Sticks are such versatile playthings, and so readily available.  Using them for play can help strengthen a child’s fine and gross motor skills as well as their balance and coordination.  Their use can also help develop a child’s muscle tone, spatial awareness, body capabilities.  Fire up your imagination with these suggestions next time you have a stick handy. Make a…

There are so many great opportunities for children to engage in quality outdoor play and they don’t have to go any further than their backyard! Nature is all around us, whether we live in the city, suburbs or country and you can create a nature playspace and enjoy nature play all year round .  To experience all the great benefits…

Do you remember playing in mud as a child?  How the mud felt squished in between your hands or feet and the sounds it made as you jumped in or patted it?  The different types of brown colour it could be?  The wonderful earthy smell of it?  How much fun you had immersing yourself in playing with and in it? …

‘We’re going on a bug hunt, we’re going to find some small ones…’ Going on a bug hunt with children is one of the most enjoyable activities you can do outdoors and the best part is, you can pretty much find bugs anywhere, even in your backyard and it’s a different experience every time. It also gives children, a deeper…

‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing’ Sir Ranulph Fiennes Do you let your child play outside in the rain or when it’s cold or even in the mud? Playing outdoors in the rain is a childhood experience that is like no other and one that children totally immerse themselves in. Rain droplets falling on your tongue,…

Nature can be daring and it can be silent. It can be wild or gentle, gloomy or glorious. There is no one way, to be in nature. Patterns come and go, just like ‘we’ change from one moment to another. Our children sense this intuitively and crave the freedom for total immersion in their play and learning, especially now in…

Motherhood has changed me in ways I could have never imagined. It has shaken and tested me like nothing else. Yet at the same time, I have also felt love in it’s purest form. The love for your child is like no other. The past few years in isolation had brought up some pretty big emotions for me. How do…

Every Easter long weekend, we pack up the car and our camping gear to head out on our annual family road trip to the Grampians! Like many of us, our plans for Easter have dramatically changed due to the Coronavirus restrictions and my kids are hanging out to do something fun and adventurous. The thought of not being able to…

Many families are keen to enrol their children into a bush kindergarten before they start school but often don’t know where to start looking so we’ve done all the hard work for you!  Current research suggests that children need to spend much more time playing in our natural world. When considering kindergarten for your child, it’s important to consider whether…

Remember those carefree, barefoot days as a child? The soft grass beneath your feet? The warm sand between your toes? And, yes, even the occasional stone or twig pricking the underside of your feet uncomfortably! When was the last time your children went barefoot outside? When was the last time you did? Recent research suggests going barefoot isn’t just an…