ABSTRACT
T he integration of play in nature and visual representation helps children develop a relationship with a wild place, and helps adults (teachers and parents) understand children’s sense of that place. Th e naming of landmarks, mapping a plot of land, and representing details in a landscape are all activities that can help children think deeply about a place and then show their conception of that place to others. Giving children time to explore a place and then returning to it again and again allows children to develop questions and theories about the natural world and then to test their theories and try to learn the answers to those questions.
