“A leader in the new nature movement, Peter Kindfield offers an inspiring guide to science, play, and pure experience. Explorations in Ecology illuminates pathways to a healthier future for people and the planet. This book is both instructive and inspiring. It deserves to be in every classroom and on every family bookshelf.”
—Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods and Noticing

“It is one thing to believe, abstractly, that children learning to appreciate and enjoy the natural world is valuable both for the children and the future of humanity. It is quite another to provide a guide to help accomplish that. In Explorations in Ecology, Peter Kindfield has provided just such a guide, and it is a wonderful one indeed. Use it as inspiration for your own playful interactions with kids in the natural world, in ways that are fun and informative for you as well as the kids.”
—Peter Gray, research professor, psychology and neuroscience, Boston College; author of Free to Learn and Restoring Childhood

“Peter Kindfield’s excellent book is sure to help children grow a keen intelligence of the natural world in exactly the way we evolved to learn such things: by making the forest the classroom and adventure the lesson. Whether it’s playing tag with trees or making friends with weeds, the activities in this book will prepare young Homo sapiens for a successful lifetime as knowledgeable, wise, ‘beneficial organisms’ with a love of nature and learning.”
—Michael Hoag, founder, Transformative Adventures; author of The Key to Abundance and Beautiful, Abundant Food Forests

“A wonderfully generative book, filled with insight built on deep experience. Here are activities, ideas, and ways of being that put us into right relationship with the living world as we teach and learn. Integrating practical advice and reframed viewpoints, Kindfield offers a generous and fruitful vision for education.”
—David George Haskell, author of How Flowers Made Our World

“Kindfield understands something that many science resources for children overlook: Children have a great capacity to understand serious science, and adults need scientific grounding too. Explorations in Ecology is not simply a collection of outdoor activities. Everything in the book is anchored in a coherent understanding of ecology, pairing hands-on activity offerings with a thoughtful discussion of the adult’s role. Kindfield’s explanations do not flatten complex ideas into child-sized facts. Children need knowledge, but they also need a framework that allows facts to connect and matter. Here, ecology provides that framework. Explorations in Ecology is a resource that adults can return to as children grow and as their shared understanding of the natural world deepens.”
—Blair Lee, MS, scientist and science curriculum developer; founder, SEA Homeschoolers

“In Explorations in Ecology, Peter Kindfield beautifully captures the essential roadmap for raising the next generations of Earth stewards through four luminous pillars in outdoor education: 1) learning through joyful play; 2) sensory activities that build self-reliance; 3) teaching interdependence through enacting ecological principles; and 4) carrying a mindset of kinship with nature. The book vividly demonstrates that when children find deep personal significance and active empathy in ecosystems, they move from being mere visitors to lifelong members of the natural world. This is an indispensable guide for educators and parents dedicated to sealing the bond between children and our planet.”
—M. Kat Anderson, author of I Sing to the Earth and She Sings Back and Tending the Wild

“Many young people today are maturing in a context of ecological, economic, and cultural breakdown. Paradigms of nature-rootedness, collaboration, and interdependence—and the associated practical skills—will be essential attributes as we together build the sequels to this destructive era. And Peter Kindfield is the most wonderful of guides in playing our way to a better future.”
—Shaun Chamberlin, founder, Dark Optimism and the SurvivingTheFuture.org community