaningful activities that you can do over technology with the children in your life. Before getting started, adult assistance will be needed to help collect and setup supplies for the children. Consider sending the supply list ahead of time so the adult can prepare in advance. For this week it is important to note that they ability level of each child varies. Please only use the items for the activity below that you feel your child can handle safely. Supplies/Setup Clear jar Soil Rocks Moss Small plant Craft stick/or long object Water Grow Chart Growing for Spring Chances are you have been doing some sort of work out of doors. Whether it is getting your garden ready for winter or rakin