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So, why play?

By connecting children to nature through free play (the way our brains are designed to learn) we are helping to foster the next generation of environmental stewards.

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We Believe In Free Play Because:

Children are competent beings.

Children begin building connections and passions when they are very young.

We believe that by supporting free play in nature we are nurturing the next generation of environmental stewards.

Children seek out and benefit from environments that allow them to explore risk in appropriate ways.

Children require frequent opportunities to play freely in order to develop in healthy ways.

Children have an affinity for natural materials over plastics and materials of technology.

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THE NATURE OF PLAY

Exploring

Nurturing

Reimagining

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All Resources

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.

 

Book Report

Loose Parts: Inspiring Play In Young Children

Loose Parts: Inspiring Play In Young Children created an international phenomenon that brought the concept of Loose Parts to the conversations on play and learning. This book has been translated into multiple languages and has won several awards and recognitions. Including:  Tillywig Award Winner 2015, Brain Child.

The hundreds of inspiring photographs showcase an array of loose parts in real early childhood settings. And the overviews of concepts children can learn when using loose parts provide the foundation for incorporating loose parts into your teaching to enhance play and empower children. The possibilities are truly endless.

Learn More About All 4 Books in the Series

Risk

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.

Play England

Play England promotes the right of children to play through a range of projects including playing in nature, street play and other innovative projects and ideas. The goal of Play England is to enable the whole country to protect a child’s right to play; to work to promote play; and work with others to provide opportunities across the country. Play England offers many examples of play projects and explanations of play workers or facilitators to encourage children’s play.

Play England

Alliance for Childhood

The mission of Alliance for Childhood is to build, strengthen and empower play networks to improve the lives of children. We envision a world in which stress is reduced in children through increased child-initiated and intrinsically motivated free play, reduced screen time and high stakes testing, andincreased open-ended, active play opportunities.

Alliance For Childhood

Book: Adventures in Risky Play

Rusty Keeler is a designer, author, and speaker with a unique sensitivity to the sights, sounds and experiences of childhood. For nearly 30 years Rusty has traveled the world designing natural outdoor play envirornments and speaking about the benefits and beauty of saying “yes” to children’s play. In his book Adevntures in Risky Play, Rusty encourages us to allow children to play and confront risk on their own terms, we see them develop, hold their locus of control and make choices on how to navigate the bumpy terrain of a situation. What better teaching tool for life is there?

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.

Children & Nature Network

After publication of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder in 2005, author Richard Louv and others co-founded the Children & Nature Network, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to fuel the worldwide grassroots movement to reconnect children with nature through innovative ideas, evidence-based resources and tools, broad-based collaboration and support of grassroots leadership.

Children & Nature Network

Natural Play Environments

Nature play environments support nature play. These environments are outside, and most often use natural materials such as logs, rocks, trees, sand, water and gardens. Children who play in natural play environments will build an affinity for nature, which is a great first step in creating future generations of children who will become environmental stewards – we love what we know.

Additional Resources

Natural Learning Initiative at NC State University

The Natural Learning Initiative (NLI) was founded in 2000 with the purpose of promoting the importance of the natural environment in the daily experience of all children, through environmental design, action research, education and dissemination of information. It is a research and professional development unit at the College of Design, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.

The Benefits of Play In Nature

Research on the benefits for children who play in nature is growing. Many evidence-based studies discuss the various ways in which children grow and develop differently – and positively – when their childhood is spent in nature and free play.

A few of the many benefits include: a reduction in ADHD through improved concentration and focus, better physical coordination and balance, greater imagination and creativity and improved cognitive development. Play in nature buffers the impact of life’s stresses on children, helps them better deal with adversity and stimulates cooperation with others. Play in diverse natural environments reduces or eliminates bullying.

Clearly, children benefit from nature. But nature also benefits from children who play there – even more when a child’s nature experiences begin early in life. Children who grown in nature develop into stewards of the earth and have an affinity that lasts a lifetime