Here in The Woodlands there are over a hundred neighborhood parks, and we have set out to explore all of them. This entry highlights Pipers' Green Park, which is a tiny place in a little urban neighborhood within the Village of Alden Bridge. Here is the official website for Pipers' Green Park:
https://www.thewoodlandstownship-tx.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/39
This park features shaded walking paths, a playground, benches, a water fountain, a bike rack, and a few places to park along the street.
When looking at the playground, you will notice that there is one main play area, which includes a play structure, 4 swings, and some riding toys. The substrate on this playground is wood mulch.
Here is our daughter riding on a bouncy motorcycle. You can see the two belt swings and two bucket swings in the background. That's a lot of swings for a little park!
The main play structure at this park is an appropriate size for most children ages 2+. The highlight for our daughters was the double slide. They liked to ride down the slides together and see who got to the bottom first.
Since the slides are uniquely wavy, a person can travel down one of these slides faster than the other. It was a point of frustration for our 3 year old. Our 5 year old figured out which slide was faster before they raced, and she chose the faster slide every single time. Eventually I stepped in and asked them to switch, and her little sister finally won!
We always get excited when we find a steering wheel at a park. This park had a few.
More steering wheels. Now, these were really fun because there were also pretend buttons and the like to interact with as they pretended to drive. There's even a compass.
This park has a water fountain. There is even a built in water dish for dogs!
This park also has a bike rack. Have you noticed how much this style of
bike rack resembles a sin curve?
This little gazebo doesn't look like it provides much protection during a rain storm. But it would be beautiful for a photo shoot! It is on the other side of a tiny patch of forest. A quick walk on the path brought us to this magical destination, fit for a couple of princesses.
During our walk, we found great little patches of moss poking out of the leaf litter on the side of the walkways. When we're walking along a path and otherwise getting a little bored,
pointing out these bright patches of green moss makes for a fun look-and-find game.
More fun things to find - t
he bright red berries of Yaupon, or Ilex vomitoria, sure are eye-catching! Little hands tend to reach for them, but these berries are best left for the birds. Yaupon berries are not edible and, as the scientific name suggests, cause stomach upset and vomiting. The leaves, on the other hand, are harmless. Check out my friend Merriwether's Foraging Texas website for more info on this plant:
https://www.foragingtexas.com/2008/08/yaupon-holly.html Birds love these bushes, and we saw and heard quite a few song birds during our visits to this park.
Another fun thing to find - Lichen!
"We're likin' this lichen." All over the trunks and branches of trees in this park, there are various colonies of lichen.
It's a great example of symbiosis! A fungus and algae, living together for mutual benefit. The algae photosynthesizes while the fungus offers structural stability. Here's a link to a description of the symbiotic relationship found in lichen, from the US Forest Service website:
https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/beauty/lichens/whatare.shtml
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