Recent research has drawn the link between children’s brain development and time spent in the natural environment. Every child deserves a safe play to play, supportive adults to watch him grow, and an environment that offers her endless possibilities. In Seasons of Play, Rusty Keeler takes readers on a photographic journey through real child care centers that have embraced his philosophy that natural play environments create new opportunities for children to explore and grow....

The postwar years in the UK saw the development of numerous artificial playgrounds intended to compensate children for increasing urbanization and a lack of wild places to play. Many of these sites employed playleaders, whose job was to use play to instill social behavioral norms on children, using games with rules and organized activities. From the early 1970s, that approach began to be replaced by playwork, a nondirective way of working. Playwork marked a rejection of the adult-focused p...