Nature Play at Home

Lots of options for many budgets and lifestyles. I really love how they author creates spaces using a variety of techniques and creations.

There is so much kids (and adults) need from nature that can't be provided by technology. This book focuses on creating outdoor spaces for kids to enjoy. There are a variety of projects included to fit any size space and suggestions are made to get kids' five senses involved and get them moving. There is also a section on bringing wildlife into your yard. Lots of great stuff here to encourage kids off all ages to get outside and away from their screens.

Thank you to Timber Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Nature Play at Home by Nancy Striniste is a very comprehensive book of easy, moderate, and advanced projects for families to incorporate nature. into crafting projects. The photos and instructions and great, and there are many charts indicating uses for plants, which plants are safe, which to avoid, etc.

Great book for family projects!

"Nature Play at Home” serves as an extensive handbook for those wishing to create play spaces for kids in natural settings. It is based on the premise that kids today spend too much time indoors and not enough time outside in nature. Opportunities for nature play abound in urban as well as rural settings. The author provides detailed information on creating spaces for kids to experience nature play, or enhancing spaces that already exist in a variety of settings.

Many color pictures are included, as well as detailed, step-by-step instructions for making these spaces. Some pictures also show kids and adults using the spaces. A list of resources at the end of the book also assist in obtaining more information and materials. Recommended for any parents or adults who want to get kids out into nature and access the positive life enhancements to be found there.

I received this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

I had the impression that this book would be more about outdoor kids activities. I am not sure where I got that from as the blurb and title are pretty clear on the books focus, but at least one review makes it sound like this book contains activities. The author does a good job of creating a wide array of beautiful/useful outdoor spaces. There was even one idea I will probably take on (this is impressive as I am reluctant to add more projects to my overbooked schedule).

Nature Play at Home was a great book! I think that technology is being introduced much too early children's lives and there are aren't spending nearly enough time outside in nature as they should. I really enjoyed this book because it gives parents and caregivers tons of different ideas on how to create outdoor spaces that children will actually want to use. Such simple things, such as logs and sand, can provide not only fun, but also learning. I think this is an important topic in today's society because technology is being introduced to children earlier and earlier. And I think that everyone, children and adults alike, can always benefit from spending more time outdoors. And for children, I think it is extremely important for them to connect with the natural world and enjoy being in it.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book.

I couldn't download Nature Play At Home because the acsm file is incompatible with my ancient kindle. Thank you so much for the opportunity to try and I hope I can find a hard copy of this soon. It is exactly what I want to have in my library for my future grandbabies!

Getting our children out in nature is becoming more and more difficult these days with the distance many live from natural landscapes and the added rules and regulations that come from living in a litigious society. This book is an excellent resource in helping us overcome all that by giving an ample supply of ideas for creating playscapes that bring children right in touch with nature in their own backyards or playgrounds.
Equally wonderful for both families and those who oversee the playspaces used in the daily care of children. We can't wait to implement some of these great ideas in our own yard.

Nature Play at Home is a great guide to help parents, or any caregiver, to incorporate natural play spaces into their lives…which years ago was a given experience. However, for today’s children, those play areas have been replaced by the constant stream of television shows and a myriad of technological gadgets and games all easily accessible within the confines of one’s home.
This resource book allows children to once again enjoy the many benefits of nature, such as a multitude of sensory learning experiences, and become overall healthier and happier human beings.

Nature Play at Home is a wonderful book for parents, grandparents, daycare centers, and schools. There are plenty of illustrated and detailed projects and play spaces that can be created to encourage creativity and outdoor play. There are hundreds of inspiring ideas, illustrations, and step by step instructions for projects. This is a must for someone starting an outdoor classroom , but as a grandparent, I plan on incorporating and building many of these in my back yard. The book is divided in Arranging Spaces, Awaking Senses, Challenging Bodies, Inviting Nature, Inspiring Imagination, Building Confidence, Creating Comfort, and Taking Action. If you have young children or teach them, this book is a must!

This book was absolutely phenomenal! It teaches you how to arrange spaces to help your children embrace natural and not focus so much on the structured. I'm definitely going to be re-reading again in about a month when I leave snow covered nature in favor of warmer weather!

Aimed at parents who care to provide a healthy development environment for their children, that is, a spacious backyard, Nature Play at Home, written by landscape designer and educator Nancy Straniste, and published by Timber Press, is "the" Guide.

With hundreds of illustrative images, both photographs of real-life examples and sketches that help you understand the author's identified scenarios and constructions, playgrounds, private farms or public spaces, the book is brilliantly presented with high-quality illustrations by the trait of Jennifer Ren.

Nancy addresses not only outdoor life and nature from the perspective of building and assembling objects, but also integrates them harmoniously into the landscape, and above all, devotes extensive content to factually describing the health benefits and enhancement of learning of the children, when they grow up in this playful and creative freedom, both at the motor and cognitive level, not neglecting the aspects related to the safety of the children.

Profoundly documented, this is an essential work for those who deal with children every day and are interested in the full development of their intrinsic potential, whether they are parents, educators or industrial designers linked to the children's furniture.

When I say that I love this book, I mean I LOVE this book. It is exactly what I was hoping it would be. I’m in charge of the garden at my kids’s elementary school, and we are in the process of renovating certain areas of the space. It has been tough sometimes to know how best to serve the students with our design choices. But this book has given me so many great ideas for the garden’s hardscape and softscape—from constructing entryways, paths, and tables, to organizing work areas and choosing kid-friendly plants that engage all the senses.

The book is divided into nine sections. After the introduction, there is information on:

How to arrange the play space in a way that accommodates children and encourages them to playfully interact with nature
How to use plants and other objects that engage all five senses
How to best choose and arrange plants in a way that invites kids to safely participate
How to construct forts that give kids a magical place to enjoy the outdoors
How to help kids increase self-confidence by giving them the opportunity to build and express themselves artistically
How to create a comfortable space with adequate shade, seating, etc.
How to practically go about building and maintaining your garden space
There are also lots of helpful and inspirational photos throughout the book, which make the projects come to life.

So yes, this has become one of my new favorite resources for school gardening. While the projects may be oriented toward bigger spaces used by lots of kids, many of these ideas can easily be incorporated into smaller, single-family spaces as well. There is something for everyone in here.

The cover of this delightful book doesn't do it justice. It is just wonderful in every way. It not only talks about why children (and all of us) need nature but then features page after page of inspirational photos, ideas, projects and more to make wonderful natural areas outside.

I will be buying my own copy, as it was full of so many wonderful photos and inspiration, and I plan on trying a lot of the projects and ideas. Highly recommended.

My rating system:
1 = hated it
2 = it was okay
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = love it, plan to purchase, and/or would buy it again if it was lost

I read a temporary digital ARC of the book for the purpose of review.

Where was this book when my daughter was little? I would have gladly designed a garden like this for her! I was fortunate to have been brought up in a relatively rural area with all of nature in my backyard; woods, fields, ponds, streams... every child should be so lucky. For those who aren't, but have a yard, this book will help you create a wonderful outdoor play area for your child(ren)! Great idea for small or large yards. Would make a great gift for new parents!

This beautiful book was a fantastic read! We have been working on finishing our backyard and making a fun play area and playground for our kids as well as a small garden (we are only on a quarter acre). We are homeschooling and like to add some Montessori in our studies as well and this book was perfect for adding ideas that went right along with that theme. It focused on making a kid-friendly environment in nature where kids can learn and explore and get exercise. There were many pictures throughout and some great ideas and how tos. I especially loved the sections with plants that help avoid erosion on hills as we have a big hill in our backyard and other good plants to grow with children. I will definitely be incorporating some ideas from this book into our backyard space!

This book contains useful ideas for creating outdoor play structures. Most of the ideas require a fairly large yard and generous budgets. I did pick up a few ideas I plan to incorporate in future projects.

I LOVED this book! I am a kindergarten teacher so it not only gave me ideas for at home but also ones that I could do with my students. I love being able to have them explore and learn in nature and this book provided me with a ton of great ideas. Some are not possible because I can't alter the landscape but many were very simple things to consider. Since my daughter is only a toddler I enjoyed that it had a section for babies and toddler ideas as well.