https://prairie-sunshine.net/projects daily 1.0 2026-03-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1526618054762-73VZIJ31VALJ99VD7B94/JMFWLWL.jpg Folio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1526618308501-K0ENFLXWR2T2OV25J4GO/JMFHBG.jpg Folio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1575416685136-G2N6HH05OEJ8TIBWLIXO/JaneA.jpg Folio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1575416809135-JXVU5B8J9T5U8PDS15AJ/JaneA.jpg Folio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1575417282872-5CTJRHKWP4A59E27S35F/Girls-2.jpg Folio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1575417740874-H3KQVP26TEFK1WG9GBGR/QEoAVEI-2.jpg Folio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1575420144275-MRMK9E2MPYAE9YY8S9O4/WS-2.jpg Folio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1575420599264-6QRRR1PKMBKPGZ5WWU0D/IMG_3516.jpg Folio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1575421609389-9TQP01D9MEJJ0W0X5N0M/IMG_3366-2.jpg Folio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1575432921218-LGJGBL4CSUWITREWAJ9Y/P1010016.JPG.jpg Folio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1588618175372-YE8O2LA59C53KPIN8CY7/Untitled-3.jpg Folio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1575319482936-66PRKGXGZIFYL4NLHJ33/Legion2.jpg Folio - Regency Era Sculpture: Portrait Bust of Lady Elizabeth Bingham, 1810, Joseph Nollekens A Regency Era sculpture carved in marble on display at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco. Nollekens was considered to be the finest British sculptor of his time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1529983128337-C0X4AXG2TYMZ7ZJBLVJ1/RSPF_JF.jpg Folio - Illinois Roadside Prairie Wildflowers “The excellent becomes the permanent.” Jane Addams * Jens Jensen, lauded by the New York Times as “the dean of landscape architecture” cultivated an authentic set of values rooted in the idea that we all share a natural heritage together. Some of Jensen’s contemporaries from the Prairie School era included Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Dwight H. Perkins, Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin, who all shared a vision for organic design–working with natural materials, rockwork and plants. May T. Watts, Alfred Caldwell, Carl Sandburg and Jane Addams were among his cherished friends, who all appear in Prairie Prose. The Prairie Prose Cooperative Game Series includes: Prairie Prose Prairie Prose - Tea House Edition Harvest Dreams Princess on the Prairie Prairie Fairies Related Games: Quills! Elizabethan Edition I Quills! Elizabethan Edition II Quills! Concord Edition II: Heroes & Heroines https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1600276668920-3LTC2IRSHE03KTEIZC4B/06-2.jpg Folio - A Bee's Dream Cooperative Game & Playscape A Bee’s Dream is a unique flower exchange, nestled within a cottage garden atmosphere that features an enchanting water garden – a delight for the honeybees! Players trade flowers to create their own colorful designs to fill in their personal garden plots. A Bee’s Dream was made with locally raised wool that gives the game play an out-of-doors feeling that connects players back to the natural world of the honeybees. * Beatrix Farrand was a contemporary of Jens Jensen and a pioneering woman landscape architect who studied under the guidance of botanist Charles Sprague Sargent. She created her own landscape business and provided regular consulting for many distinguished institutions including the White House and Dumbarton Oaks, while innovating a nursery exchange program between universities and the Morton Arboretum, located in Lisle, Illinois. Like Gertrude Jekyll, Farrand drew inspiration from impressionist painting and additionally compared gardening to arranging music for an orchestra. She often visited clients wearing a wool suit that she was not afraid to pull weeds in. Beatrix Potter, the inspiring British children’s author raised sheep and conserved the natural landscape in the Lake District, where she invited the Girl Guides to visit for their excursions. Potter created the garden adventure, The Game of Peter Rabbit in watercolor on paper with handwritten rules. She also illustrated numerous plants in her children’s stories, kept a gardening journal and designed her own garden plots that she maintained at Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey. In recent years, it has been encouraged that we create our gardens with the survival of the honeybees in mind by providing water reserves and flowers they can forage to ensure that the pollination of our greater food supply harmoniously continues for future generations. * Research for A Bee’s Dream began in 2011, and was used to create both Harvest Dreams and Noah’s Ark. A Bee’s Dream was completed in 2013, and was presented at ASLE 2015, hosted by the University of Idaho. * With special thanks to Natasha Lehrer Lewis. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1526616406375-ZZMNWA6JDFDJSAOKJDOP/JJHCAJF05.jpg Folio - Frolicking Baby Swans “There grew magnificent oaks and beech-trees; and if the bark was split of any of them, long blades of grass grew out of the clefts; there were also large smooth lakes in the wood, on which the swans were swimming about and flapping their wings.” The Wild Swans Hans Christian Andersen https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1599967588637-SMD6KNOJWOUV95L44AFS/B3.jpg Folio - Quills! Butterfly Montage: The Brontë Sisters–Emily, Anne and Charlotte “You know full well as I do the value of sisters' affections: There is nothing like it in this world.” –Charlotte Brontë * The remarkable Brontë sisters were equally talented in their own right as poets, novelists and pioneering British women writers during the Victorian Era. Their literary works inspired Elizabeth Gaskell, Charlotte Brontë’s biographer – and also influenced the celebrated American woman writer, Louisa May Alcott. The works of the Brontë sisters, Elizabeth Gaskell and Louisa May Alcott are all part the Quills! Cooperative Game Series. Edwin Landseer, a family friend of the Brontë family, and a favorite artist of Queen Victoria is thought to have painted their group portrait circa 1843. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1534646394002-GEUJ0L2GA2W4MC4QJIWK/JMF_02.jpg Folio - SRF Lake Shrine, Pacific Palisades, California There he soon saw with his own eyes the goose-girl and the goose-boy bringing their flock, and how after a while she sat down and took down her hair, which glistened brightly. Soon she said: Blow, wind, blow, Take Conrad's hat, And make him chase it, Until I have braided my hair, And tied it up again. Then came a blast of wind and carried off Conrad's hat, so that he had to run far away, while the maiden quietly went on combing and braiding her hair, all of which the king observed. Then, quite unseen, he went away, and when the goose-girl came home in the evening, he called her aside, and asked why she did all these things. 89. The Goose Girl The Brothers Grimm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1588617091767-FZ6PSI01BQSJZGYRVKCK/JF_Serenity20.jpg Folio https://prairie-sunshine.net/test daily 0.75 2018-12-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1539802105321-JKKWPY7FVMG643KSZ9MN/IMG_2758+%281%29.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1539802105321-JKKWPY7FVMG643KSZ9MN/IMG_2758+%281%29.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1540085766368-2W8XZBUL0HL254ETZFEA/Untitled-3.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1540226300876-BSAOX1FWBLF9FVGXYH2Q/Untitled_1_1-2.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1541002223981-9ZD3C7BFO6BCIB970UZ9/Austen_JF.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1542671073571-NTVADENCBFYPFKP2UHDP/Untitled.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1543123482824-VJ66M01YGBROVO86NG9H/WBG_JF.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1543523531468-ST99KQK57QHTCFOP57JO/Untitled-6.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1543523495248-IDQC50V3Y2VHRG52ONSM/Untitled-5.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1543528536024-HXH5SDY6N915LGKWNGE2/LMA_JF4.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1540061017514-50QRMDS5YLGLV43381S8/Untitled.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1543810122830-Q2WEO7NPASJIB9YRXVZK/JANE_JF.jpg test - Q https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1544228559279-OU4RTBJ877D2KGLL4OVH/Untitled-7-2.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1544228520979-ACY8VNXUGKVPGYATBNZI/Untitled-6-2.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1539804003980-CW207HG1N9SUDJ5R3D7F/IMG_2860.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1544225336308-PPAHZFNDQN4TIDCEXASQ/Untitled.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1544659907623-RUA06TIJIGV1AKSUFMPD/EEIQVE_JFjpg.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1539803488123-QUFP48Y7DDXCEP3P246Q/IMG_2869.jpg test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1544807986477-8NS285HFV50CJ883OVT2/Untitledfleur.jpg test https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1 daily 0.75 2020-06-13 https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1/2020/6/13/happy-june-days monthly 0.5 2020-06-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1592073186831-KX3LGEX5KSIW0UY3EYAG/JMF_Ring-2.jpg Musings - Happy June Days Jens Jensen’s Council Ring at The Clearing in Door County, Wisconsin. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1592073271838-5410QV9K4N9R9I0HE1AE/JF_PF219.jpg Musings - Happy June Days Prairie Fairies Cooperative Game Set: Jensen orchestrated fairy festivals, theatrical pageants in the local parks, and dramatic masks in the woods to help save the environment. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1592073393236-1G3IZPLA3OI5QMS0LMUH/JF_PF-2.jpg Musings - Happy June Days Players enjoy gathering fairy costumes for the Prairie Fairies, inspired by Carl Sandburg’s children story published in 1922 called “How to Tell Corn Fairies If You See ’Em”: “All corn fairies wear overalls. They work hard, the corn fairies, and they are proud. The reason they are proud is because they work so hard. And the reason they work so hard is because they have overalls.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1592074433843-TWJ7DDFTB4L2ZD50O8XF/JF_HD.jpg Musings - Happy June Days https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1592074438914-2MA4N915150V74FB6F3J/JMFHDSE2-2.jpg Musings - Happy June Days https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1592074444485-CI6NH691BXIQHHQV0HR8/HarvD_JF-2.jpg Musings - Happy June Days https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1592074450935-GGGABV8Y3R4IYPQWE983/HDG2-2.jpg Musings - Happy June Days https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1/happy-bastille-day monthly 0.5 2019-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1563133037897-47Z4A4RW45FWVUZCHHIG/EEIQVE_JFjpg-1.jpg Musings - Happy Bastille Day Quills! Elizabethan Edition I Montage: Queen Victoria of England, 1845, Alexander Melville; Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland, circa 1592, Anonymous; Eleanor of Aquitaine; from Wikimedia Commons. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1563133059872-6FX9ZJVXFXDG1YD8TNVO/QEEI_JMF-3.jpg Musings - Happy Bastille Day Quills! Elizabethan Edition I includes Eleanor of Aquitaine and Joan d”Arc who were featured in Shakespeare’s plays. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1563133080745-DWV2HGFA32TCNMFBED1K/Joan_of_Arc_miniature_graded.jpg Musings - Happy Bastille Day Joan of Arc, circa 1450 and 1500, oil on parchment, from Wikimedia Commons. https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1/fairy-day monthly 0.5 2019-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1561403383490-B25W4SSCXG30M959KV7F/jensen_indiana_dunes_130+%281%29.jpg Musings - ‍♀️Happy International Fairy Day‍♀️ Historic photograph of a fairy ring dance performance at the Indiana Dunes, from the Jens Jensen Archive, used with permission from the Sterling Morton Library, The Morton Arboretum. Jens Jensen organized ‘The Pageant of the Year and Play Festival’ (1915) located in Chicago’s legendary Garfield Park that was among the many outdoor festivals he often orchestrated to create awareness of endangered regional landscapes. At one event, nearly 1,400 costumed children and adults participated in telling a story of the changing seasons of the year for an outdoor audience of 25,000 people. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1561401433318-5R2YOJSIPGWACRVBHNI2/Ducks+In+A+Row+Collage+1.png Musings - ‍♀️Happy International Fairy Day‍♀️ Details from Marion Mahony Griffin’s commissioned mural for the George B. Armstrong School of International Studies in Chicago, photographed by Janine Fron. Used with permission. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1561419941212-UEQZK9ACMS1RDXQV2JKW/PFJMF.jpg Musings - ‍♀️Happy International Fairy Day‍♀️ Prairie inspired bespoke flora fashions for Celeste, Mai, Yasmine, Harmony and Rose: the Prairie Fairies game set includes unique fashion cards made from pressed flower petals and leaves, silk and locally raised organic wool along with a hand-painted prairie meadow muslin play mat and matching drawstring storage bag. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1561402296905-PBPJIJCY76R3IAYLOIG0/PF_JMF.jpg Musings - ‍♀️Happy International Fairy Day‍♀️ Scenes from a Prairie Fairies Game Day: Players exchange flora fashions and plant seeds in the garden in Prairie Fairies, while enjoying tea on location at a local treasure–All Chocolate Kitchen in Geneva, Illinois. https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1/2019/5/8/jasna-gcr-spring-gala monthly 0.5 2019-05-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1557301280632-WRNL4JBEE31KMYLRHBCL/JASNA_JF.jpg Musings - JASNA-GCR Annual Spring Gala https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1557298205059-ZATDG4ST6LW8YQCP8L9I/Regency1800-jumprope-pinup-Sophia-Western.jpg Musings - JASNA-GCR Annual Spring Gala A Regency Era reference from Schult’s JASNA-GCR presentation as an example of exercise for women to include in their daily beauty regime. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1557299372919-30794ARJNHJ4HIQE8S9R/JMF_JASNA.jpg Musings - JASNA-GCR Annual Spring Gala Quills! Regency Edition, available via Marigold Games, debuted at the JASNA-GCR Spring Gala: ‘Highbury and Beyond’ in 2016 in celebration of the bicentennial of Jane Austen’s Emma. A live demonstration of the game was played by audience volunteers during my Quills! Breakout Session at the JASNA AGM 2017. https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1/2019/4/24/earthday-reflections monthly 0.5 2019-04-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1556153353675-CYMYUNBKVRZTPE6DIY50/JMF_WSHHMontage2.jpg Musings - Happy EarthDay Reflections Shakespeare’s portrait from the First Folio of his collected works in 1622, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Players enjoy rounds of Quills! Elizabethan Edition I, which explores the heroines of the bard’s plays including Viola, Beatrice, Imogen, Cordelia, Queen Elinor, and Queen Elizabeth I. Queen Victoria enjoyed Shakespeare’s plays, which gained popularity during the Victorian Era. As the bard’s fans, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert are featured characters in Quills! Elizabethan Edition II. https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1/springtime-greetings monthly 0.5 2019-04-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1553963481693-LQJAY3X21WP4TK7MBHWO/JMF_Amber.jpg Musings - Happy Springtime Greetings Amber’s Fairy Costume in Prairie Fairies. Each game character’s outfit is an original nunofelt creation, with fairy wings made from fresh and pressed dried flowers. Carl Sandburg wrote “How to Tell Corn Fairies If You See ’Em,” which I discovered in my research for making this unique, bespoke game experience. https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1/category/Prairie+Prose+Collection monthly 0.5 https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1/category/Prairie+Prose+Game+Series monthly 0.5 https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1/tag/Prairie+Prose monthly 0.5 https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1/tag/JASNA-GCR monthly 0.5 https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1/tag/Jane+Austen monthly 0.5 https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1/tag/Quills%21+Regency+Edition monthly 0.5 https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1/tag/Prairie+Fairies monthly 0.5 https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1/tag/Quills%21+Elizabethan+Edition+I%26II monthly 0.5 https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1/tag/Jens+Jensen monthly 0.5 https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-sense-of-play-1/tag/William+Shakespeare monthly 0.5 https://prairie-sunshine.net/about daily 0.75 2025-11-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/35860bc8-adac-4b2a-9512-00cb308a31b9/PRD_MG_1214.jpeg About - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/33570828-4230-4fa5-b490-ff70871e4962/JMF_JaneDay.jpeg About - Make it stand out Jane Austen Montage, 2024-25. Jane Austen’s Regency Era novels were the inspiration for the Quills! cooperative game series, including the Elizabethan Edition I & II, which celebrates the writings of William Shakespeare, written during Queen Elizabeth I’s reign that helped popularize the English language. During Queen Victoria’s reign, both Shakespeare and Jane Austen became widely appreciated for their timeless themes about the human spirit and relationship dynamics. Jane Austen referenced Shakespeare in her novels, and Queen Elizabeth I in her juvenilia, in ‘The History of England’. These intersections are playfully explored in the Quills! series. The Quills! Series has been up-dated with new gameplay features–including a Fluttering Butterfly, available in 2025. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/f6e1cba3-21ac-4b59-b8ac-e676113d6566/MarigoldGames_AfterSchool24jpg.jpg About - Make it stand out Busy Bees-After School Games Club : Fairy Tale Game Making Workshop : Oak and Stars Winter/Spring 2025 Who are your favorite fairytale heroes and heroines? Who are their friends who help them on their journey? Brothers Grimm fairytales offer soul food for children of all ages to grow through life’s hurdles for developing inner strength. In this special after school game-making workshop, participants will create their own personalized, take-home version of the enchanting Quills! Fairytale Edition Game. This delightful cooperative green game explores the fairytale journey heroes and heroines make with friends and helpers they meet along their way. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/23d0712b-48aa-4cc5-870b-29a03066fee3/PRD_MG12.14.2.jpeg About - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/ee4efd49-b38d-461f-8438-c1c55161f16c/ARTN_24.jpg About - Make it stand out Selected highlights from (art)n’s commissioned museum installations include: Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation; Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust; Battle of Midway Memorial (honoring U.S. Marine Corps WWII Veterans) for the City of Chicago Public Art Program; No Fumare, por Favore is part of The Art Institute of Chicago and Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s permanent collections, featured in New Media Futures: The Rise of Women in the Digital Arts. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1537834791591-6UNSIR5ANQMPWFJMZG9T/GPC_JF.jpg About Lotus Blossoms, Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago All historic public domain images featured in A Spirit of Play are from Wikimedia Commons. All other photos and site content by Janine Fron ©2018-2025. With very special thanks to Natasha Lehrer Lewis, Amanda Dzikowicz and Anna Ratsavongxay. With special appreciation to my wonderful family, supportive friends, amazing colleagues, and awesome play testers for their continued encouragement, camaraderie, and enthusiasm. Featured games were made in honor of my grandparents and the fun times we had playing together, sometimes reading our favorite stories again and again–after playing our favorite games. https://prairie-sunshine.net/quills-notes-histories daily 0.75 2021-06-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1525218010716-DIY8L3ZB3WZSATOL39B3/QEIIRoses_JF.jpg Quills! Notes & Herstories https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1541528115718-G8XM4U2R9ZII71HY2QHL/QEI_WS_JF.jpg Quills! Notes & Herstories William Shakespeare created dynamic roles for women during the prolific Elizabethan Age, later portrayed by women on the stage. Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland, circa 1592, by Anonymous; William Shakespeare, circa 1600–1610, associated with John Taylor, from Wikimedia Commons. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1541528205857-UY9HEG6V5O43NRA6MP43/JA_JF.jpg Quills! Notes & Herstories The Quills! Regency Edition explores the heroines of Jane Austen’s six trailblazing novels, while the Quills! Classic Edition celebrates her works among other women writers. Jane Austen, 1873 by Unknown; Jane Austen, 1804, by Cassandra Austen, from Wikimedia Commons. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1541528516990-QMYSLUTWUXWBE6CKJNMF/EG_BS_JF.jpg Quills! Notes & Herstories The Quills! Haworth and Victorian Editions explore the relationship between Elizabeth Gaskell and the Brontë Sisters, while the Quills! Classic Edition celebrates their works among other women writers. Elizabeth Gaskell, 1832 by William John Thomson; The Brontë Sisters, (Anne, Emily & Charlotte), circa 1834, Patrick Branwell Brontë, from Wikimedia Commons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1541547356606-EFOSY8OMKNFTF9F3HHR9/LMA_JF.jpg Quills! Notes & Herstories The year 2018 marks the sesquicentennial of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Quills! Concord Edition I & II were made in her honor, while the Quills! Classic Edition celebrates her works among other women writers. Louisa May Alcott, from Wikimedia Commons. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1537228725690-270U8928UJRRRHLD5L7T/JASNA_AGM17.JF.jpg Quills! Notes & Herstories Debra Ann Miller graciously introduced my Quills! Breakout Session at the JASNA AGM 2017. Debra is an amazing dramatic performer of historic women figures, and a past JASNA-GCR Regional Coordinator and Program Director. With special thanks to JASNA, Nancy Gallagher, Lynda Hall, and Jennifer Weinbrecht. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1537720313715-GIFFZ2IHP1XA5QRTG9Y1/RegencyEdition_JF.jpg Quills! Notes & Herstories The Quills! Regency Edition was played as a live demonstration with 4 players from the audience during my Quills! Breakout Session at the JASNA AGM 2017. In between rounds of play, lively conversations were had between the players about Austen’s novels, her characters and her life. Some of the players dramatically improvised their best Regency accents. https://prairie-sunshine.net/players-comments daily 0.75 2026-01-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1525223564591-12ZS0UUH0B9Z5IQLMQVV/JMF_Prairie.jpg Player's Comments https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1526350406773-X3F8G4FNRZA8RUBPG0DL/QEEIJMF.jpg Player's Comments https://prairie-sunshine.net/a-spirit-of-play daily 0.75 2023-12-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1525223621973-SJWXJ0CJXJDBQQ8F0DIU/JMF_Prairie.jpg A Spirit of Play https://prairie-sunshine.net/praire-prose-poetry daily 0.75 2019-04-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1525223469977-DAZ2TG7NPV2OQR9EFISM/JMF_Prairie.jpg Praire Prose Poetry https://prairie-sunshine.net/the-play-spirit daily 0.75 2024-03-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1525223594826-IP26727MD40BB2ORR8DM/JMF_Prairie.jpg The Play Spirit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1539488402475-O522MED891CJ5ZDEYXIX/PS_JMF.jpg The Play Spirit "There wasn't a minute when the play spirit even took a rest. It romped in at the Thursday night session when President Frederick Greely, of the playground of Chicago, introduced 'our playmates,' Miss Jane Addams, Joseph Lee, and Dr. Luther H. Gulick. And it romped boisterously out late on Saturday afternoon when a whole field of 5,000 delegates, spectators, and festival participants played tag with a thunderstorm . . . The play spirit captivated everyone." -Graham Romeyn Taylor “How They Played at Chicago.” Proceedings of the First Annual Playground and Play Congress Yearbook. New York: Playground Association of America, 1907. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1558030140601-DAGZNN0UV58XHE06VEOW/JF_Fashionistas04.jpg The Play Spirit Scenes from my early adventures in ad hoc play testing my first cooperative game experience – Fashionistas – which evolved into the Prairie Fairies - Cooperative Game Set. https://prairie-sunshine.net/contact daily 0.75 2024-12-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/d8aa07ba-e3a8-40b4-a564-adb9c2d037e0/PRD_MG_1214.jpeg Connect - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/ea7e48fd-f3c9-4584-8745-614fdbb966a9/PRD_MG12.14.2.jpeg Connect - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://prairie-sunshine.net/prairie-prose-notes-histories daily 0.75 2020-01-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1537719028898-2SFTN01K0HAZO6YRPVH7/PFSE_JMF2.jpg Prairie Prose Notes & Histories Prairie Prose is a unique cooperative poetry game for 2-6 players to dramatically exchange their poems made in the game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1537824357060-BB0I0N7IL5OQBFOGP9XX/ProseMontage_JF.jpg Prairie Prose Notes & Histories From left to right: “Few words, endless meanings,” a player ponders his poem at the Westchester Township History Museum. Photo by Heather Eidson, courtesy of the Times of Northwest Indiana. College Prep students create unique poems drawn from nature with Prairie Prose in celebration of Earth Day in Chicago’s Wicker Park, organized by Doug Wood. Courtesy of Elaine A. Coorens, Our Urban Times. Used with permission. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1537749326460-FZUXJU44HYR6WREXLC4G/Jensen09_JF.jpg Prairie Prose Notes & Histories “Urbs in Horto-City in a Garden: Jens Jensen Reconsidered” concluded at the Indiana Dunes National Park with Professor Bob Grese, University of Michigan, reading Jensen’s moving testimony to conserve the Indiana Dunes. The three-day symposium was co-hosted by the Chicago Park District, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, University of Illinois at Chicago, Kenilworth Historical Society, Highland Park Historical Society, and the Westchester Township History Museum. https://prairie-sunshine.net/new-games-revisited daily 0.75 2026-01-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1b1d2121-5b38-496b-b07f-0d88d032dbe4/Ludica_24.jpg New Games Inspirations - Make it stand out The original Ludica homepage, initially launched via ludica.org.co.uk, was co-founded in 2005 in Los Angeles. Fron contributed to the Ludica game art collective with an inclusive message of “Play Belongs to Everyone” to encourage women and girls to be part of the creative process of making games and to support alternative forms of inclusive play. She co-presented dynamic DIY game art workshops and research papers with Ludica collaborators at DAC, DiGRA, SIGGRAPH, and ISEA. The Ludica group is presently based in Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago. Current Ludica collaborations include a forthcoming, co-edited publication and up-dated website. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1600391289027-8JDJ011RS579D7JG8WLS/03.JF_1.jpg New Games Inspirations Selected highlights from Ludica’s collaborations, including game-design challenges, publications, and discussions. Ludica was cofounded in Los Angeles in 2005 with Celia Pearce, Jacquelyn Ford Morie, and Tracy Fullerton. Courtesy of Ludica, www.ludica.org.uk, featured in New Media Futures: The Rise of Women in the Digital Arts. With special thanks to our collaborators and friends for their enthusiasm, inspiration, and friendship: Bernie DeKoven, Mary Flanagan, Richard Kahlenberg, Elina Ollila, Katherine Milton, Katherine Moriwaki, Alex and Judy Singer and Larry Tuch. A very special thanks to all of the players, game designers and scholars who have participated in our interventions, including Ludica Game Design Challenges, publications and discussions. We hope our work continues to playfully challenge and inspire. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1537852704139-G33HSPO9069NRMQKH7T6/GPC_NG_JF.jpg New Games Inspirations Park visitors gather for a parachute game at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago, September 2015. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/4a22f7b6-940e-408e-824c-d0886e2a73a4/Instagram+Post-3.jpg New Games Inspirations - Make it stand out Selected highlights from Ludica’s collaborations, including game-design challenges, publications, and discussions. Ludica was cofounded in Los Angeles in 2005 with Celia Pearce, Jacquelyn Ford Morie, and Tracy Fullerton. Courtesy of Ludica, www.ludica.org.uk, featured in New Media Futures: The Rise of Women in the Digital Arts. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1600317913979-NN7ZFLZCA0ULK0IMWD7D/Covers.jpg New Games Inspirations https://prairie-sunshine.net/underground-women daily 0.75 2019-04-13 https://prairie-sunshine.net/game-creation-workshops daily 0.75 2026-01-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1591728844269-HKMVO4TXUJIQI2PBLN0P/Muti17.jpg Imaginative Game Creation Workshops Scenes from Historic Games : Ancient Egypt : Hounds and Jackals. Students create and play test a takeaway game, based on an ancient story and racing game that intersects with their studies of ancient civilizations and culture. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1591728983571-VG509ZTE65AT9LJYFFDD/Prince_ess1.jpg Imaginative Game Creation Workshops Scenes from an ‘After School Games Club’ where students collaborated to create their own takeaway games to play with friends and family, inspired by Slumbering Dreams and fairy tales. All game elements were made from recycled watercolor artworks, made by the children. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1591729183645-WVN4SFT5NTRGYT7L96OG/Prince_ess2.jpg Imaginative Game Creation Workshops Scenes from an ‘After School Games Club’ where students collaborated to create their own takeaway games to play with friends and family, inspired by Slumbering Dreams and fairy tales. All game elements were made from recycled watercolor artworks, made by the children. https://prairie-sunshine.net/mini-game-reviews daily 0.75 2026-01-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1525223564591-12ZS0UUH0B9Z5IQLMQVV/JMF_Prairie.jpg Mini-Game Reviews https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1769210867825-GRYWWLOG73BL06KNGQ3V/JASNA_JMF19.jpeg Mini-Game Reviews https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1769210280314-8KXKCQL117ZYQB6BMFCV/JMF_JASNA.jpeg Mini-Game Reviews https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1769210841889-3MU64X91EHMM9R1GWJ3P/Quills%21_Women%27sDay_22.jpeg Mini-Game Reviews https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1769210593260-8OMF1F6I6MTMSAAYDE5S/QuillsC.png Mini-Game Reviews https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1769211411252-M85OHYYUFDAMB939W1XV/DWWP-2.jpeg Mini-Game Reviews https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1769211414604-UWF9ADVRFBTIPBSRR037/HDG2-2.jpeg Mini-Game Reviews https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1769211417738-6RZF2AZZ6I71ATH6KTA4/JF_UPGamesClub.jpeg Mini-Game Reviews https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/1769211418989-3C1Q4SJ9GQ09EVMXV2V8/JMFHDSE2-2.jpeg Mini-Game Reviews https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/00ea7ce3-eb39-492f-b444-2b3d8cc98d9c/JMFProse-2.jpeg Mini-Game Reviews - Make it stand out Prairie Prose Cooperative Poetry Game was gratefully first available via the Morton Arboretum, Garfield Park Conservatory, Westchester Township History Museum, and the National Museum for Women in the Arts gift shops. More than 500+ games have been personally made in the Prairie Prose series, including DIY game workshops with Cranbrook Kingswood Middle School for Girls, Ravinia Elementary School, Louisa May Alcott Elementary and Middle Schools, Urban Prairie Waldorf School, and the Chicago Park District. More than 160+ games in the Quills! series have also been made, played and loved by Janeites and game fans alike. Exploration of these games are noted and illustrated in New Media Futures: The Rise of Women in the Digital Arts. In tandem with these efforts, 20+ artistic renditions of unique, playable game experiences were created as part of my continuing research with games and play. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/2ad98ccf-164b-4fde-b4f2-89381b4555e1/Screen+Shot+2024-06-18+at+2.28.16+PM.png Mini-Game Reviews - Make it stand out From Instagram . . . https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/d87ed1d9-7ac7-436b-83a5-279e81149335/Screen+Shot+2024-05-15+at+1.45.02+PM.png Mini-Game Reviews - Make it stand out From Etsy . . . https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adf88cdc3c16a8b2af9f2c1/90cdfe79-4afa-4130-8b34-849a7479de1e/Screen+Shot+2024-05-15+at+1.45.14+PM.png Mini-Game Reviews - Make it stand out From Etsy . . .