All Episodes
Episodes
Ep 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...
View Episode
Ep 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...
View Episode
Ep 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...
View Episode
Ep 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,...
View Episode
Ep 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...
View Episode
Ep 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...
View Episode
Ep 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...
View Episode
Ep 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...
View Episode
Ep 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...
View Episode
Ep 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...
View Episode
Ep 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...
View Episode
Ep 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...
View Episode
