Play Nature Podcast

By Rusty KeelerParenting Kids & Family

Play Nature Podcast episodes

October 13Ep 42 | Bev Bos and the Art of Standing Back with Stephanie O'Brien
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 strong. With a background in occupational therapy and more than two decades at the preschool, Stephanie shares how this one-of-a-kind play space gives children the freedom to take risks, make choices, feel big feelings, and grow at their own pace. And how a school held together with zip ties, duct tape, and a whole lot of love can change the lives of children AND parents.
From the art of being an "unhelpful" adult to the importance of messy play and strong developmental foundations, Rusty and Stephanie explore what happens when we stop controlling childhood and start trusting children.
They talk about creating environments filled with possibilities, supporting big emotions without judgment, and making room for curiosity and discovery. Because childhood isn't a race to kindergarten readiness. It's about building the roots for a lifetime of learning, confidence, and joy. So slow down. Stand back. Let the magic happen!
Top 3 Takeaways from Stephanie:
Master the art of standing back. Give children the space to solve problems, take risks, and discover what they're capable of. Stay close, but resist the urge to jump in and fix everything.
Embrace the mess. All of it! Muddy clothes, spilled paint, big feelings, and even bigger frustrations are all part of growing up. Children need room to experience it all.
Build the foundation before the academics. Climbing, digging, crawling, wondering, and playing develop the physical, emotional, and social skills children need to thrive. Slow and steady. Childhood isn't a race!
Links:
rosevillecp.org

Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
59 min
September 29Ep 41 | Everything Can Be Taught Outside with Dr. Megan Zeni
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 she learned from decades of teaching outdoors and helping other educators do the same. They talk all about why outdoor learning gives kids more room to move, regulate, explore, and actually engage with what they’re learning. They also look at the spectrum from adult-directed activities to guided play to child-led play—and how teachers can use all three to meet curriculum goals without squeezing the play right out of learning.
And then there’s risky play. Saws. Climbing. Mud. The good stuff. Megan explains how clear routines and strong relationships create the freedom kids need to explore. Her advice? Skip waiting for the perfect outdoor classroom. Take something you already do and move it outside. Start small. Go play.
Top 3 Takeaways from Dr. Megan Zeni:
Outside can make school work better. More room to move and explore can support engagement, relationships, and classroom routines.
Structure can create freedom. Teach the skills and routines first, then give kids the time and space to take the lead.
Start with what you already do. Read a book under a tree. Take a lesson for a walk. Put the Legos on a tarp. Going outside doesn’t have to be complicated.
Links:
meganzeni.com
@roomtoplay Facebook | Intsagram

Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
1 hr 5 min
September 15Ep 40 | Stop ’Splaining the Play: Lisa Murphy on Trusting Kids
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 to get out of the way.
Lisa has spent more than 30 years helping educators understand that play isn’t something extra we squeeze in after the “real learning.” It is the foundation underneath it.
Rusty and Lisa are talking about why freely chosen, open-ended play matters, what happens when children (and adults) haven’t had enough of it. Curiosity might be one of the most important things we can protect, so let’s evaluate the danger of chopping a child’s day into twenty-minute pieces. Because play has its own speed.
This conversation is also a rallying cry for educators. Know what you believe. Own it. Stop apologizing for play before anyone has even questioned it. Play doesn’t need an agenda. Sometimes the best thing we can do is give it space and see where it goes.
Top 3 Takeaways from Lisa Murphy:
Give play time. Real play needs enough room for choosing, negotiating, experimenting, changing course, and deciding when it’s finished.
Protect curiosity. Children (and grown-ups) need opportunities to wonder, explore, get messy, and follow ideas without always knowing where they’ll lead.
Know your values. When educators are clear about what they believe about children and play, it becomes much easier to stand confidently behind their practice.
Links:
ooeygooey.com
@OoeyGooeyLady on Facebook | on Instagram | on YouTube

Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs

Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
1 hr 8 min
August 25Ep 39 | Should Kids Go UP the Slide?
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 from risky play conversations with educators, including a triumphant tube-slide climb, a former emergency room nurse who has seen more than her share of childhood injuries, and *content warning* a few genuine playground horror stories involving sticks, teeth, and yes, an eyeball.
The point isn’t to dismiss anyone’s fears. It’s to understand where those fears come from and ask whether a blanket “NO” is always the best answer.
This episode is really about more than slides. It’s about questioning old rules. Making room for different comfort levels and finding thoughtful ways to say yes to challenge without ignoring safety.
Top Three Takeaways:
Question the rules. Ask why they exist. Then ask whether they still make sense.
Make space for different perspectives. Our experiences shape how we see risk.
Find your way to yes. Safety and adventurous play don’t have to be opposites.
Get on the waitlist for Nature Play Academy: rustykeeler.com/the-nature-play-academy
Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
33 min
August 11Ep 38 | Let’s form a Nature Play Community!
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 what inspired Rusty’s newest adventure: Nature Play Academy. After years of visiting inspiring play spaces, designing natural playgrounds, leading risky play conversations, and collecting stories from around the world, Rusty is ready to get all that goodness off his hard drive and into a living, growing community.
The Academy welcomes everyone from curious seeds to seasoned forests: teachers, directors, parents, grandparents, designers, playworkers, and nature play champions of every kind. Most of all, Nature Play Academy is a place to stop feeling alone. A place to ask questions. Share ideas. Grow confidence. Say yes more often. And go farther together.
Top Three Takeaways
Nature Play Academy is designed for everyone, from brand-new nature play beginners to experienced leaders growing the movement.
Community and practical support can help educators move through fears about risk, licensing, parents, and program expectations.
Small changes, shared ideas, and a little courage can create richer, wilder, more joyful play for children.
Get on the waitlist for Nature Play Academy: rustykeeler.com/the-nature-play-academy
Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
36 min
July 28Ep 37 | Nature-Based Learning Doesn’t Need a Forest with Dr. Rachel Larimore
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 of woodland creatures waiting at the gate.
Rachel shares simple ways educators can bring more nature into the school day. Start inside with books, pictures, and materials that reflect the actual plants, animals, weather, and seasons outside the classroom window. Then step outdoors. Stay a little longer. Add loose parts. Eat snack outside. Notice the wind. Follow the puddles.
Nature-based learning does not have to arrive all at once wearing expensive rain pants. Rachel and Rusty talk about slowing down, letting play stretch, making room for uncertainty, and trusting children to form their own relationships with the birds, bugs, trees, rainstorms, and wonderfully named “butt trees” in their lives.
Top three takeaways from Rachel Larimore, PhD:
Nature-based learning can begin with small, doable changes.
Longer outdoor play needs variety, loose parts, and adult patience.
Relationships with nature grow through time, attention, wonder, and gratitude.
Links:
samarael.com
Rachel's 90 second quiz: samarael.com/quiz

Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
1 hr 3 min
July 14Ep 36 | Outdoor Learning, Risky Play, and Food Education with Louise Licznerski
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, time, nature, and real play.
Louise shares how outdoor nurseries and school-age nature programs can help children feel calm, curious, capable, and connected. They talk about child-led play, mixed-age learning, emotional regulation, seasonal rhythms, muddy immune systems, and why the forest can sometimes teach better than fluorescent lights ever could. There are sticks as wands. Puddles as science labs. Chickens as bedtime teachers. And children finding their way back to themselves outside.
Louise reminds us that children everywhere need to play, but each place has its own gifts. Start with the land around you. Work with nature, not against it. Dream big. Start small. And maybe, just maybe, go big or go home.
Top three takeaways from Louise:
Children regulate, learn, and thrive when they have freedom, space, and nature’s rhythms.
Outdoor learning can support children of all ages, not just the wee ones.
Start with what is around you: your weather, your landscape, your food, your community.
Links:
littlebugs.co.uk
weeforagers.com
httscottishoutdoorlearning.co.uk
@littlebugsoutdoors on IG
@littlebugsoutdoors on Facebook

Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
Sign up for the Nature Play Academy updates:
rusty-keeler.mykajabi.com/nature-play-academy-waitlist
45 min
June 29Ep 35 | Let’s Go Far…Together
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 road trip recap, part manifesto, part invitation. Rusty digs into the power of starting small, listening deeply, and building community with other play people who believe mud kitchens, willow huts, risky play, and outdoor adventures can change the world.
He also gives a peek at the upcoming Nature Play Academy, a new community for folks who want to dream big, start small, and never stop. Woo woo woo woo.
Top Three Takeaways:
Slow down to Earth speed. Children do not need machine-speed childhoods. They need time to play, explore, bump, build, wonder, and be fully alive.
Risky play conversations matter. When educators and caregivers talk honestly about fear, licensing, parents, and saying yes, real growth begins.
Small steps are powerful. Add one loose part. Say yes one more time. Build one fairy hut. Change grows from tiny seeds, especially when we grow together.
Links:
Sign up for Nature Play Academy updates: rusty-keeler.mykajabi.com/nature-play-academy-waitlist
Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
47 min
June 16Ep 34 | Adventure Walkers: Why Kids Need Creeks, Logs, Frogs, and Freedom
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 preschool turned into taking walks with kids. Soon Jim was on a journey to start a forest kindergarten pilot in the woods behind a preschool, and later building Adventure Walkers, a roaming, creek-splashing, log-balancing, frog-finding laboratory for childhood.
Jim and Rusty talk about risk, trust, reflection, and why “safe enough” may be better than trying to make childhood perfectly safe. Listeners will come away with a big invitation: start small, try a pilot, follow the children, and let the woods do some of the teaching.
Top Three Takeaways from Jim McCullough:
Risk is not the enemy. Children need space to try, pause, climb, wonder, and decide what feels possible.
The adult role is quieter than we think. Watch. Wait. Reflect. Step in when needed, but don’t poke holes in the play flow.
Start with a pilot. You don’t need a perfect plan or a fancy outdoor classroom. Take a small group outside. Find a creek. See what happens.
Links:
adventurewalkersrva.com
Instagram @adventurewalkersrva
Facebook @AdventureWalkersrva

Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
49 min
June 02Ep 33 | Mud, Microbes, and the Magic of Nature with Alex Barrable
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 “Earth speed,” and why our bodies and brains are still wired for green, wild, living places. Alex and Rusty also explore our invisible microbial friends, the microbiome. Alex explains the benefits of what nature offers us, just by bein nature
Children need time. Space. Soil. Loose parts. Wonder. They need to smell it, touch it, climb it, taste it, and know they belong to it. Because when children feel connected to the Earth, they are more likely to care for it too.
Top Three Takeaways from Alex Barrable:
Nature helps bodies calm down, brains wake up, and kids settle into that magical “rest, digest, and learn” place.
Dirty play is not just mess. Soil, microbes, plants, and biodiverse spaces may support children’s health, immune systems, and wellbeing.
Green schoolyards are not a bonus. They are a big, leafy, non-negotiable step toward healthier kids, healthier communities, and a healthier planet.
Links:
dirtyplay.org
Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
50 min

About Play Nature Podcast

From the publisher's feed

Welcome to Play Nature Podcast, a podcast dedicated to celebrating the beauty and benefits of outdoor, nature-based play—for all children (and us adults too!)