Play Nature Podcast

more than fun and games. It's what makes us human! In this episode of the Play Nature Podcast , Rusty Keeler welcomes Suzanne Axelsson, international play activist, educator, author, and creator of Playarista training to go deep into the magic of play-led play , children's autonomy, and the power of letting kids follow their own curiosity. From risky play and children's rights to the surprising co...

Think about this…the best thing we can do for children is…less and then more. Less directing. Less correcting. Less rushing to the rescue. More mud. More mess. More wonder!  In this episode of Play Nature Podcast, Rusty welcomes Stephanie O’Brien, longtime educator at the legendary Roseville Community Preschool, where the philosophy of beloved early childhood advocate Bev Bos is still going s...

What if the answer to better learning, happier kids, and even easier classroom management is just outside the door?  In this episode of the Play Nature Podcast , Rusty talks with Dr. Megan Zeni about bringing play, learning, and a little healthy risk into the school day. No fancy outdoor classroom required. A tarp, a patch of grass, and a willingness to try can be plenty. Megan shares what sh...

What if play didn’t need a lesson plan? Or an outcome? Or a grown-up standing nearby explaining what’s supposed to happen next?  In this episode of the Play Nature Podcast , Rusty Keeler sits down with longtime early childhood educator, author, speaker, and unapologetic play advocate Lisa Murphy to talk about what children really need in order to play: time, choice, trust, and adults willing...

What happens when one kid climbs up the slide while another is coming down? Is going up the slide really dangerous? Or is it just one of those playground rules we’ve inherited without thinking too hard about it?  In this episode of the Play Nature Podcast, Rusty Keeler dives into one of the surprisingly spicy debates of early childhood play: Should kids go UP the slide? Rusty shares stories f...

What happens when children meet a muddy hill, a dangling rope, and a whole lot of possibility? They climb. They slip. They tumble. They try again.  In this episode of Play Nature Podcast , Rusty returns to Six Mile Creek and shares the story of Challenge Hill, where preschoolers in mud suits showed him just how capable, joyful, and determined children can be. That wide-eyed moment is part of...

Nature is everywhere. In the trees. In the rain. In the crack in the sidewalk where one determined little plant is doing its thing. In the tree that looks like a butt. In this episode of Play Nature Podcast , Rusty talks with Dr. Rachel Larimore about helping children build real relationships with the natural world, even when a school does not have a forest, a fancy outdoor classroom, or a flock o...

A school that smells like mud, woodsmoke, porridge, and possibility? Well…that sounds perfect! In this episode of Play Nature Podcast , Rusty chats with Louise Licznerski about outdoor learning in Scotland, where children run, wander, forage, climb, get muddy, and settle into the slow, steady rhythms of the earth. This conversation is all about what happens when children are trusted with space, ti...

Rusty is back by the creek. The water is moving. The bugs are buzzing. A bald eagle flies by because apparently even the birds know when a podcast needs a dramatic moment.  In this solo episode of Play Nature Podcast , Rusty reflects on his spring speaking tour where he brought the fire for nature play, risky play, loose parts, and the slow, sparkly magic of childhood. This episode is part ro...

What happens when a chemist wanders out of the lab and into the woods with children? Adventure, of course.  In this episode of Play Nature Podcast Rusty talks with Jim McCullough, founder of Adventure Walkers about forest kindergarten, playwork, risky play, and the wild magic that happens when adults stop steering so much and start saying yes. Jim shares his story of how working in a preschoo...

Nature is not just pretty. It is medicine. It is our teacher. It is mud, microbes, moss, noise-softening, nervous-system-settling magic. In this episode of Play Nature Podcast, Rusty Keeler talks with researcher Alex Barrable about the deep and delightful ways humans connect with the natural world. Alex shares how becoming a parent brought her back to nature, how children help adults slow down to...

The best playgrounds are alive. Dirt is medicine. And schoolyards can, and should, grow a little forest where kids can climb, hide, breathe, wonder, and come back to themselves.   In this episode of the Play Nature Podcast, Rusty Keeler talks with Adam Bienenstock about nature play, living soil, school forests, and why children need more than a break from screens. They need roots. Bugs....

In this episode of Play Nature Podcast, host Rusty Keeler takes us creekside on a warm spring day to think big. Big like gorges. Small like bugs. Slow like trees. This episode is a call to remember  the mission. The mission to give children what they need most: time, freedom, nature, community, and real life under their feet. Rusty reflects on the strange, speedy blip of modern childhood. Mor...

Step outside. Feel the mud. Hear the birds. In this episode of the Play Nature Podcast, Rusty Keeler sits down with Playcologist Claude Stephens to explore a simple but powerful idea: children are meant to play in nature. Not on perfectly polished playgrounds. Not inside neat boundaries. But in messy, wild, living places. The kind with sticks. And puddles. And possibility. Claude and Rusty imagine...

Spring rain. Mud everywhere. Kids smiling anyway. Let’s follow the weather! In this episode of Play Nature Podcast, host Rusty Keeler invites us into a world where children climb, splash, wander, and belong. Short answer? It’s messy. And it’s magic. A bus. The Highlands. Outdoor preschools tucked into hills, meadows, and even swamps. Educators from around the world, LA to Lithuania. Everyone bundl...

This episode of the Play Nature Podcast feels like stepping into a backyard where something magical is always unfolding. Mud. Water. Sand. Stories.  Host Rusty Keeler welcomes Kristy DeGraff to explore what happens when we trust children, follow curiosity, and let nature lead the way. It’s about more than play. It’s about belonging. It’s about building spaces where kids can dig deep, take ris...

Licensing. Not the most exciting topic. Not mud pies or tree climbing. But if you work in schools, parks, or early childhood programs, licensing is part of the landscape.  In this episode of Play Nature Podcast, host Rusty is answering the question many educators ask: How do we keep nature play, loose parts, and risky play alive when licensing rules feel like a wall? The good news? The wall m...

Play is everywhere. It slips through sidewalks and across continents. In this episode of Play Nature Podcast, host Rusty Keeler welcomes playworker, play advocate, and “friend of play” Marc Armitage. Marc is joining from Australia with stories that stretch from Yorkshire to the far corners of playgrounds and city streets.  Together they wander through big questions. What is play? Who gets to...

What happens when kids are given time, space, and stuff? Real stuff. Junk. Tools. Magnets. Hot glue guns.  In this episode of the Play Nature Podcast , host Rusty Keeler is talking to Erik Herman to explore what play, tinkering, and science can look like when curiosity leads the way. Erik is a former classroom teacher who followed his passion out of formal education and into the wild, wonderf...

Winter. Ice cracking at the creek. Water freezing in buckets and balloons. Rusty is back outside, thinking out loud, when an aha arrives. One of those deep ones. The kind that doesn’t land all at once. The kind you keep unpacking for a lifetime.  This episode of the Play Nature Podcast is all about that moment, a shift in how play is seen, felt, and trusted. Rusty reflects on being a lifelong...

Welcome to Season 2 of the Play Nature Podcast!  A full circle around the sun. A new season of listening begins. Winter has arrived (at least in Ithaca, NY). Cold. Snow. Gray skies. And…PLAY. In this episode of the Play Nature Podcast , Rusty Keeler bundles up and steps into winter to give us the next installment of his Seasons of Play series, reminding us that this final season matters just...

Some conversations feel like sunshine. This one? Pure magic. Imagine laughter blowing through the trees, college students climbing branches, children splashing in streams, and stories woven into the wind.  That’s the vibe of this episode of the Play Nature Podcast. Host Rusty Keeler is joined by the wonderful Gemma Nicholl Medina to explore the wild wonder of place-based learning and how natu...

Welcome to a world where play speaks louder than words. Where adults climb trees dressed as toucans, worms magically become two worms, and curiosity crackles like fairy lights in a cozy home-like space flooded with plants and laughter.  In this episode of the Play Nature Podcast, host Rusty Keeler and guest Robin Christie take us by the hand, skipping barefoot through ideas about playfulness,...

It’s time to trust kids more. Let them walk those four houses home, climb that tree, and spend an afternoon conquering a pile of dirt. Freedom, not fear, shapes childhood the childhood we hope to give our kids. In this episode of Play Nature Podcast , host Rusty Keeler is chatting with Free-Range Kids author and Let Grow president Lenore Skenazy to explore how we, as parents, got so anxious about...

Have you ever watched a child scoop birdseed, roll in grass, or wrap Play-Doh around tiny toys and think, “What on earth are they doing?”  In this episode of Play Nature Podcast, host Rusty Keeler is chatting and laughing with Heather Bernt-Santy, THE Early Childhood Nerd, to find out why those moments are more than just mess and motion. They really are the heart of learning. They talk about...