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

I am chairing the playground refurbishment committee for a small Montessori school in Maryland. Most of us are parents, and we are not experts in playgrounds. We googled, we looked at Pinterest, we talked with general landscape architects, we spent a lot of time in discussions, and then we found this book!!!! Oh my goodness! This is everything that we had ever wanted. There are so many great ideas in this book. I think I have literally 50 sticky notes of ideas we might be able to implement, many of them that we can build or create ourselves to save money. For example, we have a hill on our playground that has been problematic, and she actually promotes having a hill, and has lots of ideas about what to do with it. She lists the best short and tall climbing trees, the best shade trees, native plants, plants good for smelling, plants good for eating, plants with funny names! And she suggests so many ways to personalize the space, and make it really kid-friendly, like “pizza box” paving stones and beautiful, kid-proportioned entranceways. I also love how thoughtful she is about how kids really develop, like her description of jumping – who would have thought that there is so much to it! And how young kids really like a place where they can shelter, like a treehouse or playhouse. I cannot remember the last time I bought a book that so exceeded my expectations. (Did I mention all the photos? They are so inspirational – each page is full of great ideas even if you don’t read the text.) I see that at her website, earlyspace dot com, she is also offering a workshop course of videos, exercises, and time with her that multiple people can take together (including as many folks as we want to include for a single very reasonable price). We will certainly consider having our committee take that course, but in the meanwhile, this book is just incredible.

This is a great resource for for creating a nature play space in your yard or community. There are an abundance of photographs that provide great examples of different concepts, and many references for further research and more ideas on the topic. The author also gives detailed instructions on building play shelters and fences, creating sand pits and stepping stones. In addition, she provides numerous lists of plants that would be useful for flowers, scents, edibles, shade, etc. Thanks to this book my kids now have a fun, engaging "Children's forest" in our yard that was relatively simple to create!

This book provides wonderful pictures, and excellent suggestions that can be made to create a wonderful natural environment for children to explore! It has so many professional tips that are really easy to access and has great lists that are easy to use when planning especially in the gardening areas. This book is already on the top list of many nature certified teachers and classrooms. It is a must buy book!

Stumbled upon this book as I was looking for inspiration to bring nature and child friendliness to our urban outdoor space. I found so much useful info and ideas that were easy to execute. This book helped us transform a small barren space into a zen child’s garden in under 2 weeks. We hosted a birthday party for our toddler in the space and 11 kids played uninterrupted changing “stations” between the mud kitchen, sand table, seating area made of tree trunks, gravel digging area, and soft sensory plants. Simply put, nature rocks and this book will help you bring more nature into your life in a way that’s really user friendly for kids. Thank you Nancy Striniste for such an amazing book!

We were planning a "nature playground" for the community and this is the best reference on the subject!It is full of ideas, suggestions, photos and practical advice. Highly recommended.

This book is a must for anyone who is designing an outdoor space that will at any point have children in it! If you've read 'Bringing Nature Home' or 'The Last Child in the Woods' and want to encourage your children, grandchildren, or neighbors to spend time in nature, this book will help you do just that with both practical help and loads of inspiration.

Great ideas but most of the ideas will either cost you a lot of money for a landscaper or a lot of skill, I happen to have neither

We borrowed from the library twice and just had to get our own because we have many more fun things to make. Amazing book helps us connect to nature which is our number one goal in life! Creating memories in nature!