How does a single mum from Australia's Sunshine Coast end up world schooling in Tuscany?

Denise Georges shares her courageous leap from skepticism about homeschooling to embracing world schooling in the beautiful countryside of Italy. 

After losing her job during the pandemic, Denise discovered the transformative power of alternative education systems, all while navigating personal challenges and societal expectations. Her story is a testament to the strength required to break away from conventional paths for the sake of family and personal fulfillment.

We chat about the innovative Boundless Life program, founded by Mauro Rapici, which offers families the chance to live and learn in stunning global locations. With destinations spanning Europe and beyond, this episode uncovers how families can effortlessly balance work, education, and adventure. 

Denise invites you to redefine family life and education by embracing travel and the path less travelled. Get inspired to break free from societal pressures, explore new possibilities, and perhaps embark on your very own boundless journey!

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Courtney Sullivan, the founder of Wild Play Co., joins us to share her journey from academia to entrepreneurship. Inspired by her background in exercise science and concern over youth's sedentary lifestyles, she embarked on creating a nature play business, WildPlay Co, in Bendigo, Victoria.

We chat about:

• Launching a business while parenting young children and the unique challenges it brings
• The flexibility entrepreneurship offers as a parent
• The importance of connecting with like-minded individuals who share her passion for outdoor education and environmental conservation
• Managing permits and zoning hurdles
• Crafting authentic marketing messages and the power of storytelling in marketing.
• The importance of a diverse and dedicated team in their success
• How the Wild Business course bolstered her confidence to ask questions and seek guidance through the unpredictable path of entrepreneurship.
• And we celebrated Wild Play Co. first year, and hear all about Courtney's exciting plans for the future.

Join us for an episode filled with inspiration, practical advice, and the keys to navigating the entrepreneurial landscape with resilience and adaptability. 

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Have you ever wondered how to foster a deeper connection between children and the natural world? On this episode of Raising Wildlings, we sit down with soon-to-be Dr. Amanda England, an expert in nature play philosophy and pedagogy, currently pursuing her PhD in Australia. Amanda unpacks the essence of Forest School in Australia, highlighting how this approach encourages free play and curiosity-driven learning in outdoor environments, emphasising the importance of play with risk and adventure . You'll discover how children can learn about sustainability, community, and indigenous connections through their interactions with nature.

Amanda's research underscores the value of regular, uninterrupted play in the same natural space, allowing children to witness and engage with seasonal changes. She passionately believes that this continuity fosters a meaningful and sustainable relationship with the natural world. We discuss the need for extended play periods and a holistic approach to education where children learn with, from, and in nature. You'll hear about the significant benefits of viewing humans as an integral part of nature, rather than as separate entities, and how this perspective can transform educational practices.

So grab your boots and join us for an insightful journey into the wild world of Forest Schooling. Stay wild!

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

What does it take to create meaningful outdoor experiences for families? Join us as we sit down with Kristi Bryant, passionate outdoor and environmental educator behind Bushwalking Mama. Kristi opens up about her journey in documenting and inspiring family-friendly outdoor activities, and the innovative methods she employs to integrate play and connection into outdoor learning. 

In this episode, we spotlight the significance of autonomy and personal choice in outdoor activities. Kristi emphasises the need for positive relationships and accommodating individual needs to foster a genuine connection with nature. We discuss the delicate balance between encouraging participation and respecting personal boundaries, ensuring everyone feels comfortable and respected in their outdoor educational adventures. Kristi's approach underscores the importance of gradual steps and listening to individual concerns, creating a supportive environment conducive to learning and growth.

We also explore the transformative power of outdoor education in building resilience and overcoming fears. Kristi shares personal experiences and the challenges of starting a business in the nature play industry, from risk assessments to insurance hurdles. 

Tune in for an inspiring episode that champions the resilience, collaboration, and passion at the heart of outdoor education and nature play.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Curious about the world of Family Day Care and how it might be the perfect fit for your child? Join us as we sit down with Victoria Edmond of Big Hearted Education and Rainbow Bridge Family Daycare Service. Victoria takes us through her inspiring journey from long daycare disillusionment to creating her own nurturing Family Day Care service and debunks the myth that family daycare can't be profitable. 

We cover:

• What is the difference between Family Day Care and Long Day Care and why might you choose one over the other as a parent?
• How do children access nature in a Family Day Care Service?
• What about child protection concerns in Family Day Care?
• How can I transition out of Long Day Care into Family Day Care?
• And we bust the myth that you can’t make a profit as a family day care service. So let’s welcome Victoria to the show!

We know as a parents, making the choice between Long Day Care, Family Day Care and Kindy can be a hard choice. Hopefully today’s episode with Victoria will answer a few of your burning questions and give you some tips on what to look out for in any service. And if you’re an educator listening today, we hope it answers some questions you have around why you might choose to become a Family Day Care provider and what to look for when joining a service. 

As always, we love your thoughts, feedback and questions, so feel free to DM us with any questions you may have over on our Raising Wildlings Instagram.

Stay wild!

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

What if you could launch a thriving nature play business without breaking the bank? Most of you listening are nature loving hands-on type people. So when you’re thinking about starting a Nature Play business of your own, you might feel really confident in the Nature Play side of things but terrified of the day-to-day running of business. The other thing that worries people is the cost of start-up. So in this episode, we thought we’d tackle these two problems in one hit and give you a list of free, easy to use software programs to get you started on your Wild Business journey.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Can a name shape the way we connect with nature through education? On this episode of Raising Wildlings, we are joined by the insightful (and soon-to-be Dr) Amanda England, as we unpack the nuances behind terms such "Forest School," "Nature Play," and "Bush Kinder," and discuss how these names reflect the unique environments and philosophies they represent.

Amanda shares her rich experiences from Europe, offering a global perspective on how these programs are practiced differently. We also delve into the importance of place-responsiveness, especially within the diverse landscapes of Australia, and debate the necessity of a unified term for nature-based education.

We also explore the essential elements of a shared Nature Play philosophy and the strides made towards unifying various nature play bodies in Australia, and touch on the challenges of maintaining a genuine commitment to child-directed play, beyond just marketing allure.

We encourage our listeners to join us in this lively debate over terminology and contribute your thoughts and innovative ideas. Get ready to rethink how we name and perceive Nature Play!

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Are you grappling with the fear of cease and desist letters or the anxiety of operating your nature play business in legal grey zones? Get ready to arm yourself with essential insights and practical advice that can help you stay compliant and successful in this challenging landscape. 

We'll help you understand where your business fits within outdoor recreation, education, and environmental education and clarify how these definitions impact your regulatory obligations. By focusing on the purpose, age group, and structure of your programs, you’ll learn how to navigate the often complex regulatory landscape effectively and ensure your nature play business thrives without legal hurdles.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Have you ever felt crushed by criticism from a parent, especially when you're pouring your heart into your business? We've been there. This week, we share our emotional journey as nature play program facilitators, discussing how initially taking negative feedback to heart, evolved into seeing it as a critical avenue for growth. By reframing criticism and using it to reaffirm our beliefs and improve communication, we’ve developed a more resilient mindset that empowers us to turn critiques into valuable learning experiences.

We also dive into the significance of clearly articulating the value and philosophy behind our nature programs to parents. Discover how emphasizing the intangible benefits—like fostering deep flow states and promoting non-traditional learning—can help parents appreciate the true impact on their children. Balancing feedback while staying true to our mission is key, and we explain why being explicit about our program’s offerings attracts the right participants. Join us for an insightful conversation on navigating feedback, maintaining authenticity, and ensuring that those who genuinely align with our goals thrive within our program.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

This is part one of a two part episode! You can find Part one over at The Forest School Podcast - we suggest you jump over and start there if you haven't listened to part one yet!
⁠
⁠And don't forget to give them a follow on their socials here:

• The Forest School Podcast Instagram
• The Forest School Podcast Facebook
• Children of the Forest UK Instagram

What happens when educators step out of their comfort zones and embrace diverse perspectives? Get ready for an insightful and playful conversation with Lewis Ames and Gemma Southerden of the Forest School Podcast as we explore the journey of lifelong learning in education. We dive into the benefits and challenges of continuous professional development and reveal the importance of breaking free from our echo chambers. By engaging with diverse cultures we uncover how these experiences enrich our understanding and teaching practices. 

Navigating discomfort and fostering meaningful conversations is a crucial part of professional growth. Together, we address the complexities of Australia's history and the fear of making mistakes due to white fragility. By promoting transparency and the willingness to ask questions, we discuss how educators and business owners can support those with less capacity for continual learning. Creating accessible content like podcasts and handouts is just one way to facilitate these challenging yet necessary conversations, paving the way for significant change and understanding.

Balancing business partnerships with personal values can be a tightrope walk, but it doesn't have to be daunting. Inspired by principles from Marshall Rosenberg's "Nonviolent Communication," we delve into the art of navigating difficult conversations and the concept of shadow values. Reflecting on the dual nature of personal strengths, we discuss how self-care, validation, and community support are vital in maintaining our passion for business and family. Join us for a heartfelt reflection on reenergizing our entrepreneurial spirits through mutual support, creativity, and a shared commitment to lifelong learning.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Discover the transformative journey of Jane McFadden, a former psychologist and founder of ADHD Mums, as she shares her late ADHD and autism diagnoses. Jane's candid recollection of the challenges she faced as a mother of three, and the realization of her neurodivergence when her eldest child started school, provides crucial insights into the intersection of neurodiversity and parenting. This episode is a must-listen for parents navigating similar paths, especially those in alternative education settings like forest schools, highlighting the importance of recognizing and supporting neurodivergent traits in both children and adults.

In this episode, we uncover the chaos and revelations of adult ADHD diagnoses, illustrated by Jane's impulsive decision to embark on a year-long caravan trip around Australia, which brought her ADHD symptoms to the forefront. Her story underscores the unique way ADHD manifests in women and girls, challenging common misconceptions and emphasizing the importance of proper diagnosis and support. From managing a busy lifestyle to persistent psychological consultations, we delve into the real-life impact of living with undiagnosed ADHD and the eventual clarity that comes with understanding one's condition.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Ever reminisced about the simple joys of childhood when a stick wasn't just a stick but a sword, a wand, or a companion on countless adventures? 

In today's episode, Nicki and Vicci will unravel the hidden developmental treasures found in stick play and how adults can prioritise safety without dampening the spirit of creativity.

Listen in as Nicki and Vicci share their extensive knowledge of:

🌱 The benefits of stick play
🌱 How to find 'the perfect stick'
🌱What's a 'blood bubble' and how does it create safety
🌱 Antedotes and insights on guiding children to play responsibly
🌱How and why children must be a part of shaping the safety rules 
🌱Adults roles in recognising children's emotional cues

Bringing the outdoors in can be daunting, especially in childcare settings, but it's not impossible and this episode will renew your appreciation for stick play with practical approaches to make it an enriching part of outdoor learning.

It's time to gain the confidence to flex your 'uncomfortable muscles' and become an agent of positive change in your family's life – because when it comes to sex education, silence is not an option.

This week we're chatting with Cath Hakanson, mother, sex educator, and founder of Sex Ed Rescue. Cath is all about helping kids and parents have better relationships through empowering conversations. With the right tools, self-confidence, and strategies, sex education can be less threatening, more natural, and much easier.

Cath is a firm believer that if kids can talk to their parents about sex, they can talk to their parents about anything!

In this episode Cath shares:

0:00 Empowering Parent-Child Conversations on Sex
11:38 Talking About Families, Relationships, and Pleasure
19:34 Open Conversations About Sex Education
30:36 Resourceful Parenting and Sex Education
41:34 Importance of Open Communication About Sex

From conversation starters to tackling sensitive subjects like pornography and consent, Cath's knowledge will help you feel supported and ready to make these crucial conversations a natural and normal part of your child's upbringing.

Rosie Ricketson is a mother and award-winning creative producer passionate about maternal well-being.  With a background in the arts, Rosie curates community-led experiences and projects with a vision for a more connected world. 

In this episode, Rosie shares:

🌱Her Thoughts Investing in Community During Uncertain Times
🌱Creativity's Role in Building Community
🌱Modern Motherhood Challenges and Needs
🌱Balancing Parenting, Education, and Work Support

This conversation served as a tapestry woven with personal anecdotes, the wisdom of voices like Maggie Dent, and the transformative ripples that stem from intentional community engagement, reminding us how vital our bonds are for growth and survival. 

Grab a cuppa, listen in, and let us know your thoughts x

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

As we close the chapter on an incredible year of growth and connection, our latest podcast episode takes you through a heartfelt journey of our key milestones, mistakes and goals for the new year.

Somehow during this time, we have hit an astonishing 420,000 downloads and cultivated conversations that have deeply resonated within the realms of parenting, alternative education, forest schooling and child development. Our little project, birthed in our humble home office, has since spread its wings, touching lives and igniting a global dialogue on the transformative power of playing and learning in nature.

The hustle of running a small business is nothing short of a rollercoaster, and trust us, we've had our fair share of stomach-dropping moments! From the anticipation of launching our Forest School Skills online course to navigating the choppy waters of economic uncertainty, we share our trials and triumphs. Yet, amidst the challenges, we've seen our programs soar to new heights, with over 5,600 children stepping through the doors of our Forest School sites this year alone to the simple joys of bringing on our first full-time team member. It's these victories, large and small, that chart the course for future growth and sustainability.

Fasten your seatbelts as we map out the adventures and aspirations that await us in the coming year. Our heart is set on deepening the roots of our existing projects and empowering educators through our forest school skills course. We're also gearing up for personal travel escapades, including a five-week caravan journey through Tasmania! 

Stay wild and join us on the journey—there's so much more to explore together.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

We're back, baby! Kicking off the 2024 season of the Raising Wildlings Podcast with our friend and fellow business owner Gill Howarth from Born Wise Education.

Gill always brings her wisdom to the table and it's great to have her back for an in-depth discussion on what raising "wild and free" children truly means.

Listen in as Gill shares:

🌱Her experience on the delicate balance of granting our children the space to navigate their fears and the world at large. 

🌱The spectrum of childhood "wildness" from mentorship to fostering autonomy. 

🌱And we confront the crucial question: Are ideas of wildness and freedom more reflective of our aspirations as adults than the experiences of our children?

Listen in and come away with a deepened understanding of nature play, child-centered learning, and the broader movements towards decolonising forest school education. 

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Have you ever questioned the traditional education system and its one-size-fits-all approach? If so, this episode is a must-listen as clinical psychologist and education advocate Dr. Naomi Fisher embarks on a deep discussion about alternative pathways to learning.

Dr Naomi Fisher is a clinical psychologist who specialises in autism, trauma and alternative ways to learn. She is the author of two books, both about self-directed education, and she is the mother of two children.

For full show notes head to 👉https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/breaking-educational-boundaries-with-dr-naomi-fisher

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Are you curious about how to reconnect with your inner wisdom and that of the land, seasons, and cycles? 

Today we are in conversation with the wonderful Tiffany Gesler, a proud Gunggari woman passionate about connecting people to their own nature. 
 
Tiffany is a seasoned early years and outdoor learning educator with expertise in Aboriginal health, midwifery, and women's business. 

In this last year, she launched her wild business Sowed and Nurtured, Toowoomba's first private bush school. 

Join us as we delve into the process of decolonizing outdoor education, promoting First Nation perspectives, and the impact of nature play businesses on families and communities. 

Don't miss out on this enriching conversation that is sure to challenge, educate, and inspire!

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Stepping out of the mainstream education system and into the business world is equal parts daunting and exhilarating.

In today's episode, we are talking with one of our founding Your Wild Business students Leanne Webster who has created a community and connection in Bundaberg QLD with her wonderful business Wild Gully.

In this episode Leanne shares:

🌱Her personal journey from the four walls of a classroom into the limitless expanse of the wilderness
🌱The realities of running an early learning business
🌱The power of personal connection when growing a customer base
🌱 The importance of community collaboration when it comes to Nature Play
🌱 How our signature Your Wild Business Course influenced her journey

If you want a behind-the-scenes view into what it's like to start a Nature Play business or simply love a good story, this episode will leave you inspired and full of inspiration.

Full Show Notes Can Be Found Here

https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/stepping-out-of-the-classroom-with-leanne-webster-from-wild-gully

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Ever thought you couldn't run a Nature Play program because your site isn't postcard-worthy?   
 
Newsflash: Picturesque beaches, a bubbling creek, or a lush rainforest are pretty but they are not essential for your Nature Play program.

We repeat they are not essential. 

Today we are discussing place-based learning and how it's actually really important that children connect with their own local environment in a deep and meaningful way.

Nicki and Vicci will share:

🌱The benefits of running programs in dry locations
🌱The three absolute 'must have' facilities for your site
🌱Why picturesque locations could attract 'the wrong crowd' for your programs
🌱Practical ways you can foster deep connections at your nature play site

Join us as we explore why a picture-perfect environment might look great in photos, but can often come with challenges that make long-term engagement difficult. Whether you're a parent, an educator, or simply interested in alternative education and parenting, tune in and we promise to shift your perspective on nature play programs.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

"If nature is free and play is free... Then why would I need to pay $ to insure my Nature Play session? "

😱 - Us

Yes, that was our actual faces when we heard someone was running a Nature Play session WITHOUT insurance.

Not only does this kind of dodgy practice risk people's livelihoods and homes... it also has the potential to completely destroy a whole industry that is supposed to protect childhood and children's right to play in nature.

In this episode, Nicki Farrell & Vicci Oliver (co-founders of The Wildlings Forest School) talk about the elephant in the room when it comes to the potential consequences of neglecting insurance and why it will actually bring you freedom and peace once you have it all sorted.

Nicki & Vicci share their experience on:

💥Why not all insurance coverage is created equal
💥 The importance of aligning your insurance with the unique risks
💥The need to double-check that your insurer covers activities like working with unpredictable outdoor environments.
💥Cutting through the complexity and confusion surrounding insurance coverage

Tune in for this practical episode on the "Business Side" of nature play and how you can best protect your interests and those of the children in your care.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you're screaming internally, "Not this!"? You're not alone. Inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert's empowering post, this episode delves into Nicki's process of courageously saying ,'Not this,' and stepping away from situations that no longer served her and opting for a path of uncertainty over a life of discontent. 

Tune in and unleash the courage within you to say, "Not this."

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

How do you define success as a mother and business owner? What does it mean to find your threshold of "enoughness"?  

We are back this week with Gill Howarth, owner of Bornwise Education, as she uncovers her journey through the peaks and valleys of motherhood and entrepreneurship. 

For Full Show Notes Head To 👉https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/Balancing-Entrepreneurship-and-Motherhood

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Do you ever wonder what it takes to start a business while wrestling with the complexities of parenting young children?

Join us as we delve deep into the journey of Gill Howarth, the founder of Born Wise Education, who remarkably embarked on her entrepreneurial expedition during her maternity leave - just like we did with Wildlings Forest School!

Gill invites us into her world, sharing her story with honesty, courage, and inspiration.

For Full Show Notes Head To 👉 https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/trusting-instincts-in-teaching-and-business-a-conversation-with-gill-howarth

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Ever wondered how to package your passion for nature into a profitable venture?

This week we're uncovering the untapped potentials in the Nature Play industry and  translating your unique gifts into a viable business.

We'll walk you through the diverse niches in the industry, from age-based businesses to corporate events, and even delve into the advantageous role of location in attracting success to your venture.

It's tempting to mirror what others are doing, but we reveal why this could be a dangerous path and why harnessing your unique skills and passions is crucial. 

Full Show Notes Can Be Found At
https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/carving-your-niche-untapped-potentials-in-the-nature-play-industry

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Get ready to be inspired as we journey into the heart of an exceptional early childhood education center with Narelle Dawson, the esteemed Director of Bribe Island Community Kindy.

Narelle offers rare insights into leading a team that's been rated excellent four times in a row, a testament to their commitment, dedication, and unwavering focus on building meaningful relationships. She reveals the secrets behind their success and the transformative power of fostering a nurturing environment and maintaining a balanced focus on learning and growth.

For Full Show Notes Head to👉  https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/mastering-the-art-of-education-and-community-involvement-with-narelle-dawson 

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Buckle up! We are spilling our secrets on how collaborations have been a game-changer in our Wild Play business and how they can be for you too!

Ever wondered what makes a partnership thrive?

Let us share our experience in business partnerships and what we'd do differently if we were starting a new business today. 

Full Show notes can be found here:
https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/unlocking-the-power-of-wild-business-partnerships-with-nicki-farrell-and-vicci-oliver

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Have you ever wondered how an educational institution could place well-being at the heart of its ethos and practice?

Join us for an eye-opening talk with Claire Bartlett, the founding Principal of Woodline Primary, as we discuss its journey from ideation to a growing community of students and families. 

Claire opens the door to Woodline's unique perspective on education. She highlights how the school's emphasis on connection, language, and individual attention fosters an environment that nurtures emotional intelligence. We also gain insight into the school's restorative practice and the role of families in the education process. Hear firsthand the challenges faced in setting up a school and the crucial part the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority played in ensuring Woodline met the approval requirements.

For Full Show Notes Head To: https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/building-community-through-education-woodline-primary-s-success-story  

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

While playtime might seem straightforward, it's fraught with challenges and nuances that parents often overlook. 

In this podcast, we are joined again by researcher, author, and Professor Dr Peter Gray and today we are unraveling the intricacies of play and its influence on a child's growth. 

We discuss why simply taking your child to the park isn't the same as neighborhood play and the difference between 'play' and a 'playful approach to learning'. 

Join us for this enlightening conversation that promises insights that are sure to change how you perceive children's playtime.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Prepare to be captivated by this deep dive into the world of childhood play. In our latest episode, we have the esteemed pleasure of welcoming back Dr Peter Gray, a research professor of psychology and neuroscience at Boston College. With an impressive track record of studying play's importance, Dr Gray’s insights are sure to fascinate you as he unveils how play shapes children into responsible, creative, and socially adept individuals.

Full Show Notes 👉 https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/Play-Learn-Grow-With-Dr-Peter-Gray 

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

The transformative power of parenthood gives many of us a renewed passion for the importance of advocating for our children's play needs. 

Today’s guest is no different, Dr. Carla Gull is an academic researcher, speaker, and environmental education program facilitator at Goshen College. 

In this episode we will be deep-diving into Dr. Carla’s research work around loose parts play and the importance of unexpected curiosity.

For full show notes head to:  https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/power-of-loose-parts-play-with-dr-carla

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Today, we are delighted to have Dr Arne Rubenstein back to answer your questions about the role of father figures and how to maintain meaningful connections during a boy's journey toward adulthood.

Dr Arne is the CEO and Founder of the Rites of Passage Institute. He has over 30 years of experience as a medical doctor, counselor, speaker, workshop facilitator, and the proud father of two wonderful young men and a mentor to many others.

For full show notes head to: https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/From-Boys-To-Men-With-Dr-Arne

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Dr Kate Grarock is an Ecologist, Hiker, YouTube Creator, passionate storyteller, Mum and most recently, a participant on the incredibly popular SBS TV show, Alone Australia. 

Today, we’ll be talking all about her time on the survival show, the best and hardest parts, and her current ecology work and her tips and tricks for solo hiking – including her favourite hiking treat!

For Full Show Notes Head To https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/Alone-With-Dr-Kate-Grarock

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

At forest school, we often talk about how nature play is so important for our sensory development, but did you know that many of the developmental and behavioural challenges we see in children stem from our nervous system? In today's episode we scratch the surface of sensory integration, sensory processing and retained reflexes with Occupational Therapists, Rachel Harrington and Jessica Hill. 

👉  Rachel and Jess share

• About primitive reflexes
• About retaining reflexes 
• What we can do at home to help this
• Why we need sensory integration and the integration of primitive reflexes
• The kinds of things would you notice in your child if they had retained primitive reflexes
• The retained reflexes that are seen commonly in a classroom
• About sensory processing disorders
• Exercises, Strategies, and Tips to Help with SPD
• Some of the myths around sensory processing
• About diagnosis and how to identify them
• How nature helps in integrating the senses
• About sensory diets
• That parents may notice their own bodies, behaviours or patterns and find out that they too have a sensory processing disorder
• About working with families that have children with opposing sensory processing disorders

👉  Opt In for a FREE Downloadable

👉  Links and Resources

Personal Website

Instagram:
@harkla_family
@allthingssensorypodcast

Youtube Videos
Become a Primitive Reflex Expert 

USE CODE: SENSORY for 10% first purchase at harkla.co

👉 Guest Details

Rachel Harrington, COTA/L, AC, CPRCS and Jessica Hill, COTA/L, CPRCS are passionate Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants and Certified Primitive Reflex Clinic Specialists who host of the popular podcast, All Things Sensory by Harkla. Their podcast, digital courses, YouTube, and blog on Harkla.co covers topics related to sensory processing disorder, special needs, parenting, and topics related to child development and health.
With over 9 years of clinical experience, Rachel and Jessica are on a mission to help parents, educators, and therapists raise strong and confident children, no matter their abilities. They get excited about taking clinical topics (such as Sensory Processing Disorder, primitive reflexes, and sensory diets) and helping us to reframe the way that we see children, how we can help them get their needs met and spreading the word about the importance of sensory integration. 

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
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Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts 

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Today we’re chatting to Sarah Aiono, international speaker, coach, teacher, researcher, CEO of Longworth Education and one of Aotearoa New Zealand's leading play pedagogy experts all about the biological need for all humans to play, the need for us as parents and educators to slow down childhood, how the early academic pushdown is harming children and how Sarah and her passionate team help teachers implement evidence-based play pedagogy in their everyday classroom practices. 

👉  Sarah shares

• Her journey to starting Longworth Education
• About play advocacy
• If teenagers do still biologically need play
• About the Play Pedagogy Philosophy
• That childhood needs to slow down
• That childhood is not preparation for adulthood 
• Why we must challenge the rhetoric about meeting certain milestones
• About the biological imperative that play is for children
• Why play outside is so critical for children's development 
• How we can advocate for our children's strengths and passions, ensuring educators and schools recognise the diversity of children's knowledge and skills.

👉  Opt In

https://www.wildlingsforestschool.com/free-downloadables

👉  Links and Resources
Connect with Sarah
Website
Linked In
Twitter @sarahaiono
Facebook
Instagram: longworth_education

👉 Guest Details

Sarah is an international speaker, coach, teacher, researcher, CEO and one of Aotearoa New Zealand's leading play pedagogy experts. She has extensive experience as a classroom teacher, having taught students from all year levels, with a particular focus on those with challenging behaviour and learning needs. She is passionate about helping teachers implement evidence-based play pedagogy with fidelity in their everyday classroom practices. She is a postgraduate course advisor, Neuro fellow and HundrED Academy member and hosts the popular podcast series Play Conversations. She is also 8 years into her journey as a part of a worldschooling family, alongside her husband and two teenage children.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Apple Podcasts 
Spotify
Google Podcasts

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

If you’re anything like us, the title of today’s episode, “Low Demand Parenting”, made you take a hopeful gasp and wonder if low-demand parenting could actually work for your family and take some of the weight and pressure of parenting off of your chest.

Well, after chatting with Amanda Diekman, author and leading voice in the neurodiversity parenting movement, I can honestly say I felt some of that weight lift as she gave me and all our listeners permission to say, ‘It’s too hard right now” and let some things go.

Amanda's wisdom and insight into the realities of parenting uniquely wired children hit a chord for me and I hope you too find the permission you may be seeking today to radically accept your child and family where you and they are at.

For Full Show Notes Head To
https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/low-demand-parenting

When You're Ready, Here's How We Can Help You:

1. Want to learn the "on the ground" skills you NEED to run children's activities with fire, water and hand tools?  Bush Kindy Skills is for play workers, educators and aspiring forest school leaders. Apply now to get an invitation to our FREE training.
2. Are you ready to create your own Wildly Successful Nature Play Business? Head to www.raisingwildlings.com.au/wildbusiness to access the roadmap to start your own Wild Business. 
3. Want to find your purpose in 10 minutes? Download our FREE treasure map to find your passion without compromising your educational values.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

What do you feel when you walk into a perfectly instagrammable Early Years setting, or when you see an education space wrapped in artificial turf?

Today we’re chatting with husband and wife duo, architects and owners of Landings Studio, Emma Healy and David Pratt all about biophilic design, the benefits of it, what we can do instead of laying astro turf and immovable playgrounds, and how we can implement some of these ideas in our homes and early years settings.


For Full Show Notes Head To
https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/How-Biophilic-Design-Connects-Us-All

When You're Ready, Here's How We Can Help You:

1. Ready to learn tried and tested group management skills for children's activities in risky playscapes?  Click here to access our recent masterclass and level up with Forest School Skills.
2. Want to find your purpose in 10 minutes? Download our FREE treasure map to find your passion without compromising your educational values.
3.  Wondering how to navigate your outdoor learning environment with complete confidence? You need our $27 Nature Play Now Workshop and Bundle series (people constantly tell us they love this program and it's an absolute bargain! )

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

If you’ve ever been to one of our Brisbane Forest School sessions, you may have been lucky enough to meet today’s guest, Amanda England. 

Amanda is our Brisbane manager, friend, and business partner. 

On today’s podcast, Amanda is sharing her journey from preschool teacher to kickstarting our Wildlings Forest Kindy Program in Brisbane, Australia.

Amanda will also share how investing her time and energy into building stakeholder relationships helped her successfully advocate for children and play in South East Queensland.

For Full Show Notes Head To
https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/it-takes-a-village-to-run-a-forest-school

When You're Ready, Here's How We Can Help You:

1. Want to learn the "on the ground" skills you NEED to run children's activities with fire, water and hand tools?  Bush Kindy Skills is for play workers, educators and aspiring forest school leaders. Apply now to get an invitation to our FREE training.
2. Are you ready to create your own Wildly Successful Nature Play Business? Head to www.raisingwildlings.com.au/wildbusiness to access the roadmap to start your own Wild Business. 
3. Want to find your purpose in 10 minutes? Download our FREE treasure map to find your passion without compromising your educational values.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

One of the biggest reasons for starting our own business was to be able to jump at opportunities when adventure called. It’s a great privilege to be able to do this and it’s not something we take for granted.

This week on the podcast we are diving into Nicki’s recent unplanned 5-week road trip into the outback with her two homeschooled boys and dog in tow.

The road schooling trip back to Nicki’s own childhood roots in South Australia.

Were they new places to visit? No.

Was it going to have the same awe and wonder that it had 30 years ago? 

Surprisingly, yes!

For Full Show Notes Head To https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/the-journey-home-with-nicki-farrell  

When You're Ready, Here's How We Can Help You:

1. Want to learn the "on the ground" skills you NEED to run children's activities with fire, water and hand tools?  Forest School Skills is for play workers, educators and aspiring forest school leaders. Apply now to get an invitation to our FREE training.
2. Are you ready to create your own Wildly Successful Nature Play Business? Head to www.raisingwildlings.com.au/wildbusiness to access the roadmap to start your own Wild Business. 
3. Want to find your purpose in 10 minutes? Download our FREE treasure map to find your passion without compromising your educational values.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Imagine being labeled America’s worst mother just because you made the conscious decision to allow your child to experience some independence. If you haven’t heard Lenore Skenazy’s story or read her book Free Range Kids, today’s episode is a great introduction to the Free Range Children and Grow Wild movements. 

👉  Lenore shares

• The incredible story that catapulted her into this movement.
• Some of the most rewarding outcomes she has seen in her own life and in the families she has worked with
• What free-range parenting really is
• The biggest myths about it
• How people can start incorporating its principles into their own parenting style
• Her response to the critics of free-range parenting arguing that it is irresponsible or even dangerous
• The biggest challenges that parents face when trying to give their kids more independence
• How parents can overcome those obstacles
• How you can incorporate safety into free-range parenting
• About the "Let Grow" initiative
• What she hopes to see from parents and families adopting this style in the years to come

Full Show Notes Can Be Found Here:
https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/free-range-kids 

When You're Ready, Here's How We Can Help You:

1. Want to learn the "on the ground" skills you NEED to run children's activities with fire, water and hand tools?  Wild School Skills is for play workers, educators and aspiring forest school leaders. Apply now to get an invitation to our FREE training in May  
2. Are you ready to create your own Wildly Successful Nature Play Business? Head to www.raisingwildlings.com.au/wildbusiness to access the roadmap to start your own Wild Business. 
3. Want to find your purpose in 10 minutes? Download our FREE treasure map to find your passion without compromising your educational values.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Issac Newton once said “What goes up must come down”, but what on Earth are we supposed to do when children climb up too high and call out for help?

Recently, we’ve witnessed several occurrences where tiny climbers reach great heights only to get stuck when it comes to getting back down to the ground.

In today’s podcast episode, we are deep diving into the physiology behind this and what adults can do to coach children down from great heights.

In this episode, we discuss:

✔️ Fear Of Heights vs. Height Vertigo

✔️The physiology behind “Height Vertigo” and its impact on the senses

✔️Our 4 top tips to respectfully coach children down from heights

Full show notes for this episode can be found at:

https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/dizzy-heights-and-how-to-get-down

When You're Ready, Here's How We Can Help You: 

Playworkers, educators and aspiring forest school leaders. Apply now to get an invitation to our FREE training "The First Steps You Must Take Before Leading A Nature Immersion Program" and steal our signature Gather, Guide & Grow framework for starting your own Nature Immersion or Forest School Program https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/register

Are you ready to create your own Wildly Successful Nature Play Business? Head to www.raisingwildlings.com.au/wildbusiness to access the roadmap to start your own Wild Business. 

Want to find your purpose in 10 minutes? Download our FREE treasure map to find your passion without compromising your educational values https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/Opt-In

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Tree climbing has always been a rite of passage. Whether it was the mango tree in the backyard or the massive jacaranda at the local park. 

Where there were trees…. there were children hanging from the branches.

At least, that’s what is why like in our own childhood.

But did you know that 1 in 4 Australian children have never climbed a tree?

That’s a quarter of Australian children!

Missing out on the pure joy, freedom, and learning experiences that come from being able to scale, swing and hang from nature's original jungle gym… the tree!

Where did it all go wrong?

In today's episode, we are sharing our tips on how you can help children climb trees safely and we are asking some tough questions about whether the presence of adults is actually hindering children’s ability to risk assess.

In this episode, we discuss:

✔️ The shocking decline of tree climbing

✔️Our own experiences with being chastised for our children’s tree climbing

✔️Why you should not lift children into trees

✔️How to coach children’s climbing and what NOT to do

✔️Our game-changing tree-climbing advice for young children

Full show notes for this episode can be found at:

https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/tree-climbing-the-forgotten-playground 

When You're Ready, Here's How We Can Help You: Want to learn the "on the ground" skills you NEED to run children's activities with fire, water and hand tools? 

Wild School Skills is for playworkers, educators and aspiring forest school leaders. Apply now to get an invitation to our FREE training https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/waitlist

Are you ready to create your own Wildly Successful Nature Play Business? Head to www.raisingwildlings.com.au/wildbusiness to access the roadmap to start your own Wild Business. 

Want to find your purpose in 10 minutes? Download our FREE treasure map to find your passion without compromising your educational values https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/Opt-In

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

❌Newsflash: Risky Play isn’t as simple as giving children the old hammer from the rusty toolbox in the garage.

 In fact, doing that will probably cause more accidents and set everyone up for a negative experience. 

We used to think that ‘any’ hand tool was better than none.... until we saw some were too heavy, too bulky, and hindering the learning process for children.

It was a bit like trying to eat soup with a fork. Rather frustrating for all involved.

So today we will share with you the TOP THREE hand tools we believe every child and educator should be using to extend learning with loose parts and adventurous play. 

In this episode, we discuss:

✔️ Why less is more when it comes to resources and loose parts

✔️The benefits of child-size hand tools

✔️How learning injuries are a part of the process

✔️Top Three Hand Tools for young children (3-12 years)

✔️Additional Hand Tools for advanced learning (7-12 years)

_____________________________________________________

Full show notes for this episode can be found at:
https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/right-tools-for-the-job 

_____________________________________________________

When You're Ready, Here's How We Can Help You: Want to learn the "on the ground" skills you NEED to run children's activities with fire, water and hand tools? Wild School Skills is for playworkers, educators and aspiring forest school leaders.

 Apply now to get an invitation to our FREE training https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/waitlist

Are you ready to create your own Wildly Successful Nature Play Business? Head to www.raisingwildlings.com.au/wildbusiness to access the roadmap to start your own Wild Business.

 Want to find your purpose in 10 minutes? Download our FREE treasure map to find your passion without compromising your educational values https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/Opt-In 

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

"Look, it has pockets!" said the child as they emptied the rocks, shells, and leaves from the pockets of their new skirt.

And we have to admit, as grown women, we too have twirled in excitement when FINALLY finding a dress or skirt that can fit our wallets, phones, and car keys but it makes us ask the question... 

Are we letting "looks" get in the way of "life" and what kind of message is that sending to our children especially when that comes to nature play?

In this episode, we discuss:

✔️Our experiences with children wearing inappropriate clothing in a nature play session and what are the best clothes and shoes to wear

✔️The adulteration of children's clothing 

✔️Our thoughts on the gender discussion when it comes to clothing for boys and girls

✔️Why children need to feel free to move in their clothing and how this impacts their sensory experiences

✔️How dressing children in “hi-vis” vests sends the message that children are separate from nature

Full show notes for this episode can be found at:

https://www.raisingwildlings.com.au/blog/is-fashion-stifling-childhood 

When You're Ready, Here's How We Can Help You:

1. Want to learn the "on the ground" skills you NEED to run children's activities with fire, water and hand tools?  Wild School Skills is for play workers, educators and aspiring forest school leaders. Apply now to get an invitation to our FREE training in May  
2. Are you ready to create your own Wildly Successful Nature Play Business? Head to www.raisingwildlings.com.au/wildbusiness to access the roadmap to start your own Wild Business. 
3. Want to find your purpose in 10 minutes? Download our FREE treasure map to find your passion without compromising your educational values.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Sometimes in life you meet people who’s experience and inspiration mirrors your own and that is what I feel about my guest today. Celia Hogan is the founder of Little Kiwis in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and we shared such a rich and inspiring chat today which I think you are going to love. 

👉  Celia Shares

• Her journey that brought her to where she is today
• About Little Kiwis Nature Play
• Her inspiration to start her Wild Business
• The nature play landscape in New Zealand?
• How she embeds Maori culture in her programs
• Why it is important to for children to have adventure in their lives
• Why risk is essential in child development
• The largest hurdles she has had to overcome in her nature play journey
• The benefits of starting a nature play business in your community

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources

Connect with Celia and Little Kiwis on:
Website
LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram

Learn more about Celia
Read more here
Listen to Celia here

Book Recs:
Disobedient Teaching: Surviving and Creating Change in Education by Welby Ings

Wild Skills Course
Wild Business

👉 Guest Details
Celia Hogan, Founder of Little Kiwis Nature Play is a Nature Education Specialist, Consultant, Speaker and Parenting Coach. She is passionate about connecting children to nature and is a strong advocate for nature play, risky play and improving mental health and well-being through nature. For the past 24 years, she has worked for a variety of outdoor education organisations internationally, setting up, developing and running outdoor programmes, wilderness expeditions, leadership development programmes and establishing risk management and safety systems. She splits her time with professional development training for teachers, coaching parents, running her Bush Kindy and taking her own tamariki on lots of adventures. She is chair of Nature Education Aotearoa, co-chair of Education Outdoors New Zealand and is an advisor for ECE Reform.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details
Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly gratef

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

You’ve all heard the saying, ‘If you play with fire, you’re going to get burnt,' well we have another saying at Wildlings, and that’s, ‘If you don't play with fire you WILL get burnt.’ Today’s episode is all about why we must teach children fire safety.

👉  Nicki and Vicci Share: 

• Some striking facts about fire danger in Australia and around the world
• Why it is important to teach children about fire safety
• The importance and power of fire and how to teach responsibility in children around fires
• The harms of misusing fire in front of our children
• Flow on effects of generations that don’t understand fire safety
• About acknowledging First Nations uses of fire from an ecological perspective
• That knowledge is power and how to equip yourself and your children to be fire savvy.

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources

Join the waitlist for our new course Wild Skills

Learn more about our course offerings here

👉 Guest Details

Vicci Oliver and Nicki Farrell are adventurous nature play makers, risk-takers, children’s rights advocates and the co-founders of Wildlings Forest School. We are the hosts of the ‘Raising Wildlings’ podcast and we put the dirt back in childhood.

During any Wildlings Forest School program, you are likely to find Wildlings up trees, sliding down mud slides, whittling with pocket knives, lighting fires and building rafts. We let kids, be kids - because children can’t learn to protect nature if they’ve never had a childhood in it.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Imagine making play your life’s work. In today’s podcast, I talk with professional playworker and child advocate, Marc Armitage, who has done just that. We are chatting all about the role of adults and he asks us what is our agenda when it comes to providing play opportunities for children. 

👉  Marc Shares: 

• How his journey got started
• How playwork differs from other approaches to working with children
• That playwork is a unique way of connecting with children
• How playworkers balance the need for children to have autonomy with the need to ensure their safety
• The role of playworkers in play in developing and maintaining play environments
• How playworkers can create play spaces that are open-ended and allow for a wide range of play opportunities
• His definition of risky play
• About the risky play diet.
• Strategies to help children develop a sense of risk assessment and decision making when it comes to risky play
• The new types of risky play
• Why is it critical that we allow children the opportunity to play on their own terms
• His favourite type of adventurous play

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources

Connect with Marc
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Marc at Play on TOUR

👉 Guest Details

Marc Armitage is an consultant, researcher and writer in children’s play, playing and Playwork. He began his professional career as a playworker in the early 1980s with a local organisation in the UK, Hull Community Playschemes Association, and since then has worked as a field playworker, an adventure playground worker, a double decker playbus worker, a local authority play development officer, a university lecturer, research associate and a company director. 

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Apple Podcasts 
Spotify
Google Podcasts

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Nature schools are on the rise here in Australia and around the world and I am not just talking about Forest Schools like Wildlings. These schools have to follow Australian Curriculum, but are prioritising getting kids outside! Today I want to introduce Joanna Griffith from Kwoorabup Nature School in Western Australia.

👉  Joanna Shares:

• Her philosophy and the inspiration behind Kwoorabup Nature School
• The significance of the land on which they learn and play
• About the meaning of the school name, indigenous connection and what they are actively doing to embed indigenous perspectives at Kwoorabup
• The importance of connecting with other changemakers in education
• About her staff including what kind of teachers or mentors work with the children at Kwoorabup and the kind of training they have
• The biggest challenges they face
• Her favourite moments working with and observing the children and how she balances the administration side of her job and her involvement with the students

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources

https://www.kwoorabup.wa.edu.au/
https://www.facebook.com/KwoorabupNatureSchool

Book Recc:
Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature

Head here if you are interested in starting your own Nature School!

👉 Guest Details

Joanna Griffith is the principal of a new nature school in WA called Kwoorabup. She has a passion for nature based learning, inquiry teaching and has a compassionate and collaborative leadership style. 

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Apple Podcasts 
Spotify
Google Podcasts

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Honestly, our kids get a rough go. What we often expect of them at a young age can far outweigh what their brain can actually manage — and we don’t even realise we’re doing it! Today we’re finishing our chat with Allison Davies.
Today we’re chatting about the importance of predictability for children, Hyperactivity and her family’s journey from homeschooling to schooling.
You can catch the first part of our conversation in last week’s episode. 

👉  Alli Shares

• About Brain = Behavior
• Why predictability in a child’s life is so important
• What happens in the brain when it can predict
• How to create more predictability in even the most chaotic environments
• About Hyperactivity: why it happens and how to support your child’s hyperactivity without ever having to focus on its’ related behaviours
• Her journey from homeschooling to schooling

👉  Opt In For FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources

Connect with Alli

Your Wild Business is a business kickstarter program like no other. 
Specifically designed for Teachers, Forest School Leaders, Outdoor Reccies and Early Years Educators who are are ready to leap into the big, wide world of business.

If you want to take the guesswork out of starting from scratch and more importantly if you want to AVOID the three most common mistakes others have made when they started their nature play business - Head to hwww.raisingwildlings.com.au/wildbusiness and check out our exclusive training to get you started on the right path towards your wild business journey.

👉 Guest Details

Allison holds a Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Teaching, a Master of Music Therapy and Neurologic Music Therapy training. A former Registered Music Therapist of 16 years, Alli left the Allied Health industry in 2021 in order to align her work more deeply with culturally responsive practices and to switch her focus from individual change to socio cultural change. She is an independent liberatory scholar currently exploring the gatekeeping and classism of the social construct ‘musical vs non musical’.

Alli is an autistic person with attention, sensory processing and executive functioning difficulties. She works within a neurodiversity framework that favours deep acceptance and regulation over assimilation and intervention, and shares her lived experience of autism openly within her seminars, workshops and conferences as part of her ‘emotive storytelling mixed with science’ approach to education.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

In this episode, we chat to former Neurologic Music Therapist Allison who stepped out of the allied health system after 16 years, and now focuses on enacting societal change by dismantling harmful musical myths. To get a sense of what Alli is all about, I thought I’d read one of her quotes which I love.

‘As a woman I was suppressed by the systems that told me to ‘be seen and not heard’, to ‘stop being hysterical’ and to ‘not give up my day job’ in response to my musical expression.
Others were led to believe that not being able to play an instrument, sing in tune or access lessons meant they were ‘not musical’. Some were told to mime in the school choir. Many were punished for using their voice to speak up.
These systems are coming to an end.
AND WE ARE THE ONES DISMANTLING THEM.”

Oof. Did you feel that? Yes? Then let’s chat to Alli about music and the brain, how to use music to help children regulate and how we are all musical. This is episode one of two of our chat together.

👉  Alli Shares

• About the connection between music and the brain
• That music is a tool for healing
• How  we as parents and educators use music in different ways to help children regulate
• Her work to dismantle the myth that people aren’t “musical”
• Why we listen to music on repeat

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources

Connect with Alli on her website

Book Reccs:
Kissing the Hag: The Dark Goddess and the Unacceptable Nature of Women by Emma Restall Orr

👉 Guest Details

Allison holds a Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Teaching (University of New England, 2003), a Master of Music Therapy (University of Queensland, 2005) and Neurologic Music Therapy training (Academy of Neurologic Music Therapy, 2016). A former Registered Music Therapist of 16 years, Alli left the Allied Health industry in 2021 in order to align her work more deeply with culturally responsive practices and to switch her focus from individual change to socio cultural change. She is an independent liberatory scholar currently exploring the gatekeeping and classism of the social construct ‘musical vs non musical’.

Alli is an autistic person with attention, sensory processing and executive functioning difficulties. She works within a neurodiversity framework that favours deep acceptance and regulation over assimilation and intervention, and shares her lived experience of autism openly within her seminars, workshops and conferences as part of her ‘emotive storytelling mixed with science’ approach to education.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. 

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

• What worry might feel like in a child’s body
• Simple strategies for parents wanting to help their children manage anxiety
• Why it's important to start these conversations with children from a young age
• About her Guided Questions to help continue the conversation about children’s worries
• What else she has in the pipeline

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Today, we’re chatting with Meg Berryman about remedial vs regenerative business, stewardship vs leadership, the new and calmer questions to ask ourselves about obtaining the elusive work life balance and how the sensitive ones are leading the way in finding our way back to regenerative culture. This one is for those who feel like listening to an episode where you will leave with a feeling of being settled.  

👉  Meg shares

• What inspired her to write Wilder
• Her unique perspective on “Healing”
• The difference between working remedially versus working regeneratively
• What powerful leadership demonstrates
• About true balance
• About reframing the things we fear
• Why we are all over-working 
• That things take as long as they take
• About the beauty of sensitivity
• Why we need to connect to nature

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources
 Connect with Meg
On Facebook
On her website
Or on instagram: @megjberryman

Learn more about Wild Business

👉 Guest Details

Meg Berryman is a trauma-informed coach, yoga teacher, author and consultant seeding and teaching regenerative ways to live, lead, learn and do business. Centering embodiment, connection and sustainability in family, relationships and offerings - Meg celebrates the small, the simple and the slow in everything she does and teaches others to do the same.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube 
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Apple Podcasts 
Spotify
Google Podcasts

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

We all know that getting children outside is good for them, but that doesn't mean that everybody that works with/for children does. That is where organisations like Nature Play WA come in and why I have invited CEO and researcher, Dr. Kelsie Prabawa-Sear onto the podcast today to share why children really do need a childhood with play and nature and the challenges that we face trying to achieve our mission.
 
👉  Kelsie Shares

• How she found herself in this position including her influential mentours
• The role of nature play in mental and physical health,
• The benefits of nature play for physical, emotional and social development,
• About learning through nature play
• How nature play fosters growing connection to nature and community
• Why we need to change the approach of design to appeal to a diverse population
• That nature play has no age limit for developmental benefits 
• The value of unstructured play time in nature
• The importance of of conservation

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👉  Links and Resources

Contact Dr. Kelsie:
kelsie@natureplaywa.org.au
LinkedIn

Dr Kelsie in the Press:
 Nature Play WA
The West Australian
The ABC

Guest Details

Kelsie has had the joy of a varied and rich working and academic experience in both Australia and Indonesia prior to joining Nature Play WA, having worked in State government, consulting roles and conservation work with not-for-profit organisations. Along the way she has entwined her work with post graduate research degrees, completed a Master’s in Environmental Education for Sustainability and a PhD on The Impact of Culture in Environmental Education in Java, Indonesia. When reflecting on this work, Kelsie's focus and passion has always been for nature, kids, and communities.

As a parent of three wonderful growing humans, Kelsie also understands the challenges of parenthood and the important role that we have as advocates for our kids’ childhoods. She personally adds “advocate for nature” to her list of responsibilities, as it is her view that we all have a responsibility to ensure that our kids not only get time in nature as little ones, but also get a future with nature. The health of the environment cannot be separated from our own health. 

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details
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Facebook
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👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

If there is one thing I know that brings us all together when we are outside with our families and children, its music. I was so excited to find our guest today who has created the most beautiful songs that are loved by children and adults! Today we will be speaking with Sara Ernst, all about her music and children’s books in nature!

👉  Sara shares

• How she has come to master the written word through stories and songs
• About the importance of learning about nature through song
• How her creativity was fostered as a child that has allowed her to explore this and make this a huge part of her adult life
• About facilitating a nature playgroup
• That music is a learning tool
• Her favourite moments while sharing a song or stories
• About her book, “Where is Wild?”
• What inspired her to write about tricky people
• The most challenging parts of pursuing her creativity into a business
• Her advice she would give to people who host groups with children who may be hesitant or self conscious about singing in front of parents

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👉  Links and Resources

Connect with Sara:
Website
Facebook
Instagram
Pintrest
Amazon Store
Youtube
Spotify
iTunes
She will be offering all of her albums for just $5 each ON HER WEBSITE ONLY until the February 28th 2023

"Where is Wild?" by Sara Ernst

Learn more about Your Wild Business 

👉 Guest Details

Sara Ernst,  award-winning children's author, illustrator & Kindie musician from the United States. Sara uses her original songs to encourage a deeper love and curiosity of nature, inspire imagination, empower emotions and teach valuable lessons. Sara's work has been featured in the news, on podcasts, and her music has been heard by families all over the world.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details
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Facebook
Instagram

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoy Raising Wildlings, please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful!

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

In this episode, we’re chatting with Psychotherapist,  Arsho Kalloghlian, about all things teenage relationships: what Red flags to look out for in potential partners, the  the difference between selfless giving and martyrdom and how to ask for what you need in a relationship respectfully. Come and join us for the info I wish I had as a lovestruck teen!

👉  Arsho shares

• Her backstory and how and why she ended up in Psychotherapy
• Why she is called to help teenagers
• How we can repair relationships with our teens
• How teens can can create healthy relationships
• Red flags teen need to be aware of in potential partners
• About givers and takers
• About how to ask for what we need
• The impact of social media and reality TV on teens
• About building relationships between parents and young teens
• The importance of communication, modeling and intrinsic motivation
• About her offerings for teens, parents and schools

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables including Phrases for Validation 

👉  Links and Resources
www.grassrootsapproach.com.au
Book Reccs:
How to Love Your Marriage by Eve Eschner Hogan

Learn more about our flagship course Your Wild Business HERE

👉 Guest Details

Enter Arsho Kalloghilian, Psychotherapist, Counselor, Program Designer who’s unlocked the secret of how to confidently connect with teenagers, Arsho is a practicing psychotherapist with twelve years experience in restoring relationships that could otherwise end or remain dysfunctional. Arsho has travelled around Australia, providing workshops to leaders and senior school students, who are the grassroots of our society.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details
Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Apple Podcasts 
Spotify
Google Podcasts

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

In this episode, we’re talking with Tracy Gillett , founder, writer and advocate behind the award-winning blog, Raised Good - a guide to natural parenting in the modern world. And today we’re chatting about punishments, time outs and rewards and why conditional parenting doesn’t work.

👉  Tracy shares

• Her  journey to starting Raised Good.
• The best and worst parts of owning her own business
• The problem with time outs, spanking, consequences, threats, rewards and bribes. 
• What we can do to build our relationship with our children and nurture that connection so that we don’t lose the power to parent
• How  this kind of relationship helps children become problem solvers
• How being a problem solver builds resilience, helps them develop a moral conscience, and encourages taking responsibility for their actions
• How this kind of positive parenting encourages healthy brain development
• That parents are not here to make other adults feel better about themselves
• That the only parenting critic that matters is your child
• Her favourite speakers from the Raised Good Summit

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👉  Links and Resources

Connect with Tracy
https://raisedgood.com/
@raisedgood
Learn from Tracey

Learn more about Wild Business HERE! 

Guest Details

Tracy is a nature-loving, adventure-seeking wife & mum. Raised Good began as a way to answer her own questions and share her own experiences. Today, she is joined by millions of readers and parents worldwide who wish to reclaim the wonder of motherhood and the joy of childhood, one parenting decision at a time. Together they are forging their own paths, leaning on one another through the grit, and strengthening their intuition and sense of resolve.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

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Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Apple Podcasts 
Spotify
Google Podcasts

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

In today's episode, I’m joined by the beautiful Psychologist,  Dr Martha Deiros Collado. If you don’t already follow her on instagram, now is the time to start. Her mission is to make the science of psychology accessible to all and support parents to see their child behind the behaviour. She distills big topics into simple ideas and actionable strategies to support you every day, with your family. 

👉  Dr. Martha shares

• About compliance vs speaking up
• That if we want children to stand up to peer pressure, we need to allow them to question our authority and listen/validate their emotions
• Why children can't self-regulate and how they process emotions
• About children showing respect and saying please and thank you
• Why we should try to avoid watching our children in distress
• What to say instead of 'don’t'
• About transitioning children to school
• After school routines and rituals
• About parenting as a unique relationship

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources
Connect with Dr. Martha Deiros Collado
Website
Instagram
The Confident Parent Course

Interested in starting your own nature play business?

👉  Guest Details

Dr Martha is a clinical psychologist and HCPC registered practitioner with over 20 years of clinical and academic experience. She is also a mother of one, a yogi, a runner, and an adventure sports enthusiast.

Striving to make the science of psychology accessible to everyone, her growing Instagram community has come to trust the calm, and empathetic way she tackles big subjects - from how to talk about current affairs, death, consent, gender, and sex, as well as the small but critical day to day challenges such as getting children to eat their vegetables and brush their teeth! Martha focuses on our common humanity and the topics that are relevant in the here and now to support parents in building confidence and feel less alone. Martha strongly believes that focusing on the parent-child relationship is the key to effective change, rather than trying to modify children’s behaviour. She hopes that putting her knowledge into the mainstream will get people curious about themselves and their position in the world, help them grow aware of their unconscious biases, and ultimately become more compassionate humans.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

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Facebook
Instagram

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

In this episode, it’s all about the Dad’s as we chat to Sam Patterson of All Time Dads who tells us how Dads can flick the switch between work and life so they can be present with their family for the moments that count. If you’re a father or have a partner or co-partner who wants some tips on how to be more present with your family, then this is the episode for you.

👉  Sam shares

• His story that led him to where he is today
• His motivation for this work
• The dynamics of the provider role
• The biggest regret of a dying man
• The importance of a great routine in showing up at your best for your family
• How to set effective work-life boundaries
• The tactics we can use to switch off when we need to

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources

Connect with Sam:
Website
LinkedIn
Book a chat with Sam

www.wildlingsforestschool.com/wild-business

👉 Guest Details

 Sam helps family conscious dads to flick the switch between work and life so they can be present for the moments that count.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Apple Podcasts 
Spotify
Google Podcast

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Happy New Year and Welcome back to season 4 of the Raising Wildlings Podcast!

In this episode, I get to chat with Alfie Kohn, the author of my all-time favourite parenting book, Unconditional Parenting.

👉  Alfie shares

• What he means by ‘unconditional parenting’
• What unconditional parenting looks like
• Why we need to ask ourselves hard questions about our motives for wanting our children to behave a certain way
• The downfalls of punishment and what to do instead 
• The counter productive impacts of rewards
• The different harmful methods of control used on children
• Three alternatives to praising your children
• The importance of ethical development 

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources
Alfie Kohn's Website
Book Reccs: Unconditional Parenting

Interested in starting your own nature play business? Check out our legacy course, Your Wild Business!

Guest Details

Alfie Kohn writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and parenting. The author of fourteen books and hundreds of articles, he lectures at education conferences and universities as well as to parent groups and corporations. Kohn’s criticisms of competition and rewards have been widely discussed and debated, and he has been described in Time magazine as “perhaps the country’s most outspoken critic of education’s fixation on grades [and] test scores.”

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

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Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Apple Podcasts 
Spotify
Google Podcasts

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

It’s the end of the year here at Wildlings, so come and join us for our wrap up of 2022. Our highest highs, our lowest lows and some big news about next year.

👉  Nicki and Vicci Share:

• Some epic podcast stats! Thank you for being a part of this journey with us! 
• Their big business wins for 2022
• How their roles have changed shape over this year 
• The importance of listening to your body
• Their proudest achievements
• What they are looking forward to!

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources
Check out WILD BUSINESS

👉 Episodes Referred To
Free To Learn with Peter Gray

Guest Details

Vicci Oliver and Nicki Farrell are adventurous nature play makers, risk-takers, children’s rights advocates and the co-founders of Wildlings Forest School. We are the hosts of the ‘Raising Wildlings’ podcast and we put the dirt back in childhood.

During any Wildlings Forest School program, you are likely to find Wildlings up trees, sliding down mud slides, whittling with pocket knives, lighting fires and building rafts. We let kids, be kids - because children can’t learn to protect nature if they’ve never had a childhood in it.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Apple Podcasts 
Spotify
Google Podcasts

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

A little while ago, Nicki and I attended a three day Non-Violent Communication workshop which started us on a journey to better understand ourselves, our needs and to get curious when it comes to conflict and uncomfortable conversations. Today I invited our NVC facilitator Kate Raffin to the podcast to chat about the power of Non-Violent Communication. 

👉  Kate shares

• How she learned about Marshall Rosenberg's work with NVC
• The benefits from learning the skills behind NVC
• NVC basics
• Being specific about our language is a big part of NVC.
• The difference between thinking and feeling
• When NVC can turn tough conversations into a chance for connection
• The benefits of doing a workshop as opposed to just reading about it
• How NVC helps our family relationships
• How NVC has changed her life

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources

www.hearttalkmatters.com

https://www.3cr.org.a u/freedomofspecies/episode-201610021300/non-violent-communication-animal-advocates-catherine-cadden

https://babatree.org/

https://workthatreconnects.org/

👉 Guest Details

Whether we're walking in the beautiful pristine Kakadu National Park or canoeing down the embroider wild wild river, we seem to be able to engage with practices that include our whole selves… The big gift we have to bring to this planet in our time

I'm discovering that people enjoy the creativity and trust in the depths we can go through together as well as the celebration and lightness and even fun and sense of play that we can encounter that these two… Celebration and Mourning are not so far apart from each other.

I put my intention and attention here.

👉 Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Apple Podcasts 
Spotify
Google Podcasts

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

In this episode, we’re chatting with Chloe Kilgus and Zea Helman, some of our Wild Business clients and now co-founders of their very own Nature Play Business, Wild Little Raven in Jindabyne.

👉  Chloe and Zea Share

• Their background and what led them to this path
• All about Wild Little Raven
• How their degrees have shaped their programs 
• The role of Eco Sciences in their business
• How parents can foster eco friendly children
• What inspired them to take the leap
• The best and worst parts of owning a nature play business

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources

Connect with Wild Little Raven
Facebook
Instagram
Website
______
If you’ve curious about how to start your own Wild Business like Wildlings or Wild Little Raven, you can jump onto our website at any time and watch our free Masterclass all about The 3 Most Common Mistakes People Make When Starting A Nature Play Business & How To Avoid Them HERE

👉 Guest Details

Chloe passionately believes that allowing our children time to connect in nature is the best healing we can do for ourselves and the earth. She loves nothing  more than spending time outdoors with her children as together they nurture a sense of identity that is entwined with country.

Growing up on a small property on Biripi Country (Mid North Coast), being active and outside was an integral part of Zea's childhood. Connecting with a variety of people and places has driven many of Zea's life choices: From travelling internationally to exploring Australia, from changing careers to sparking new interests. Zea values relationships and places importance in connecting with people and nature. 

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Apple Podcasts 
Spotify
Google Podcasts

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

The scope of the Nature Play Industry is huge and in today’s episode we chat with Environeers founder, Tamieka Vasile. 

👉  Tamieka shares

• Her story
• All about Little Environeers
• The kind of programs she runs
• Her inspiration to start her business
• About the importance of adventure in children's lives
• The role that sustainability takes at Little Environeers
• What makes her unique compared to others in the industry
• The hardest part of starting your business
• The best part about owning a nature play business
• The benefits of starting a nature play business in your community

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉 Resources & References

Environeer's Website
Instagram @Littleenvironeers

Take 3 for the Sea
Know Your Country

Raising Wildlings Listener Perks:
Mention Wildlings on enquiry at Environeers and get 50% off a casual Playgroup Session!
___________

Your Wild Business is a business kickstarter program like no other. 

Specifically designed for Teachers, Forest School Leaders, Outdoor Reccies and Early Years Educators who are are ready to leap into the big, wide world of business.

If you want to take the guesswork out of starting from scratch and more importantly if you want to AVOID the three most common mistakes others have made when they started their nature play business - Head to www.wildlingsforestschool.com/wild-business and check out our exclusive training to get you started on the right path towards your wild business journey.

We will also share with you our proven seed, sprout, blossom framework that will help YOU create a nature play business deeply rooted in community, values and purpose. 

👉 Guest Details

Little Environeers provide a safe space for children to connect with Country, themselves and their community whilst embedding sustainable practises into their everyday activities. Families are drawn to my brand because we focus on nature play in an authentic child-led manner whilst educating children for a sustainable future, taking only what we need and caring for our motherland.

👉 Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

In this episode, we are talking about red flags for teachers that shouldn’t be the norm. Now, if you aren’t 100% sold on your career in education, then this episode might just be for you. 

👉  Nicki shares

• Her story and why she felt so frustrated
• The realities of teaching
• The role bribery and coercion play in traditional schools
• How her teaching career impacted her relationships with her own children
• The true discrepancy between the cost of childcare and the privilege of working
• The different modalities that she explored when doing her research
• Why ‘Unschooling’ makes sense to her
• About the pleasure of helping people move out of the system and into their passion
• Why you should embark on your own adventure and start a nature play business today! 

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources

Your Wild Business is a business kickstarter program like no other. 

Specifically designed for Teachers, Forest School Leaders, Outdoor Reccies and Early Years Educators who are are ready to leap into the big, wide world of business.

If you want to take the guesswork out of starting from scratch and more importantly if you want to AVOID the three most common mistakes others have made when they started their nature play business - Head here and check out our exclusive training to get you started on the right path towards your wild business journey.

We will also share with you our proven seed, sprout, blossom framework that will help YOU create a nature play business deeply rooted in community, values and purpose. Head to www.wildlingsforestschool.com/wild-business to check it out.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Apple Podcasts 
Spotify
Google Podcasts

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

In this episode, we’re talking about why we don’t use risk assessments and what we use instead. Controversial, I know!! But don’t worry, we promise we’re not just reckless cowgirls!

👉  Nicki Shares

• How the system works
• Why educators dislike writing risk assessments
• About the fear of litigation
• Why children need risk
• Lifelong benefits of a risky childhood
• Why the benefits need to be considered in a risk assessment
• Values of a balanced assessment
• The power of children’s voices

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources

If you are looking to begin your own nature play business, then you will definitely want to check out our signature online course Your Wild Business, where we go into our Risk Benefit Assessment in immense detail. Yes, we give you a blank template but even better, we also give you a fully completed Risk Benefit Assessment that covers all things Nature Play. It’s just one of 36 different lessons across 3 separate modules and covers everything from getting insurance, over 30 completed policy and procedures, we give you every software program we use to automate our business to give us more time to spend outdoors ourselves, essentially, everything we’ve learnt the hard way over the past 5.5 years. It’s a Nature Play business kickstarter program like no other specifically designed for Teachers, Forest School Leaders, Outdoor Reccies and Early Years Educators who are are ready to leap into the big, wide world of business.

We’ll be opening the next round of our course at the end of November and we will be offering some free training in the lead up. If you’re keen to join our growing group of changemakers or just curious at what this entails, you can head to www.wildlingsforestschool.com/wild-business to join the waitlist to be on your way creating a nature play business deeply rooted in community, values and purpose. Together, we can get more children outdoors reaping the benefits of being outdoors, deeply connected to nature and community.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Apple Podcasts 
Spotify
Google Podcasts

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

We have a controversial one for you today, especially if you work in education, because today we’re talking about the ways in which prisons and schools are similar and how in at least one way, prisons are better. Buckle in friends, we’re in for an emotional ride!

👉  Nicki Shares

• Her experience of enlightenment when her students helped her see the similarities in the prison and school system
• Examples of how the two compare
• Peter Gray’s take on this topic
• How schools “enclose”
• The origins of school and how it failed to embrace different approaches
• `How schools harm culture
• Times are changing, school are not
• Management and control practices in schools and questions if this is the best model 
• Why learning at home was so hard and what it revealed about the school system
• Myths about learning
• The difference between school and education
• Startling stats about time outdoors in schools compared to prisons
• How the shift will happen

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources
Intro to Unschooling Course

Studies Cited
Children are bored and tired
Screen Time vs Outdoor Time
* Please let us know if you want any other cites/sources for any of the information you heard about today.

Book Reccs!
Free to Learn by Peter Gray
Raising Free People by Akilah S. Richards
Changing Minds by Naomi Fisher and Jay Griffiths, Kith

Future Schools

Wild Business will help YOU create a nature play business deeply rooted in community, values and purpose.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details
Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

There are so many women out there who are taking the lesser worn path that combines purpose, the needs of our families and the needs of our community through the creation of a heart  centered business, and today I am joined by Steph Fleeton, founder of Spirited Hearts, who is one such change maker.

👉  Steph shares

• Her journey that took her to this place in life
• About Aware Parenting
• A surprising way that our body detoxes stress hormones
• The importance of letting children work through big emotions
• There are no “bad” emotions
• What inspired her to homeschool
• How Spirited Hearts came to be
• About Non-Violent Communication and how it can transform your relationships
• The role of nature in her programs
• Strategies for handling triggering behavior

👉  Opt In for Free Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources
Connect with Spirited Hearts
Website
Instagram
Spirited Hearts: the Podcast with Steph Fleeton 

Steph has been a guest on:
The Aware Parenting Podcast
Mind Body Parenting Podcast

Holding Space for Big Feelings in Early Childhood Online Course

Book Rec:
Playful Parenting by Lawrence Cohen
_____
Your Wild Business is a business kickstarter program like no other.
Head here and check out our free exclusive training to get you started on the right path towards your own wild business that is deeply rooted in community, values and purpose.

👉 Guest Details
Steph Fleeton is a Holistic Childhood Mentor, Aware Parenting Instructor, Circle Facilitator and Mum to 2 boys. She is the founder of Spirited Hearts Natural Learning Haven and Mamas Sacred Circle. She commenced her journey in early childcare as an Early Childhood Educator running her own Family Day Care, alongside her husband, build on the foundations of Aware Parenting. Now she has her own independent Natural Learning Haven where is at its core, is a home away from home. It is a safe, nurturing and joyful space where each child is accepted and nurtured for the beautiful, unique individual they are.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details
Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode?
If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

In this episode, we’re chatting Brooke Davis owner and author of Your Wild Books about her journey from owning her own nature play business, Your Wild Imagination, to author of seven books.  

👉  Brooke shares

• About her business, Your Wild Imagination
• About Your Wild Books
• Her journey to finding this work
• The importance of the ‘best kind of play’ - child led and intrinsically motivated
• The beauty of Nature Crafting and how it is for EVERYONE
• The power of Kickstarter
• About nature play and mental health
• How nature play and craft can help us learn about perseverance and 'failure'

👉  Opt In for Free Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources
Your Wild Books Website
Connect with Your Wild Books
Facebook
Instagram
Connect with her Photographer, Megan, on Instagram

Subscribe to her newsletter for free resources including nature craft activities, mindful colouring, mazes and crosswords from our Activity Books, as well as Christmas crafts.

GET YOUR WILD BOOKS HERE!
Code for 10% off - RAISINGWILDLINGS10
_____

Your Wild Business is specifically designed for Teachers, Forest School Leaders, Outdoor Reccies and Early Years Educators who are  ready to leap into the big, wide world of business.
If you want to take the guesswork out of starting from scratch and more importantly if you want to AVOID the three most common mistakes others have made when they started their nature play business - Head here and check out our free exclusive training to get you started on the right path towards your own wild business that is deeply rooted in community, values and purpose. 

👉 Guest Details
Brooke has a passion for nature connection and caring for the environment. In 2016, she established a nature play program for kids to help them get outside and be wild and free in nature. Then in 2019, she started Your Wild Books to help parents and kids feel inspired to spend more time in nature through affordable, plastic-free craft and play ideas. The question driving it all is 'how are children going to care for the environment if they spend a decreasing amount of time in nature?' Brooke's first book was published in 2019, and she now has 7 books and 2 card games, which have sold tens of thousands of copies all around the world.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details
Website
Facebook
Instagram

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode?
If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

When children form a close connection with nature, they become the next stewards of the earth. In today’s episode, I’m chatting with Jodi Salmond from Reef Check, an organisation using citizen science to inspire positive action for our reefs and oceans. 

👉  Jodi Shares

• Her background and how she became the person she is today, a champion for our oceans
• How a childhood in nature sets kids up for stewardship
• About Reef Check and their mission
• The importance of a global standard to monitor reef health 
• The impact of citizen science
• How we can get involved 
• About our local reefs and why they are so unique
• Memorable diving moments 
• About microplastics and what we can do at home to help

👉  Opt In for Free Downloadables

👉 Links and Resources

Connect with Jodi and Reef Check
LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram

Reef Check  Website

Hear more from Jodi on the Ocean Protect Podcast
______
Your Wild Business is a business kickstarter program like no other specifically designed for Teachers, Forest School Leaders, Outdoor Reccies and Early Years Educators who are are ready to leap into the big, wide world of business.

If you want to take the guesswork out of starting from scratch and more importantly if you want to AVOID the three most common mistakes others have made when they started their nature play business - Head here and check out our exclusive training to get you started on the right path towards your wild business journey. We will share our proven seed, sprout, blossom framework that will help YOU create a nature play business deeply rooted in community, values and purpose.

👉 Guest Details

Jodi Salmond is a marine researcher specializing in citizen science, conservation biology and reef ecology. Under water, she trains divers in global reef health monitoring protocols; above it, she engages and inspires through hands on research, education, and personal development to encourage everyone to become the best versions of themselves and to look after the planet. Today we talk all about how science isn’t just something that happens in a lab, and how we can get involved to help our reefs and oceans to thrive.

👉 Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

PART 2
In this two part episode, we’re chatting with Nikita Fitzpatrick, owner and creator of New Dreaming Art, about her journey to becoming a First Nations artist and business owner, cultural awareness, appropriation and how to connect with your own First Nations community.

👉  Nikita Shares

• Her background and heritage
• How New Dreaming Art came to be
• How creating art helps her in her everyday life
• About the creative space of teaching
• The vision of New Dreaming Art
• How her art makes her feel
• Where she draws her inspiration for teaching from
• The most important part of her lessons
• How she feels about non-first nations teaching indigenous art and education
• The best ways to connect and help local First Nations communities
• The hardest and best parts of running a business as a mother
• About the balance of business and motherhood

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources

Connect with Nikita:
New Dreaming Art Website
New Dreaming Art Facebook
Insta @new_dreaming_art

Sign up your school for local First Nations cultural educators
Please sign this petition to raise the age of juvenile detention from 10 to 14 years
Donate hygiene/beauty products to First Nations communities HERE

______________
Check out our Signature Online Course - WILD BUSINESS
Take the leap and start your own nature play business!

👉 Guest Details

Nikita Newley is a self-taught, second generation artist and proud First Nations woman from all parts of Queensland. Currently living on Gubbi Gubbi Country, Nikita was born on Gurang Gurang Country, with heritage connected to Wuthati tribe and Darumbal people. She found her passion creating art through her emotions and cultural connection. New Dreaming Art is about connecting old with new in a respectful way. Bringing new stories to life and sharing acknowledgement to the First Nations people.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

PART 1
In this two part episode, we’re chatting with Nikita Fitzpatrick, owner and creator of New Dreaming Art, about her journey to becoming a First Nations artist and business owner, cultural awareness, appropriation and how to connect with your own First Nations community.

👉  Nikita Shares

• Her background and heritage
• How New Dreaming Art came to be
• How creating art helps her in her everyday life
• About the creative space of teaching
• The vision of New Dreaming Art
• How her art makes her feel
• Where she draws her inspiration for teaching from
• The most important part of her lessons
• How she feels about non-first nations teaching indigenous art and education
• The best ways to connect and help local First Nations communities
• The hardest and best parts of running a business as a mother
• About the balance of business and motherhood

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources

Connect with Nikita:
New Dreaming Art Website
New Dreaming Art Facebook
Insta @new_dreaming_art

Sign up your school for local First Nations cultural educators
Please sign this petition to raise the age of juvenile detention from 10 to 14 years
Donate hygiene/beauty products to First Nations communities HERE

______________
Check out our Signature Online Course - WILD BUSINESS
Take the leap and start your own nature play business!

👉 Guest Details

Nikita Newley is a self-taught, second generation artist and proud First Nations woman from all parts of Queensland. Currently living on Gubbi Gubbi Country, Nikita was born on Gurang Gurang Country, with heritage connected to Wuthati tribe and Darumbal people. She found her passion creating art through her emotions and cultural connection. New Dreaming Art is about connecting old with new in a respectful way. Bringing new stories to life and sharing acknowledgement to the First Nations people.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Today I’m joined by clinical psychologist, Carla Anderson, who understands the importance of supporting parents during the perinatal period and has some helpful tips for both new parents and our wider village. 

👉  Carla Shares:

• Her background and what brought her to this work
• The vision of Perinatial Child and Family Hub
• The biggest barriers parents face while seeking out help
• The causes of stress and anxiety in parents today
• How Social Media impacts parenting in this modern age
• About maternal separation anxiety
• About attachment theory
• How do we communicate effectively to our partners
• How to navigate through all the different information on parenting
• *Trigger Warning* About parental grief and how we can best support our friends or get support for ourselves

👉  Opt In For FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources

Perinatal Hub Website

Connect with Carla:
LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram

____________

Your Wild Business is a business kickstarter program like no other.
Specifically designed for Teachers, Forest School Leaders, Outdoor Reccies and Early Years Educators who are are ready to leap into the big, wide world of business.
If you want to take the guesswork out of starting from scratch and more importantly if you want to AVOID the three most common mistakes others have made when they started their nature play business - Head HERE and check out our exclusive training to get you started on the right path towards your wild business journey.

We will also share with you our proven seed, sprout, blossom framework that will help YOU create a nature play business deeply rooted in community, values and purpose. Head to www.wildlingsforestschool.com/wild-business to check it out.

Guest Details

Carla is a clinical psychologist and director of the Perinatal Child and Family Hub, with 20 years of experience providing psychological services for individuals and families during the perinatal period, parenthood and supports for children and youth. Carla is also a mother to three young adults.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

In this episode, we’re chatting with our dear friend, Cat Green, all about how to introduce your kids to herbs and basic herbal skills, her top 3 herbal remedies to always have on hand in family homes, how to get kids involved in wildcrafting, including basic safety rules, and how to create a family culture of holistic herbal healing. 

👉  Cat Shares

• About fostering nature connection through herbal remedies
• How to introduce kids to herbs and basic herbal skills
• The top 3 remedies to always have on hand in family homes
• Simple herbal recipes and how to make them
• How to get your kids involved in wildcrafting, including basic safety rules
• About ethical foraging
• How to create a family culture of holistic herbal healing
• How to get started using natural remedies as a mom - even when you're totally new

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources

Everyday Empowered Website
Check out her Herbal Starter Kit

Come check out Sunny Coast HerbFest
Join Herb Folk or Seasonal Self-Care Series
Dive into her Herbal Medicine Books
Get involved in her Seasonal Living Project

Find out more about Wild Business!

👉  Guest Details
Cat Green, homeschooling mum and owner of Everyday Empowered specialises in herbal medicine, seasonal living. From herbal kits, to online herbal courses, non violent communication to screen smart family workshops, Cat is all about prioritising holistic health and breaking it down in to a range of simple skills and habits you can use every day to understand and respond to your body’s mind-body-soul messages. By collaborating with a range of skilled practitioners and educators she aims to equip you with skills to help you build your holistic tool-kit for understanding and looking after your own health and life.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

In this episode, we’re chatting with artist, creative producer and co-creator of Ngamumu (For Mothers) Lia Pa’apa’a about how to support mothers and their babies through Arts & Cultural practice during the first 1000 days.

👉 Lia shares

• What her work in arts and cultural practice looks like
• Her journey to this work
• How Ngamumu came to be
• The importance of creative and cultural connections and practice, especially in young people
• About her ancestral diet
• About food as a frontier war tactic
• How post-colonial places have lost ancient wisdom about the birthing process and in turn, created birth trauma
• About bringing culture to the forefront of your child's development through food, play and values.
• How motherhood has impacted her projects
• The importance of the intergenerational aspect of Ngamumu
• About Ngamumu’s ability to curate their babies and their own experiences during this sacred time of the first 1000 days by tapping into their ancestral and creative practices.
• Where her work is headed in the future

👉  Opt In for FREE Downloadables

👉  Links and Resources

Ngamumu's Website

Connect with Lia on Facebook
Connect with Lia on Instagram

Check out her website here!
www.onepagelink.com/liapaapaa

Book Recommendation:
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Relationship is the Project

👉 Guest Details

Lia is an artist, creative producer and mama who has cultural connections to Samoa and the Luiseño nation in Southern California. She is the co-creator of Ngamumu (For Mothers) alongside Kuku Yalanji artist Merindi Schrieber and is deeply passionate about supporting mothers to curate their babies and their own experiences during the sacred time of the first 1000 days by tapping into their ancestral and creative practices.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

In todays episode, we are going to be talking all about the sex education. So just a little prewarning, if you have yet to start this conversation with your family, it may be the time to pop in those earphones to put this podcast on privacy mode. It’s an important topic, so join me as we reframe the way sex education needs to look for our modern times. 

👉  Natalie Shares

• Her own sexual education experience
• How “Tell your Daughters” got started
• Pleasure anatomy vs reproductive anatomy 
• Feeling based sex education vs fear based sex education
• The nuances of consent 
• About her parent survey and the results so far 
• Where our children are getting their sex education
• About the terms privacy and secrecy
• How we can approach the porn conversation
• If sex education in schools encourages grooming
• When we should have ‘the talk’
• How the understanding of anatomy diversity has been censored

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👉  Links and Resources

Find her website here

Connect with Natalie
Facebook
Instagram

She invites you to check out her parent's survey
Find her Parents’ Glossary here

Interested in starting a Nature Play Business? Check out our course, WILD BUSINESS! 

👉  Guest Details

Natalie Stokall is the founder of Tell your Daughters. Originally from New Zealand, Natalie has called the Sunshine Coast home for 12 years now. She has two daughters, a tween and a teen, and she has always cared deeply about raising empowered children. She has a Masters in Psychology and a Post Graduate Diploma in Gender and Women’s Studies and training with the Institute of Sexuality Education. She knows body positive and pleasure based sex education is the way of the future.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

When little people are overwhelmed, it is our job to share our calm, not join in the chaos.
- L.R. Knost.
Well, how do we actually do that in today’s modern world? That is what Helen Boniface from Calmer Kids is talking about on today’s episode.

👉  Helen shares

• How a stress response impacts the body
• The beauty of breath
• Why learning and wellbeing cannot be separated
• What happens to us internally when we experience anxiety
• About the tolerance window
• About co-regulation and how can it help our children
• How we can make meditation with children work
• Her observations from working with children and teaching mindfulness and yogi practices. 
• Key micro actions and questions we can ask ourselves before reacting to the situation when we are having a moment with our children
• How we can create a habit of mindfulness with our children and ourselves when we overwhelmingly feel pressed to find time for anything
• Why wellbeing is important for everyday - managing emotions, meltdowns and anxiety

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👉  Links and Resources

Calmer Kids Website
Connect on LinkedIn

Find out more from their blog! 

Guest Details

We have invited one half of the amazing Calmer Kids duo, Helen Boniface, to help us shift our approach to wellness through the support and maintenance of healthy minds in Australia. Sisters and co-founders of Calmer Kids, Helen and Michelle share a collective 28 years teaching experience in the fields of Education, Yoga and Mindfulness. They created Calmer Kids to help make simple and effective wellbeing tools accessible for every child and family.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Website
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Pinterest
Linked In

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode? 

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

In this episode, we find out what it takes to make a great learner with the help of the very well known education expert and researcher, John Hattie.
 
👉  John Shares

• About his book, 10 Steps to Develop Great Learners and where the research has been drawn from and the aim of writing the book
• How he narrowed it down to 10
• What works BEST to increase learning (in schools).
• About the 10 mind frames
• Why it is so important to let kids be kids and fully experience their childhood in the present moment
• What a Listening Parent is
• The three main components of executive functioning 
• The power of feedback
• How to frame struggle and failure
• About the Matthew Effect
• About the presence of dignity of risk
• How to trust our children
• What to do when you don’t know what to do
• Why children lose the excitement in learning
• How to improve wellbeing in schools
• Why we still have homework
• Why you must choose a teacher, not a school
• The Goldilocks principle of Expectation and Encouragement
• How to promote a ‘language of learning’ in the home

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👉  Links and Resources

https://www.visiblelearning.com/
https://visible-learning.org/

VISIBLE LEARNING: 10 STEPS TO DEVELOP GREAT LEARNERS
Find his book here!