Bringing Nature Back

The Missing Link in Our Children’s Lives

Growing up I lived on a large property that gave us every opportunity to engage in play and learn through nature.

Our daycare property has great potential for this exact play. Even though we have always used nature in our program planning, once I purchased and read Natural Playscapes by Rusty Keeler, I knew this was what was missing in my teachings of early young children and I have to do more.

The following excerpt from his website kind of summed it all up for me.

“Creating Outdoor Play Environments for the Soul!”

“You can create extraordinary outdoor places for young children without highly complex play contraptions surrounded by a sea of wood chips or gravel… Places for children that tickle the imagination and surprise the senses‚ places for young ones of all abilities to discover themselves and the world around them”.

This book is about a new movement in children’s outdoor play areas, natural playscapes – Where the entire space and is filled with art, hills, pathways, trees, herbs, open areas, sand, water, music, and more… Where children find places to run, climb, dig, pretend, and hide, with opportunities to bellow or be silent.”

Please follow me on my journey to turn our back yard into a Playscape environment that is full of nature and learning that is good for our souls!