Category: Risk

Teenagers Play Too

When we talk about the importance of play, it’s often in the context of early childhood and primary school-aged children. However, play is equally essential for teenagers and young adults – even though their approach to play looks different. It’s a crucial part of their development, helping them to navigate the complexities of adolescence by…
Redefining Play and Connection for Adolescents: Guildford Grammar Year 7 Adventure Playground

In partnership with Guildford Grammar School, Educated by Nature has embarked on an innovative project to bring play back into the lives of Year 7 students through an Adventure Playground. Nestled in the natural area next to the volleyball courts, this space is far from a conventional school plyaground. It’s an evolving, dynamic environment where…
Being Barefoot – reconnecting with the earth and developing strong minds

As Nature Connection Mentors a lot of our time is spent barefoot. In fact, any chance we get to kick off our shoes, whether it be at our school holiday program (a whole day outside), our afterschool sessions or our school-based incursions, we try to find time to be truly connected to the earth under…
The Importance of Teaching Fire

We are starting to get excited about our upcoming term three Bush Inventors’ Club (After School Program)! A favourite amongst children and playworkers alike, this term centers on learning to create, care for, and cook with fire. When founded on the three pillars of respect (respect for self, others, and the environment), teaching fire provides…
War Play – Why risk is beneficial

Outdoor play is a necessity in the development and wellbeing of young children. For a variety of environmental and cultural reasons, children are being given less and less opportunities to experience free and unsupervised outdoor play. War play has been a part of childhood development for centuries and is seen as a necessity by most…
Daniel Burton talks with Maggie Dent about Play and Risk

Nature. Even if it’s the grass in your backyard or plants on your balcony, it’s all around us — even during coronavirus. In an episode recorded well before coronavirus hit us, Maggie talks to nature play experts Gillian McAuliffe and Daniel Burton about the perfect places for growing bodies and minds to play.”
Children can be risk assessors too…

‘Be Careful’ is a phrase that has become all too common in parent-child relationships. Of course we want our children to be safe, to not get hurt and ensure that the decision that they are making are thought through, considered and well executed. However we cripple children’s ability to self monitor and assess risk for…
Building Confidence – A Parent Reflection

At Educated by Nature, we see children. We care about what they are trying to achieve. Our mentors help them discover new skills, resources and extensions to their ideas. Building confidence in children is at the very core of what we aim to achieve. We believe this is why children (and their parents) love our programs.…
Building Resilience in Children

When Trudi and I started Educated by Nature, one of our main goals was to create environments and experiences where children could find opportunities for building resilience. We found, through our experiences as teachers, we had seen the rapid decline in resilience, self-efficacy and awareness in children of all ages in our communities. Today, more than…
‘Knot’ your average literacy activity

Building a cubby seems like a simple activity, regularly labelled as ‘just play’. We believe in the power of a cubby and are not fooled by this guise. Children are learning more than we could ever teach them in a classroom setting while they are ‘just playing’. Knot tying is a regular activity at all…