Games and Activities to Promote Social and Emotional Development

In the Nature Nurture Approach, our primary aim is to facilitate play that is freely chosen, child-initiated and led by children’s imagination and curiosity. This is where we see the deepest engagement, creativity and emotional expression.  However, there are times when a well-timed game, resource or activity can act as a gentle provocation, a spark that sets play and connection […]

🌿 From Doubt to Direction: Growing Professional Confidence

Do you ever carry that quiet, nagging feeling that you’re not taking your children outside enough?  There’s a strong and welcome push for more outdoor learning. We know it matters. But inside, things can feel more contained. More predictable. More manageable. Outside, everything shifts – the space, the risks, the unknowns, especially when the weather turns or the day isn’t going to plan.  […]

Upstream Thinking in ASN: Why Prevention Matters

This week I have been reading Dan Heath’s book Upstream, and it has made me think deeply about the crisis in support for children with additional support needs (ASN or SEND if you are in England). Every day there are news articles, reports and social media posts filled with the anguish of parents, carers and […]

🌿 It Makes Sense: How Nature, Nurture and Play Support Sensory Integration

Over the past 15 years of Nature Nurture practice, we have welcomed many children into our sessions who arrive overwhelmed, overstimulated, or dysregulated — both physically and emotionally. Others come to us flat and disconnected, lacking energy, motivation, or a sense of engagement. Some are constantly on the move — spinning, crashing, touching — seeking the sensory input their bodies need to feel organised […]

The Diversity of Neurodiversity: Autism and the Nature Nurture Approach

The diversity of neurodiversity shows us that every brain brings its own strengths, challenges, and ways of experiencing the world. Whenever I talk to professionals about supporting neurodiversity, I’m struck by how difficult it can be to convey both the extraordinary gifts these children bring to the world and the very real challenges they must navigate each day in a society largely designed for neurotypical experiences.

When Anxiety Takes Over: How Nature Nurture Helps Children Feel Safe Again

In Module 6 of our Nature Nurture in Action programme, our practitioners turn their attention to children who live with anxiety. 

And not the ordinary, everyday nerves and worries most of us recognise. 

But the kind of anxiety that sits heavily in a child’s body. 
The kind that colours their thoughts. 
The kind that follows them into school, into friendships, into sleep.

Reframing Disability: Inclusion, Equity and the Language We Choose

This week in our Nature Nurture in Action course, we begin Module 6: Additional Support Needs in Nature Nurture. 

Over the next few weeks, our Nature Nurture Practitioners will explore ASN in depth — not simply as a category of provision, but as a way of thinking about children, difference, and belonging. 

We begin with something deceptively simple. 

Language. 

Growth Mindset and the Nature Nurture Approach

Way back in 2009, I was buzzing to attend my first Scottish Learning Festival. I packed my days with as many presentations, workshops and conversations as possible. At the end of day one, though, a quiet realisation crept in: I had gravitated towards sessions that neatly aligned with my existing values and beliefs.

“This Is My Place” – Belonging, Mental Health and the Nature Nurture Approach

9–15 February is Children’s Mental Health Week, led by Place2Be.

The theme for 2026 — “This Is My Place” — shines a light on belonging, and on the responsibility of the systems around children to help them feel they belong. 

That theme stopped me in my tracks. 

Pushing the Cart Up the Hill: How Confidence Really Grows

Have you ever cursed yourself for making a mistake and said words like “stupid” out loud?

I’ll hold my hands up straight away and admit it – I’m rubbish at modelling self-belief sometimes.  

Many of the children we’ve met over the years who have been referred to Nature Nurture have experienced repeated failure that’s left a legacy of destructive self-talk and low self-esteem.

In Nature Nurture we’re in the business of helping children build resilience. But that raises an uncomfortable question: why does it matter how I talk to myself – both internally and out loud?