Recommended Reading & Resources

Throughout the Outdoor PLAYbook website you will encounter links to additional reading on specific subjects. Here, we have compiled a list of resources that challenge the way we think about play, and encourage new approaches to outdoor play and learning. We also encourage you to explore other resources beyond what we have listed here, and to reach out to us if you feel that we should make an addition.

In Print: Books & Articles

Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv (Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2005.)

Websites & Online Articles

Hands-on-Nature Anarchy Zone (Ithaca Children’s Garden)

Playscapes Blog (Paige Johnson)

Playing, with fire: How much risk should we expose our kids to? (MacLeans)

The Hands-On Nature Anarchy Zone Ithaca, NY (playscapes blog by Paige Johnson)

The Overprotected Kid (The Atlantic)

The Politics of Playgrounds, a History (The Atlantic CITYLAB)

News

Playgrounds begin to focus on riskier play (CBC News)

Films & Videos

A Pop-Up Park in Buffalo: Joy Kuebler at TEDxBuffalo 2012 (YouTube)

The Best Kindergarten You’ve Ever Seen: Takaharu Tezuka at TEDxKyoto (TED)

The Land: An Adventure Play Documentary (New Day Films)

5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do: Gever Tulley at TED U (TED)