Earlier this year, I received a call from my friend and colleague, Cameron Sprague of Stramash Outdoor Nursery in Scotland. Cameron is someone I deeply respect – not only for the way he leads Stramash, but also for his thoughtful reflections on play and nature through his Puddle Patter Podcast. He rang me with an energy that told me this wasn’t a casual suggestion. “Daniel, you have to do this,” he said. “This is the work you’ve been living – and now there’s a global community bringing it together.”
The “this” he was talking about was the Nesting Ambassador Program, developed by Kindred World and rooted in the research of Dr. Darcia Narvaez. Darcia is a Professor Emerita of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame and the author of influential works such as Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality, Restoring the Kinship Worldview (with Wahinkpe Topa/Four Arrows), and The Evolved Nest (with Gay Bradshaw). These books weave together psychology, anthropology, Indigenous knowledge, and neuroscience into a holistic picture of what humans need in order to thrive.
The program description says it best:
“The Evolved Nest is a breakthrough concept that integrates findings across fields that bear on child development, child raising and adult behavior. The Evolved Nest promotes optimal health and wellbeing, cooperation, and receptive and sociomoral intelligences. Societal moves away from providing the Evolved Nest have contributed to the ill-being and dysregulation we see in one another and society. Learn how to nest your children and re-nest yourself.”
That call from Cameron set me on the path to becoming part of the beta cohort of Nesting Ambassadors, a group testing the very first version of this training, while also offering feedback to shape it for future participants. It was an honour to walk alongside others in this global experiment, including long-time inspirations of mine such as Jon Young (Living Connection First, Art of Mentoring) and Sarah Fontaine. Jon has been particularly influential in my journey; I’ve attended two Art of Mentoring camps led by him and taken part in many online village-building and deep nature connection courses he’s offered. His frameworks have guided much of what we do at Educated by Nature, and to be learning alongside him in this course felt like a full-circle moment.
Daniel and Cameron delivering a workshop in Canada.
What the program involved
The course is built around nine core components of the Evolved Nest:
Welcoming Social Climate
Soothing Perinatal Experiences
Multiple Bonded Nurturers
Warm, Responsive Relationships
Positive (no negative) Touch
Child-Directed Breastfeeding
Self-Directed Play
Nature Immersion and Connection
Restorative Healing Practices
Each week, we engaged with readings, videos, and podcasts before coming together for live discussions. The curriculum challenged us to reflect on our own lives and practices: what resonated, what we’ve witnessed in the world, and what questions we hold. As a cohort, we weren’t just absorbing theory – we were asked to embody it, to share personal stories, and to imagine how we could become ambassadors for these principles in our communities.
My involvement was twofold: I was both a learner and a contributor. As part of the beta testing group, I was invited to give feedback on content, delivery, and framing. I was especially honoured to support the team with reflections on the Play and Nature Immersion components – areas where my daily work through Educated by Nature has given me years of practical insight. This collaborative element made the experience richer; it felt like we were truly co-creating something that could ripple out across the world.
Reflections from my journey
For me, the Nesting Ambassador journey was less about discovering something “new” and more about remembering, reconnecting with ways of being that have always felt deeply true. Each component sparked recognition.
Welcoming social climates reminded me of my own role as an uncle. Some of my most meaningful moments with my nieces and nephews have been as simple as hugs, cuddles, epic rough and tumble battles or quiet stillness together in natural spaces. Yet I also feel the sadness of working in a culture where more and more, schools discourage physical comfort between adults and children. The course affirmed that such restrictions can be harmful.
Multiple bonded nurturers aligned with my experiences of village building. Children thrive when surrounded by diverse adults who care for them – something I see in our Bush School mentoring and KIN Village programs, but also in my own friendships and mentoring relationships.
Play and nature immersion are central to my professional life. As I read and listened through these modules, I couldn’t help but think of the messy beauty of junk playgrounds, the joy of self-directed exploration, and the research-backed benefits of outdoor learning. My contributions here were not only personal reflections but also feedback to strengthen how the program introduces these ideas to a wider audience.
Healing practices brought me back to my own routines – therapy sessions, the importance of close friends who check in, and the playful energy I consciously cultivate. These are the ways I mend myself, so that I can show up grounded for others.
Why this matters?
Modern culture has strayed far from these nest principles. We’ve normalised isolation, punishment, disconnection from nature, and undervalued play. In doing so, we’ve created societies of dysregulation, anxiety, and fragmentation. The Nesting Ambassador Program is a call to reverse that trend. It equips us not only with knowledge, but with community and story. It says: you are not alone in seeing that something is wrong – and there are ways to do better, starting now.
For me, it has strengthened the sense that my work with Educated by Nature is part of something bigger. When we hold space for children to build with loose parts, when we invite parents and toddlers to explore mud and water together, when we advocate for the right to play – we are not just running programs. We are renesting humanity.
Being part of this beta cohort was an honour. It gave me the chance to share, to shape, and to learn alongside mentors and peers I admire. It grounded my personal and professional practices in a larger, research-informed framework. And perhaps most importantly, it reminded me of the joy and responsibility of being part of a global movement that is, quite literally, about restoring what makes us human.
If you’re curious to learn more, I encourage you to explore Kindred World’s overview of the Evolved Nest and Darcia Narvaez’s books, especially The Evolved Nest. For me, this course has been both a mirror and a compass. It has reflected back the values that already guide my life and work, and it has pointed forward to how I can deepen and extend them — in my family, in my community, and in the world.
