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Child-Led Play &

Nature

Newsletter 




May 2023


Welcome to our newsletter! This month we're sharing practical ways to get children outside this spring for teachers and families!


Given the overwhelming evidence of the benefits of active, child-led play in nature for all children, we provide monthly resources, research, and ideas for child-led play (inside and outside) and nature for educators and families in ELRCs 8, 9 and 10.

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25 Easy Nature Play Ideas


Great nature play doesn’t require elaborate and expensive play spaces! Even a limited outdoor area can be affordably enhanced for nature play, using common materials and plants to create a child’s heaven that is chock-full of small-scale wonders and magical discoveries. Try the suggestions in this brochure, and then add your own ideas over time!

Click here to view and download the brochure

Tinkergarten's May Activity Calendar

Click the link below to view and download Tinkergarten's May activity calendar to help you fill the new mnth with moments of joy and play. Their calendars are FREE and loved by teachers, parents, grandparents, caregivers—all kinds of people! Please pass this along to anyone who would be happy to get kids (and even themselves) out to play.

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Playing in the Rain: Get Kids Outside in Almost Any Weather

A quick search for rainy day activities with kids offers endless lists of indoor projects and games. It made me wonder - who are these lists for? They're probably not really for kids. Because any kid who's ever spent an hour splashing in puddles or deftly dodging rain drops will choose playing in the rain over building a blanket fort in the living room.

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Outdoor Play: Easy Ideas


In this short, 2-minute video, Australian play expert Catherine Sewell shares easy ideas for outdoor play. These include physical activities like balancing on walls and climbing trees. There are also creative activities like making a craft out of natural materials. In general, anything you can play inside you can play outside too!

Featured book:

Nature Play at Home: Creating Outdoor Spaces that Connect Children with the Natural World



Access to technology has created a generation of children who are more plugged in than ever before—often with negative consequences. Unrestricted outdoor play reduces stress, improves health, and enhances creativity, learning, and attention span. In Nature Play at Home, Nancy Striniste gives caregivers the tools they need to make outdoor adventures possible in their homes, schools, and neighborhoods. With hundreds of inspiring ideas and 12 illustrated, step-by-step projects, this hardworking book details how to create playspaces that use natural materials—like logs, boulders, sand, water, and plants of all kinds. Projects include hillside slides, seating circles, sand pits, and more. Accessible, research-based, and timely, Nature Play at Home is a must-have for modern parents and caregivers.

Click here to learn more

Featured podcast:

The Everything ECE Podcast: #31: Outdoor Play with Jane Pilskalnietis


Carla Ward talks with Jane Pilskalnietis about the benefits of Outdoor Play. We learn why it is important to play outdoors in all types of weather, how is outdoor play different from indoor play, and how to prepare parents for outdoor play and get the buy-in.

Click here to listen

Grant Opportunity: Farm to School Grant Program


The Pennsylvania Farm to School Grant Program will provide schools with funding to improve access to healthy, local foods and increase agriculture education opportunities for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

Click here to learn more and apply

Our Free Resources

Access our Nature-Based Play Resource List on the Keystone Kids Go website.

Check out the "Inspiring Nature-Based Early Learning" webinar here. This training counts for 1 hour of PQAS PD (and can count toward STARS indicator EC 3.4.6).

Upcoming Virtual Free Professional Development (non-PQAS)

May 6-9: Fairy Dust Teaching presents the 10th Annual Free to Play Summit


May 10, 1:30 PM: ECHO presents Water, Wind, and Weather: Engaging Infants and Toddlers in Outdoor Spaces


May 11, 2 PM: Early Childhood Investigates presents Summer Nature! Offering Culturally-Centered Summer Nature-Based Programs


May 12, 3 PM: Natural Start Alliance presents Nature Preschools in the US


May 18, 2 PM: Early Childhood Investigates presents Inclusive Sensory-Rich Nature Play for Children’s 7 Senses


May 23, 7 PM: Take Me Outside presents Race and Nature for Educators

Looking for more information?


Technical Assistance Coach Elizabeth Marcello and Outdoor Learning & Play Consultant Susan Chlebowski can partner with you to provide center-based or individual classroom coaching and professional development in the topics of play-based learning, nature-based learning, classroom management and challenging behavior support, or innovative solutions to barriers. Complete a "Consultation Request" through your PD Registry Organization Page's Keystone STARS tab to request coaching. 



*For early learning providers in ELRCs 8, 9, and 10 only.

Do you have a topic you'd like to see covered in this newsletter? What have you tried that others might be interested in? Please consider sharing your questions, ideas, or stories with us below, and we will include them in an upcoming newsletter!

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