The Dirt Man Cometh

Hello hello!

Check out this enlightening (and fun!) Play Nature Podcast conversation I had with my nature play buddy Adam Biennenstock.

Adam grew up with an immunologist father who studied the gut microbiome — how the "bugs" in healthy soil get into our bodies and literally change the way we think, feel, and handle stress. That was just dinner conversation in his house.

Now Adam has spent 30 years building that knowledge into natural playgrounds and forests at schools — and what he's sharing in this episode is not just "nature is good for kids."

It's: *we are biologically wired for this.*

And when we cut kids off from living soil, we cut them off from something their bodies fundamentally need.

We talk about the anxious generation, the 48 minutes a day the average 8-year-old spends outside, why a forest at a school changes everything — and why the parking lot gets the shade while the kids get asphalt.

Come take a listen. I think you'll feel it. 😃

→ [Listen here] (on apple / spotify too - subscribe! ;-)

With you in the dirt!

RUSTY

 "It's not just turning off your screen. It's about properly engaging with other people, connecting your senses together, and integrating that in play."

— Adam Biennenstock

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.

What do you think?? Email me and let me know!

Ps. Interested in learning how to manage Loose Parts outside, Design a Nature Play space, or support Risky Play? Check out my courses here!