The Finding Place

Honestly, when I see them come back from the woods with burrs on their sweaters and mud on their knees, I don’t see a mess anymore—I see a record of their day. They’ve spent hours solving real problems: figuring out how to balance a branch to make a bridge, or patiently waiting to see what moves under the moss.

That kind of focus, the kind where they get so lost in the "work" that they forget to brush their hair or clean their shoes—that’s where the real stuff happens. We spend so much time trying to structure their learning, but sometimes the best thing we can do is just let them get a little wild and see what they come back with.

What’s the most "nature-covered" discovery your kids have brought home lately?

Come see what we’re all about!

There is no such thing as kindergarten readiness.

At least, there shouldn't be.

The very idea of "kindergarten readiness" assumes we need to prepare children for the next thing before they've fully lived the thing they're in right now. Isn't that odd?

If we follow that logic, then we should also have first-grade readiness, second-grade readiness, third-grade readiness, and so on. Children become trapped in a constant pursuit of what's next, always preparing, always catching up, always being pushed ahead.

But what if, for once, we simply met children exactly where they are developmentally?

What if childhood wasn't viewed as a race to the next milestone, but as a stage of life worthy of being fully experienced?

Yet that is exactly what we've created. Children are increasingly expected to prepare for the next stage before they've fully developed in the current one.

Adding insult to injury, much of what we are preparing them for isn't even developmentally appropriate in the first place. We rob children of precious years that should be filled with play, movement, exploration, wonder, relationships, and hands-on experiences - you know, experiences that actually build the brain most optimally (including cognition). Meanwhile, kindergarten expectations continue to creep downward into preschool, preschool expectations creep into toddlerhood, and childhood itself gets squeezed in the process.

By the time children arrive in kindergarten, many are being asked to do things that were once expected years later.

How are we doing this to our children?

We continue raising the bar while simultaneously reducing the very experiences that build the foundation for learning. Less play. Less movement. Less outdoor time. Less exploration. More sitting. More worksheets. More academic pressure.

And somehow we're surprised when children struggle.

The problem isn't that children aren't ready for kindergarten.

The problem is that many adults still don't understand how children actually learn and develop.

And children are paying the price for it.

This is what learning looks like. ❤️

When children are given time, space, mud, water, tools, and freedom, they do so much more than play. They learn to problem-solve, negotiate, create, take risks, regulate emotions, and work together.

The deep hole, the muddy pond, the loose parts, the endless tinkering—these aren’t distractions from learning. They are the learning.

In a world that is increasingly scheduled and structured, we protect time for child-led exploration because we know that curiosity, resilience, independence, and confidence grow through experiences like these.

Sometimes the most important work of childhood looks a lot like play. 🌿☀️💦

This is what children are born to do.