PNP Ep38_PNA SOLO v1
I wanna help everybody who is interested in nature play, risky play, loose parts, adventure playgrounds, how to do it, how to take it to the next level, how to change the world together. We’re not alone. Together we can make change. That’s Nature Play Academy. Let’s go far together month by month
Hi, this is Rusty Keeler, and you’re listening to the Play Nature Podcast where we talk about play, nature, playing in nature, and the nature of play. I’m glad you’re here. Let’s have a listen
Oh, dear listener. Yeah. Let’s have a listen, shall we? I’m back at Six Mile Creek, or should I say we’re back at Six Mile Creek, and it is full on summertime here in Ithaca. And I have a nice little secluded spot, and the water’s flowing, and you can listen. Yes, we have a listen. Can you hear?
Yeah, if we, if we start to get on Earth speed a little bit, no matter where you’re at, maybe you’re in nature, maybe you’re in a car, maybe you’re, you’re in a living room, maybe you’re in a jet airliner
Yeah, but, but we can, we can all tune in and ground out and get on Earth speed. And so as I’m sitting here, I see lots of water bugs on the surface of the water. It’s very s- kinda smooth right where I’m sitting, and they are moving all around, and they’re making little circles. Little circles, uh, of rhythm as they move.
They look almost like raindrops. Another moment of the season is that I have s- I have some allergies, so I got a kind of stuffed-up nose, unfortunately. You know, not the best for podcasting. But the show must go on, right? Uh, I’ll try not to sniffle or blow my nose too much. But I’m excited to be back. I’m excited to be here in the summertime and, you know, it’s, it’s warm, although it’s starting to cool off.
The evenings have been kinda cool, and this is one of those fun things in Ithaca, New York, like when I have friends that have moved up from the South, I remind them, “You gotta… Don’t forget to bring your August coat. Might get cool out here in August. I know it’s summer, but still, it might get cool.” So today’s kind of a temperate day, which is nice.
Anyway, I’m, I’m glad to be here with you, and I have some fun things that I’m gonna share. And, you know, I’m, I’m kinda doing a lot of, you know, the last couple years I’ve been kind of reflecting on, like, my work and my work in the world and with some of you. And yeah, I’m always kind of thinking about, well, what’s next or what’s my next move?
And, you know, I think about, you know, I’ve gotten to travel so many amazing places and teamed up with so many awesome people just like you who love outdoor play and connecting kids to nature and are supporting play and risky play and all the loose parts goodness. Uh, so I just feel so fortunate in that.
And I’m so fortunate because I’ve seen so many amazing things that people are doing all over the world Yeah. You know, so it’s like I’ve, I’ve traveled for my work, but you know, like you, I’m a lifelong learner. I love this stuff. So I’ve also like, over the years have been going on tours and, you know, visiting adventure playgrounds in Berlin or Australia or Denmark The United Kingdom.
Yeah, all sorts of stuff. So, you know, I travel ’cause I’ve, I, I love this stuff and I keep learning about it and taking pictures about it. You know, as a, as a book writer, I always thought, “Oh, that could go in a book.” So I’ve seen so many amazing, amazing places that have inspired me so much, and, and I love sharing those.
And so, you know, I’ve also seen things that, like, quite frankly, blow my mind, right? You know, and, and I can think like, “Oh, I’ve, I’ve seen it all. I’ve been doing this for, you know, whatever, how many years. You know, what’s gonna surprise me?” I’m always, like, thinking about that. You know, early on, lots of things surprised me.
And then, you know, I started to get the feel for all the great stuff that y’all are doing out there. So there’s so many great examples. But, you know, I, I still have a million stories of, you know, my mind getting blown, and here’s one of them Years and years ago, I got the awesome opportunity to work on a design in Minnesota with the Dodge Nature Preschool Dodge Nature Preschool.
Look it up. It’s an awesome place. The center itself is amazing, designed by a visionary early childhood educator, director, I think professor. Uh, the building’s amazing, their yard’s amazing, but what is extra amazing is that it is on the grounds of a nature center, Dodge Nature Center Preschool. So w- I got to visit, and one dad just was trucking around with the, the kids, a class of preschoolers, and we, we, you know, like I kind of saw what they did, of course, in the yard, but then also like out and about in the nature center.
And, you know, we– they had farm animals. So we had a, a wagon filled with rotted pumpkins, and so we’re gonna feed them to the pigs. So they throw them over to the pigs, and the pigs just happily eat them up, and they know all the pigs by name. And, and we keep wandering along, and there’s a bog with a boardwalk and no hand railings or anything, just, you know, the, the kids they’ve talked it all over.
They, they know what the deal is. Nobody wants to fall into the bog. Uh, you know, but there they are, and they’re looking at frogs and looking at the plants and looking at the water bugs and, you know, the whole deal. Uh, you know, so I’m just like in heaven. And then we come to the place they call Challenge Hill.
If you’re listening from Dodge Nature Center Preschool, you still, you still, uh, challenging? Is there still challenge on the Challenge Hill? Well, anyway, you know, I’m always somebody that is like all for kids taking risks or just, you know, supporting children and knowing they’re capable, and they can do amazing things and maybe more than we give them credit for.
And, you know, they can do it, and they can… You know, they’re rough and tumble. But this one blew my mind because in the woods, Challenge Hill, okay, I can’t wait to see it. Suddenly, it’s like there was already a class up there, and it was like one of the steepest hills and not quite a cliff, but somewhere between a very steep hill and a, a dirt cliff with trees sprouting out all over.
And the kids in their mud suits and rain suits and rain boots were attempting to scale up this super steep, muddy hill and having the time of their lives. There was a rope attached at the top going down, so you could like hold the rope and try to climb up, climb up, uh, you know. But lo and behold, kids are falling all over the place, and they’re falling and sliding back down, and then they’re trying to get some more, and they’re– they almost get there, and then they fall, and they roll, and they, then they bump into someone else who’s coming up and, and getting muddy in the process.
And, you know, it was just like For me back then, it was astounding, it was amazing, and it just expanded my thoughts and beliefs about what, you– what children are capable of. Yeah, and I’ve seen that a million times all over the place, and, you know, I’ve, I’ve taken pictures. I’ve taken video. You know, I’ve written articles about things that I see.
And, you know, it’s interesting, again, reflecting on my own life, I’m at the point now where I just wanna share it. I just wanna share all the stuff, all the things I’ve seen, all the stories I’ve heard, all the amazing play spaces and play features and loose parts and settings and people saying yes. And, you know, I, I have all the pictures.
I have all the video. I have all the stories, but it’s on my hard drive That’s no good. That’s just being stored, right? That’s knowledge unshared. So I think about like me in this stage of life and when I was younger, you know, I thought, “Oh, I’m gonna make a big difference ’cause, and I’m gonna try to do as many playscapes, natural playscapes as I can, and I’m gonna try to reach as many people, you know, I’m gonna try to do as many as I, you know, possible all over the place.”
Sure. And I did. And, you know, whatever. There’s, there’s a good number out there. But as my hair has gotten grayer and I’ve gotten a little bit wiser, I realize that for me, the, the biggest impact I can make is actually sharing everything that I know and that I’ve seen and that I’ve been inspired with you there, and all of you.
Like, that’s the biggest impact, is that the impact that you all make. So I’m kind of at the stage of my life now where I just wanna share. And it’s interesting because, you know, all that stuff on the hard drive, I think previously maybe I thought, “Oh, that’s, uh, that’s lots of books. You know, I probably, I probably have enough material for 20 books,” which is fine and dandy.
You know, it’s– I’ve enjoyed the book processes that I’ve been in, my three books. But you know, writing a book is kind of lonely. You’re kind of by yourself, and you– I’m imagining you reading my book and what you would think. Um, but really, it’s, it is a solitary endeavor which, okay, I admit, I, I like. You know, I’m, you know, while I’m, when I’m out in the world and with friends and with, you know, folks like you mixing it up in the world of play, you know, I, I can be a little fun extrovert.
But I’m also more introverted. I guess it’s a balance. Uh, but, but you know, I think about this and the, and the book writing is lonely and what I long for in my life now is to share this stuff, but to do it in community I wanna share this with you. Uh, and I don’t, I don’t want it to be by myself. I want it to be something alive.
And so that is why, drum roll please, I’m starting this fall a community of the most excited nature play, play nature people in the world who wanna gather together and learn and grow together and talk this stuff over and ask questions and get more content and see more pictures and watch more videos and get help with their own yards and ask me questions.
And I, I wanna give advice. I wanna share my experience. I wanna share my experiences. So I’m starting this thing that I’m super excited about, I hope you might be a part of it, called the Nature Play Academy. Dun, dun, dun. Official, the Academy And it’s because I wanna, yeah, I wanna help raise everybody. I wanna help everybody who is interested in nature play, risky play, loose parts, adventure playgrounds, play work, challenge hills, how to do it, how to take it to the next level, how to scale things up, how to change the world, right?
That’s, that’s what we’re here for. And it’s interesting, in– since my last book came out, Adventures in Risky Play What is Your Yes? I’ve been doing risky roundtables, risky roundtable discussions with people all over. Early childhood educators and teachers and parents, grandparents, licensors and directors, and the whole deal.
You know, I’ll go to conferences, and I’ll, I may do a com– uh, a keynote, which is… I love doing keynotes. I love preparing. I love thinking about how to really serve and be entertaining, but also inspiring and tr– and also, like, practical and, you know, helping you feel like you can make change. Start small, dream big, start small.
But then the risky roundtable, I’ve been following the keynotes with that, and that is where we sit in a circle. I have a few prompts, and I listen. We all listen. We listen to each other, and we hear, like, where, where people are at. What are their feelings about nature play or risky play? What are their successes?
What are their challenges? You know, w-where do they s– what’s their relation to risk? What is your relation to risk? And I’ve heard amazing things, and since that book came out in 2020, I think, I hear a lot of the same subjects come up, a lot of the same concerns, a lot of the same frustrations of, you know, how to support play, the play that we love, the play that we know is good for children, that is the natural way.
Uh, so it’s interesting, and, and there’s people at these round tables and listeners to this podcast who are at all different stages, I think, on the growth path of, of, of living their dream of supporting the kind of play that they believe in. And so I’ve t- I’ve talked to new teachers, teachers just beginning, some new teachers who are just beginning and a little nervous and don’t…
You know, how, I’ve, I’m, I’ve, I’ve heard about risky play, but how do I do it? What do I do? I’ve talked to new teachers and listened to new teachers who actually, in their heart and in their spirit, are very grounded in what they believe in about risky play and play in general, and support, how to support that play and what children are capable of.
But as a new teacher, not feeling comfortable really to talk about it, or if their co-teachers are less approving or they don’t share that philosophy, what that struggle feels like. I’ve talked to directors, I’ve talked to longtime educators, I’ve talked to forest school. You know, I hear the, the issues with forest school practitioners I’ve talked– On this trip, I did this, uh, spring speaking tour, and, uh, did the roundtables all the way.
And, and I, and I talked to amazing people, and including a director who said very clearly when it was like, “What’s your relation to risk?” That it’s not children doing risky play. She’s all about it. But of course, the big theme is that she’s more afraid than of the licenser, of licensing, of regulations, of lawsuits, of getting her program shut down.
She’s– That’s her fear with risky play. It, it’s not the children climbing trees or jumping off things or using loose parts or sticks. It’s the licensing. You know, there’s people who are talking about, you know, “Okay, well, I think I get risky play. I see you in, in action. I see why, you know, just saying yes to all kinds of play is so beneficial, but how do I communicate that?
How do I talk to parents about that who are like, ‘What? My, my child, you have my child climbing a tree?’” Or how do you talk to licensing? That’s always a big thing. Or how do you improve your yard? Or how do you add nature if you have a rubberized surface and, you know, metal monkey bars, and that’s all you got?
I’ve heard teachers who are confident with risky play. When they’re with their kids, they can see it in action. They, they support play. They’re self-reflective. They, you know, they see it working well, but then they’re scared when the director comes out, and then how to talk to the director. I’ve listened and heard directors say the opposite of like, they are all for risky play, and then they get frustrated because they see their teachers who, who are too nervous to support kinds of play that they believe in So for all that, all those people can be lonely.
If you’re the director, be like, “Oh, am I the only person who believes this?” Or the new teacher who’s like, “Oh, I believe this in my heart, but the people around me don’t,” that can be lonely We don’t need to be lonely. You know why? Because there are tons of us who believe in this stuff Who know that children deserve play and that play is the natur-natural way that children grow and develop, and that nature is good, and mess is fine, and, you know, all that stuff, and that we can talk to licensing and it’s, you know.
So that’s what I felt like when I do these roundtables. It’s like, so it could be a, a whole room full of people that feel alone, but suddenly they are in a circle, and they feel held in that circle no matter where they’re at. So I feel like those, those circles are that opportunity to, to be in community and a place to meet, a place to be heard, a place to help others.
You know, people are sharing experiences. You know, long-time educators are sharing with new teachers. New teachers with new s- new spirit and gusto are kind of, you know, spreading that to teachers who have been doing it for a while, and the idea that we can come together, and we can grow together, and that’s what I love.
And so for me, all those ideas swirling together with kind of me thinking about my next stage of life, my next stage of my career. I’m in this for the duration. There’s not a retirement. Who would want to retire? I, I, I’ve got the best deal. I love it. I love it. I get to talk to you and travel all over and see people do amazing things and know that we’re doing good for the earth and good for people and good for children.
So swirling that all together, Nature Play Academy. Yeah. Yeah. So Nature Play Academy, I’m creating this community, and it’s gonna be a place that we can come together, and no matter where you’re at on the growth path, right? So I’ve been thinking about the growth path as, listen to this, five stages. See where you’re at.
Seed A sprout, a sapling, a tree, and a forest. And to think about these, these growth paths and, and the idea that like we can grow together no matter where you’re at. So a seed might be that new teacher, you’re just beginning. Or a seed might be a new parent or a grandparent wondering how to transform their backyard or say yes to more play.
A seed could be somebody who has been doing traditional, you know, metal and plastic playgrounds, but now they want to switch to the natural way, but they’re new to it. Okay. So then a sprout. A sprout might be somebody who’s, you know, a little farther along. You know, they, they’re still a little shaky, but they know, they have this feeling that nature play and saying yes to play and standing back and taking deep breaths and holding in your nose, not saying no is good.
But they could use a little help, a little support, a little help here. Okay, a sapling is the next stage. Seed, sprout, sapling. Sapling is like, okay, somebody who is on the path. They are doing it. You are working it. You are supporting play. You see it in action. You see the benefits. You love it, but okay, you could use some tips.
You might wanna ask some questions to some people that have been doing it a little longer and, you know, you, you, you still have some concerns. Next stage is the tree. The tree, you’re doing it. This could be the best practice stage. You, you’re doing it. You’ve been doing it. You love risky play. You’re doing risky play, or maybe you’re a forest school practitioner, or you, you’re a center director, or you’re a long-time educator.
Uh, maybe you’re educator, uh, of adults or college students. You know, you’ve been doing it, and now you are starting to, like, pass it on, and you, you love this stuff. Maybe you’ve been doing it for thirty years, and you… this is your jam, and you’re a life, lifelong learner, and you wanna keep learning. Yeah, you wanna keep taking it to the next level ’cause this is the stuff you love, so yeah, “Give me more,” says the tree.
And then the forest. I see the forest as, as the fifth stage here, and that is, yes, the best practice, yes, going beyond. Maybe you are the trainer. Maybe you are the trainer of trainers. Maybe you are working with multiple programs to, to spread the word and preach the gospel. Maybe you’re a professor, and you’re working to enlighten and steer the next generation.
Maybe you wanna spread and scale the whole play movement up, and you wanna start a nonprofit, or maybe you’re working with parks departments, you know, or city. Maybe you’re part of a city, and you want to change how city parks do things, or you want play workers, you know, in every park, or maybe you work for the government, and you know that you can work at that level, scale it up.
So it’s beautiful. So when I think about Nature Play Academy, everybody’s welcome. Seed, sprout, sapling, tree, forest, and then forest goes all the way to seed again. Like when you’re, when you take it to the next level, when you scale it up, that’s a whole beginning. And I think about all this as beginner’s mind and the idea of we’re growing.
I wanna grow together. That’s, that’s, this is my life. Like, I wanna help you grow. So Nature Play Academy, what is Nature Play Academy? What is it? Okay, so it is going to be a monthly… It’s gonna be an online, online thing, online community. You know, who knows, maybe in the future we’ll, we’ll gather, you know, in person.
That’d be awesome. Do some tours. We, we can go to– We can gather in Scotland, have a tour over there. But, so Nature Play Academy is going to be a, a online community with all of us, uh, and then there’s gonna be monthly gatherings, monthly, uh, I call it like the deep dives, the live sessions on Zoom. And that will be a balance of, a combo of me providing fresh content Pictures, stories, videos, ideas from all over the world, from people centers, uh, and topics that you want to explore.
So I will have content, and then we’ll get in. We’ll have the circle, and we will have discussion, and we will have questions, and it will be the wisdom, you know, the wisdom of the group sharing and helping and learning and growing, uh, debating, questioning. We’ll also do what would Rusty say about my yard?
A little game show of sorts, uh, where you can send pictures ahead of time. Uh, at that live session, I’ll just look live, and I’ll tell you what I think about the yard or how to improve it or whatever your budget is. You know, if you got a big yard or small yard, big budget, small budget, no budget, we’ll look at it, and then we’ll look at it as a group, and we’ll brainstorm.
All that will be recorded, of course, so you can watch it at your leisure, depending on what your time zone is. Uh, there’ll also be one-on-one opportunities to, like, schedule with me and have some… You know, we could talk about anything you want, adding nature to your yard, ris- supporting risky play, uh, loose parts, maybe also your own personal growth in the play movement, or how to be a designer or how I did it or, you know, whatever.
So there’s one-on-one time with me. Then there’s archives of tons of resources, of course, you know, uh, including maybe some of the most important things now, which are those talking points. You believe in play. You believe in risky play. You believe in connecting kids to nature. But would it be nice to have some talking points that you can pull out or think about, uh, when you’re talking to parents about why this stuff’s good for children?
Talking points about how to explain this to fellow teachers. Talking points of how to approach your principal to lobby for more nature or a different kind of yard or having loose parts out in the public school. Talking points to talk to licensing to show that you know what you’re doing. You do this thing mindfully.
And also, one of my favorite things, uh, the FUD film archive It’s been a bunch of years and, uh, with my email list, I’ve sent out fun film Fridays. So I’m collecting them all in one place, inspirational little videos about all this stuff. So yeah, what do you think? Sound interesting? I can tell you that I’m super excited.
Yes, I’ve been cooking this up… Really, I’ve been thinking about this for two years, three years, you know, and everything kind of coming in place. Uh, you know, like I was like, “Okay, I need a new website. Okay, I wanna do a podcast. That’s my, that’s my next step.” And then for me, this is like the final thing of, for me personally, kind of stepping into the future.
Like, it’s like, all right, month by month, I wanna, I wanna form this community. I want us to come together, talk together, and grow together. And I wanna help people. If they’re seeds, go to the sprouts. If they’re sprouts, go to the saplings. If they’re saplings, get strong into the tree. If they’re tree, to spread the word, scale it up, change the world.
Right? Right. So in other w- Also, I’m thinking about this like, oh, this is kind of like, I want to b- work on this. I want this to be also like something that is, for me, like new work, providing this monthly, facilitating these conversations, providing the content, getting it all together. So if you are interested, the doors are opening.
I’m l- I’m launching it now. The doors are opening August 22nd, 2026, and we’re gonna kick off the first month together in September. Yeah. Price, the low, low price, $20, 20 bucks a month, 20 US dollars, or
200 a year if you wanna s- You can save two m- two months free for if you do the whole year, $200. But anyway, 20 bucks a month, and we will have community, and we will share, and we will grow together because I’m not stopping on this journey. Uh-uh. I still wanna go on the tours out in the world. I’m still talking about this stuff.
I still wanna visit. I still want my mind blown. Yeah. Yeah. And I wanna share, and I sh- wanna share it with you, and I wanna support you, and I wanna sh- support y’all wherever you’re at so that you can support the play that you believe in, that you know in your heart and in your bones is right for children.
Yeah. Yeah, and together, together we make a big difference. Together we’re not alone. Together we can make change. Yeah. This African proverb that I recently heard that I love so much says, “If you wanna go fast, go alone. But if you wanna go far, go together.” Yeah, I love it. And I feel like that’s Nature Play Academy.
Like, let’s go far together month by month. Also, uh, besides, besides all, like, the other stuff, every month you’ll get, like, a playbook. Not a workbook, but a playbook that is a reflection of the content and the topics and little, little things for you to try or reflections or things that you could observe when you are supporting the play every month.
So you get these little y- prompts for yourself to try things and to think about things in new ways as a follow-up to the monthly session, and so that we can really think about and support that play. And, you know, it takes me full circle back to that challenge hill. And so there’s the me in that story, and I think about me as, like, a younger me, like wide-eyed, being like, “My gosh, what am I seeing?”
These kids in their mud suits and rolling, tumbling down the hill, and some triumphantly making it all the way top, and adults at the top and the bottom, you know, supporting and cheering it on and getting a kick out of the whole thing. And my eyes were wide. But now when I think about the children that were doing that There was just laughter.
There was just joy. There was just them knowing they can try to do this, and maybe they’ll get to do it. And then they fall, and they bump into each other and, you know, that kind of rough and tumble of just bumping, bumping into each other and doing it together and their own sense of belonging, their own sense of community.
And then we all walked back, back to the Dodge Nature Preschool building, them in their muddy bu-mudsuits, me just smiling and, you know, being wowed. And there was just like this feeling. Everybody just had this feeling of satisfaction And we know, you know, when children get those opportunities to, to be kids, to, to do natural play, right?
It doesn’t have to be, you know, wild, muddy hills, challenge hills, but just all the ways that we could say yes, and all the ways that you could support play, and you know it. Whatever, wherever you’re at in it, city parks, family childcare, your own grandkids, we know that it’s, it’s worth it. And we know it’s easier when we can get a little support.
Little support here, little help here. So, so that’s it. I’m here to help. I’d love you to be a part of this. Yeah?
All right. Thanks for listening Do you have a comment or a question? Email me at playnaturepodcast@gmail.com. You know I like talking about this stuff, and maybe we could use your question on a future podcast episode. As always, I have some free goodies for you in the show notes, including my outdoor loose parts guide.
Fun stuff in there. And so I wish you the best in your outdoor play adventures. And when it comes to adding nature to your yard, or loose parts, or saying yes to risky play, my favorite motto is, “Dream big, start small, and never stop.” Oh, yeah. Woo, woo, woo, woo. Let’s do it. All right, have fun out there
