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Play Days & Trainings

We connect children to nature through play. You can help.

CAPN wants to host your family at one of our Free Play Days, help you host your own play event, and lead community trainings to help adults support children at play.

Free Play Days

Children need outside spaces to play–and adults who will facilitate this and let them play freely.


CAPN helps create play experiences where children have agency and choice over the direction and content of their play. When engaging in free play, children can play in their own way and for their own reasons. They can do this when supported by adults who will facilitate play without directing it, and who will hold space so children can become immersed in play flow.

Upcoming Play Days

Community Play Trainings

CAPN hosts regular trainings to help adults support children in free play. Topics include key play principles like loose parts, healthy access to risk, play invitations, and the developmental benefits of play. These trainings are idea for aspiring play facilitators, educators, parents and caregivers, and anyone interested in the topic. ECE_TRIS credit is available for KY early childhood educators.

Volunteer With Us

The Children at Play Network is looking for volunteers to join the CAPN Team! Volunteers for the Children at Play Network serve an important role by helping to maintain Playcosystem so it’s PLAY ready and by acting as Ambassadors for CAPN by providing information about the benefits of outdoor free play to parents and caregivers at Playcosystem.


Connecting children to nature is our mission and our ability to offer more opportunities for free play is greatly enhanced with a network of volunteers.

Contact Us To Volunteer

Workshop Topics May Include:

Learn More About Free Play Materials

Loose Parts

Fixed equipment are structures that children play on. Loose parts are things that children can play with. Loose parts found in nature include sticks, mulch, pebbles, logs or “tree cookies.” Other loose parts include rope, canvas or any kind of multiple items of the same type, such as empty thread spools, wooden blocks, hula-hoops and even toilet plungers. Loose parts encourage children to create, solve problems and work cooperatively. They provide the opportunity for children to have a degree of agency over their play environment and not simply respond to what is provided.

Risky Play

Providing opportunities to encounter and navigate appropriate levels of risk in play environments provides children with important skills. In the context of play, risk refers to opportunities children can easily assess and make decisions about. Hazard, on the other hand, refers to potentially dangerous conditions that are not easily assessable from the perspective of the child and that may lead to harm. Resources in this section will help you consider how to design play environments that include appropriate risk for different developmental ages and how to identify and remove hazards.

Natural Materials

Natural materials include wood, water, plants, stone, air, rope, canvas, sand, mulch, pebbles, mud, etc. Many, if not most, play environments are built out of materials of technology such as plastics, composites, metals and artificial assemblies of materials. Play environments that embrace natural materials help children develop an appreciation for the natural world around them.

Play & Resilience

Nature Play provides a safe, natural environment for children to develop the emotional and cognitive skills needed to recover from adversity. Through play, children learn to problem-solve, manage emotions, build relationships, and develop confidence, which are all crucial aspects of resilience, or the ability to "roll with the punches" and adapt to challenges.

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