Let Them Be Messy!

We've always painted at our easels on the last day of school. I've assumed it was because we always start our school year with easel painting and the two sessions served as symbolic bookends, or maybe a framing story, for the year, something for me to know. This year, however, something popped from my mouth as I talked to the parent of a child ready to move on to kindergarten, something I'd not thought about before...

Messy play is a cornerstone of childhood, offering a wealth of benefits for children's development and growth. However, not all parents embrace the messes that come along with it. In this blog post, we'll explore the numerous advantages of messy play and provide practical tips to support parents...

Explore how intentional language during play helps infants and toddlers build meaning, connection, confidence, and a lasting love of learning. Grounded in play-based neuroscience, this workshop examines the powerful relationship between adult expressive language and the ways young children process, understand, and respond to the world around them.

The Nature Explore Classroom Certification Program is a national initiative that recognizes schools and other organizations that have committed to providing outdoor classrooms and comprehensive programming to help children use the natural world as an integral part of learning. Does your program have an outdoor classroom? Join us for this FREE 1-hour session to learn more about our certification process!

In this session, we will streamline your loose parts and tools that can be used outdoors for the early years. In this session, we will streamline your loose parts and tools that can be used outdoors for the early years. The goal is to add loose parts that promote big body play while supporting problem-solving both physically and socially. We will add to what you have and simplify your outdoor programming to create child-led and inclusive experiences where all learning styles and personalities shine through.

Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds presents Favorite Fall Activities Plus Reusing Your Halloween Pumpkins!

What if the daily pressures you feel in early childhood education are not a signal to do more, but an invitation to examine the conditions more closely? In this interactive, research-informed webinar, you will step into the role of a “Play Scientist” and test a powerful hypothesis: when pressure increases and play decreases, learning, connection, and well-being are compromised. Through real-world insights, reflective play experiences, and brain-based research, you will explore how the current demands of the field—including compliance, documentation, challenging behaviors, and limited time—are influencing educator well-being, nurturing relationships, and children’s outcomes.

Join us on a professional learning journey in March 7th - 13th 2027. Over seven full-on days, you'll explore some of Scotland's most pioneering outdoor nurseries and play environments, guided by the Stramash team and international play experts Dr Peter Gray & Rusty Keeler. With a central base in the Highlands, this carefully curated learning journey blends immersive visits, practical workshops, cultural experiences, and time to connect with fellow educators.

After 10 incredible years of growth and success, the Early Childhood Health Outdoors team is excited to announce that ECHO is evolving from a program of the National Wildlife Federation to a core component of the nonprofit organization, Playing and Learning in Adaptable Environments (PLAE), Inc.

ECHO provides many resources we use in our OLE work, including how-to guides, state-wide guidance, and free webinars.

Listen to this episode from The Play Well Podcast on Spotify. Dr Alistair Bryce-Clegg MBE is an award-winning Early Years author, trainer, product designer and lifelong advocate for play. After a decade as a headteacher, he set up ABC Does to support schools, settings and educators to create exciting, child-led environments where play is central to learning.

What if one of the most important responsibilities we have as educators isn't just teaching children, but continuing to learn ourselves? In this episode of The Everything ECE Podcast, Carla explores why curiosity is more than a personality trait. It's a professional responsibility.

Creativity isn’t just about art projects or painting a picture—it’s a way of thinking. In this episode, we explore creativity as a mindset that fuels problem-solving, innovation, and deeper learning for both children and adults with Imago Innovation founder Mitch Marcello. We discuss how program culture can either spark or stifle creative thinking, why creativity tends to fade as we grow older, and what leaders and educators can do to keep that spark alive. Through reflection and practical strategies, we look at how to build environments where curiosity thrives, ideas are welcomed, and children are encouraged to think boldly and creatively every day.

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.