Play Nature Podcast

By Rusty KeelerParenting Kids & Family

Play Nature Podcast episodes

May 19Ep 32 | Adam Bienenstock on School Forests, Soil Health, and the Future of Nature Play
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. Trees. Mud. The good stuff.
Adam and Rusty dig into the big, beautiful, messy connections between child development, gut microbiome, mental health, outdoor education, risky play, and regenerative landscapes. This conversation wanders from schoolyards to soil microbes to forests inside the fence. Adam shares why a single tree is nice, but a living forest system is better. More shade. More sensory play. More life. More chances for kids to build empathy, resilience, attention, and joy.
The time is now to rebuild children’s connection to land. The time is now to start giving kids a daily dose of nature, not just an occasional field trip. So plant the trees. Add the shrubs. Feed the soil. Let the weeds do a little work.
Dream big. Start small. Never stop.
Top Three Takeaways from Adam Bienenstock
Kids do not just need less screen time. They need more full-body, full-sensory nature time.
A school forest is more than trees. It is soil, shade, microbes, loose parts, play, and wonder all working together.
Start with a corner. Plant in communities. Add organic material. Build a tiny forest world kids can touch, smell, climb into, and love.
Links:
renature.org
@renaturefoundation Instagram | Facebook
LinkedIn @renature-fnd
@bienenstocknaturalplaygrounds Instagram
LinkedIn @bienenstock-playgrounds
Facebook @BienenstockPlaygrounds

Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs

Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
1 hr 5 min
May 05Ep 31 | My New Play Manifesto! Slowing Down in a Speeding Up World
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. More screens. More stress. Less recess. Less mud. But instead of getting stuck in doom and gloom, he asks a better question: What if we are already building something new? Something rooted in play, place, seasons, risk, mess, imagination, and the deep human skills children grow through free play.
Rusty’s NEW Play Manifesto is the mission to slow down and go deeper. He explores how nature play, place-based learning, community, and child-led exploration can help shape the future, even in a world racing toward more technology and AI.
This is your hopeful reminder to stand strong in what we know in our bones: play matters, nature matters, and children find themselves when they have the space to play.
Top three takeaways from Rusty’s time by the creek:
Slow down to “earth speed.”
Free play helps children grow the deeply human skills they need: creativity, communication, collaboration, compassion, curiosity, and self-knowledge.
The future of childhood is not fixed. We can help build it through nature, community, advocacy, and a big playful yes to real life.

Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
40 min
April 21Ep 30 | Claude Stephens’ Nature Play Revolution
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 playgrounds that feel like ecosystems. Spaces where kids build, explore, get a little lost, and have a lot of freedom. Children truly don’t need more equipment. They need as much freedom as we can give them.
Claude’s message is a hopeful path forward. Start small. One log. One stump. One muddy hole. Build connections between people. Between places. Between kids and the land beneath their feet. In small shifts, something beautiful grows: joy, confidence, and a deep love for the natural world.
Top Takeaways from Claude Stephens:
Children are natural players. Give them space, not structure, and they will create magic
Nature play doesn’t require big budgets. Small, simple changes can transform any space
Real impact happens slowly in tiny shifts. Add a log or patch of dirt and it can change everything over time
Links:
childrenatplaynetwork.com
IG @childrenatplaynetwork
Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
58 min
April 07Ep 29 | A Bus Tour Through Scotland: What Can We Learn from Stramash’s Outdoor Preschools?
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 bundled up. Everyone is curious. We’re talking about Rusty’s Scotland Bus Tour!
Rusty takes listeners through places where kids spend all day outside. We hear about willow tunnels. Climbing trees. Risky towers. Compost toilets. Yes, really. And underneath it all? A shared belief: nature is not extra. It’s essential.
This episode is a reminder. Slow down. Step outside. Let kids get a little wild. Let them belong to a place. Let them test limits. Because the good stuff? It’s not perfect. It’s muddy. It’s real. And it sticks. You’ll leave thinking about your own space. Your own students. Your own next small step toward more nature, more play, more yes.
Top Takeaways from Rusty’s recap of Scotland:
No bad weather. Just better gear. Nature happens in all seasons—and that’s the point.
Belonging grows outdoors. Kids thrive when spaces feel like theirs to explore and shape.
Risk builds humans. Graduated challenges help kids grow confidence, resilience, and problem-solving skills.
Links:
stramash.org.uk
Waitlist for 2027 Scotland Trip: bit.ly/BusTour2027Waitlist
Play Nature Podcast Episode 9 with Cameron Sprauge
fossoplay.org
balticstreetadventureplay.co.uk/home
playscotland.org/schools-childcare/schools/opal

Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
49 min
March 24Ep 28 | Kristy DeGraaf on Nature Play, Outdoor Learning, and Advocacy
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 risks, and feel at home in the world.
Kristy brings a powerful blend of experience. Social worker. Educator. Mother. Advocate. She shares how her journey, from supporting families in crisis to designing a nature-rich childcare program, shaped the way she sees children and community.
This conversation stretches beyond the backyard. Into systems. Into advocacy. Into the work of speaking up for children and families. Kristy reminds us that change doesn’t have to be big to matter. A phone call. A small shift. A single idea put into motion. It all counts. Just like in play, we start where we are. And we keep going.
Top Takeaways from Kristy DeGraaf:
Dream big. Start small. Never stop. Whether you’re building a play space or creating change
Children thrive in environments that invite risk, creativity, and real-world exploration
Advocacy doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. Small actions, done consistently, make a difference
Links:
kristydegraaf.com
Instagram: @kristy.degraaf
Facebook: Kristy DeGraaf
TikTok: @kristykae.childcarepro
Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
52 min
March 10Ep 27 | Getting Licensing and Risky Play to Fit Together
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 might actually be a doorway.
Rusty explores the relationship between educators and licensors. At first it can feel tense. Someone arrives with a clipboard. They inspect logs, spoons, mud kitchens, and climbing trees. But licensors are there for a reason. Their job is to protect children.
When we slow down and communicate the why behind nature play, we often discover we’re on the same team. The key is speaking their language. Know the rules. Show your thinking. Share the research. When educators confidently explain the benefits of loose parts and outdoor play, licensors begin to see the bigger picture.
Top 3 Takeaways from Rusty
Know the rules. Read them carefully. When you understand them, you can design nature play spaces that follow them and still invite adventure.
Explain the “why.” Share the research and developmental benefits behind logs, mud kitchens, loose parts, and risky play.
Build trust. When licensors see thoughtful planning and strong supervision, they are more likely to support creative outdoor play environments.
Buy Rusty’s Book: Adventures in Risky Play by Rusty Keeler
Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
38 min
February 24 Ep 26 | How a Playworker Thinks About Play with Marc Armitage
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 decide? And what happens when we simply give children space and time to be?
Marc invites us into the mindset of playwork which is less about outcomes, more about conditions. He shares how playwork is both a profession and an attitude, rooted in history yet alive in every moment a child drifts into flow.
From adventure playgrounds to city design, from the “three frees” to the quiet power of standing back and observing, the conversation reminds us that children don’t need us to script play. They need us to notice it.
This episode reminds us to trust the process, widen the lens, and remember that the spirit of play is already alive in every child, just waiting for room to roam.
Play is universal. Play is ancient. Play is the thing children just do.
Links:
marc-armitage.com
@marc.armitage.at.play on Facebook

Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
1 hr 17 min
February 10 Ep 25 | Junk Becomes Genius with Erik Herman, Founder of the Free Science Workshop
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, wonderful world of informal learning. He’s the force behind the Free Science Workshop and the Physics Bus. Both places where kids choose what to explore, how long to explore it, and who to explore it with.
Rusty draws connections between Erik’s work and adventure playgrounds, community tinkering spaces, and our deeply human need to make things—together.
This conversation wanders (in the best way) through barns full of junk. And through the difference between explaining and experiencing.
Freedom matters, messes are meaningful, and innovation needs room to breathe. Erik and Rusty agree on letting physics speak for itself, and remembering that we are three-dimensional beings in a very hands-on world
Links:
www.freescienceworkshop.org
www.communityscienceworkshops.org
Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
54 min
January 27 Ep 24 | Let the Universe Teach: A Schema Play Aha Moment
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 believer in play. Free play. Messy play. Nature play. Loose parts. Mud kitchens. Risky moments. The real stuff. Yes, research helps. Yes, play checks the boxes for STEM, literacy, social-emotional growth. But those labels only skim the surface.
Rusty reminds us that our role isn’t to interrupt or translate every moment, but to create the conditions, protect the space, and advocate fiercely for play in the adult world. You are not alone. We are believers in play. And we are in this together.
Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
36 min
January 13 Ep 23 | Seasons of Play with Rusty: Tips for WINTER Outdoor Fun
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 as much as the others.
From ice sculptures and colored snow to fairy huts, fires, and winter wandering, Rusty invites us to slow down and notice what winter offers. The angle of the sun. The crunch of snow. The quiet. The light we carry inside when the world feels gray.
With simple stories and practical ideas, this episode reframes winter not as something to endure, but something to experience.
Season 2 is just getting started and Rusty would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] to share pictures of winter play and colorful snow, your favorite moment from Season 1, or a question you would like answered in an upcoming episode.
Learn More: rustykeeler.com | @rusty_keeler_designs
Rusty’s FREE Outdoor Loose Parts Guide
37 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!)