Nature Play at Home: Creating Outdoor Spaces That Connect Children with the Natural World - Paperback

by Nancy Striniste (Author)

"A magnificent resource for transforming backyards into stimulating environments which enhance children's creativity, learning, and fun." --Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, The Nature Principle, and Vitamin N

Access to technology has created a generation of children who are more plugged in than ever before--often with negative consequences. But there is a solution. Unrestricted outdoor play helps reduce stress, improve health, and enhance creativity, learning, and attention span. In Nature Play at Home, Nancy Striniste gives you the tools you need to make outdoor adventures possible in your own backyard. With hundreds of inspiring ideas and 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.

Back Jacket

Research proves it: unstructured outdoor play reduces stress, improves health, and enhances development. Nature Play at Home shows you how to create natural playscapes in your backyards and neighborhoods. Nancy Striniste, a leading expert on child-friendly outdoor design, offers hundreds of inspiring photos, 15 step-by-step projects, thematic plant lists, and the best ideas for helping kids get creative outside.

Author Biography

Nancy Striniste is the founder and principal designer at EarlySpace, LLC. She has a background as both a landscape designer and an early childhood educator. She teaches at Antioch New England University in their nature-based early childhood graduate certificate program and serves on the leadership team of NoVA Outside. Read more about Nancy and her work at www.earlyspace.com.