Play It Forward, A Wearthy Podcast

In Season 2, Episode 2 of Play it Forward, Lukas invites his partner in play and Wearthy Co-founder, Vanessa Ritson to co-host a really special episode with the luminous Dr Vanessa LaPointe. Dr Vanessa is a mum, registered psychologist, parenting educator, best-selling author, international speaker, and a regularly invited media guest. Her passion is in walking alongside parents, teachers, care providers, and other big people to really see the world through the child’s eyes. Lukas and both Vanessa’s talk about how play can guide children in the changing world, the force of nature, love not fear-based parenting, filling children’s connection cup, the decrease of play and increase of mental health issues in children, empowerment through role play and so much more! https://drvanessalapointe.com/ https://drvanessalapointe.com/books/ https://www.instagram.com/dr.vanessalapointe/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx1bU-W_MzhMv9ZR_7JgR1g

To kick off Episode 1 Season 2 of Play it Forward, Lukas co-hosts with Wearthy Landscape Architect Dan Rimes as they welcome the remarkable Tim Gill into the studio. Tim has a master’s degree in psychology, he is the director of Play England, an author, independent scholar, advocate and consultant on childhood, and his work cuts across public policy, education, urban design, and play-work. Tim has an impressive media presence and consults to the Major of London on sustainable development. In this highly informative episode, Lukas, Dan and Tim talk about the freedom we owe children, making whole neighbourhoods child-friendly, car dominance in urban areas, risk in play, kids learning from failure, taking action to open up the horizon of childhoods, and a whole lot more! https://rethinkingchildhood.com/ https://www.bookdepository.com/Urban-Playground-Tim-Gill/9781859469293 https://www.playengland.org.uk/ https://www.architectsofarcadia.com.au/about/people/ https://www.studioludo.org/who-we-are

In our final episode of Play it Forward for 2020, Lukas speaks to one of the greatest leaders in childhood development research, Dr Peter Gray. Peter is the author of Free to Learn, has written many articles for Psychology Today and is a research professor of psychology at Boston College. We wanted our last episode for the year to be a special one, and this didn’t disappoint! Lukas and Peter talk about prescribing childhoods, mental health in young people, the decline of empathy and creativity in children, the internal locus of control, and so so much more! https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/experts/peter-gray-phd https://www.booktopia.com.au/free-to-learn-peter-gray/book/9780465084999.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coMXLy8RBIc https://letgrow.org/

In episode 26 of Play it Forward, Lukas connects with playground designer Cody Goldberg over in Portland, Oregon. Cody started out working in the mailroom at ADIDAS, moved his way up through the ranks and is now running the incredible non-profit Harper’s Playground, building inclusive playgrounds and changing the lives of children every day. Cody’s story is a heartfelt reminder that all children deserve the right to play. Lukas and Cody chat and get excited about play as human development, open classrooms, universally accessible play spaces, leaving children behind for them to discover their intrinsic motivator and removing the ego from playground design. Oh and turtles in Portland! Plus, so much more… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bXUfYqScIE https://www.harpersplayground.org/ https://www.facebook.com/harpersplayground/ https://www.unicef.org.au/Upload/UNICEF/Media/Our%20work/childfriendlycrc.pdf https://www.playcore.com/drstuartbrown https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/play-mountain/ 325241

In Episode 25 of Play it Forward, Lukas chats to the creative goddess Emmaline Carroll Southwell. Melbourne native and mama of 3 with a background in acting, Emma recently landed a book deal from a viral TikTok video about her special family mission statement. Lukas and Emma talk about how her home-schooling lockdown experience turned into a creative journey of hope, challenge, imagination and play. Be sure to check out Emma’s incredible floor art she created with her children during lockdown in Melbourne. https://www.instagram.com/emmalinecarrollsouthwell/ https://influence.co/nofilter/emmaline-carroll-southwell-tiktok-book-deal-our-family-pledge

In Episode 24 of Play it Forward, Lukas chats to the insightful Allison Davies about how our brains dictate our behaviours. Alli is a Neurologic Music Therapist, Educator, incredible storyteller and mama of two based in Tasmania. She runs a private music therapy practice centred around the areas of early childhood intervention, special educational needs, autism spectrum disorder, juvenile detention, youth engagement - to name a few! Lukas and Alli delve deep into the predictability and safety of music, how melody + long term memory + emotions = our connection to music, the perception of autism, demand avoidance, ADHD functioning, the importance of outdoor sensory breaks, physical safety vs brain safety, understanding neuro-types and a whole bunch more! allisondavies.com.au https://www.facebook.com/allisondavies.com.au https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI2gnxFjSOWqm3lXtSmV4kQ https://www.instagram.com/allisondavies.com.au/ https://www.booktopia.com.au/adhd-a-hunter-in-a-farmer-s-world-thom-hartmann/book/9781620558980.html https://www.thomhartmann.com/articles/2007/11/adhd-disorder-or-difference

In Episode 23 of Play it Forward, Lukas welcomes the inspirational Claire Warden into the studio! Claire is the Queen of Nature Pedagogy with so much valuable insight and experience in strengthening children’s relationship with nature. Claire is an author, lecturer and consultant across the globe with her own nature kindergarten’s in Perth and Kinross in Scotland. She also runs an incredibly extensive online resource for anyone interested in connecting more children with their environment - Mindstretchers Academy. Lukas and Claire share plenty of laughs in this delightful episode and also chat about Claire’s virtual nature school, changing the language we use in early education, bruises as medallions of adventure, encouraging empowerment and agency in children, desired behaviour in a natural play space, and so much more! https://www.claire-warden.com/ https://www.naturepedagogy.com/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/naturepedagogy

In Episode 22 of Play it Forward, Lukas chats to the incredible Dr. Mariana Brussoni. Mariana is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia (UBC), and an investigator with the British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the BC Injury Research & Prevention Unit. Mariana also conducts research on children’s outdoor and risky play, adult attitudes related to children’s risk taking and safety, and designing supportive outdoor play environments. She has published her research extensively and her work was featured in CBC’s the Nature of Things 2019 documentary, The Power of Play. Mariana’s immense knowledge on risk in play and her expression that caught Lukas’s attention, “safety doing harm”, meant they would both have plenty to talk about! Lukas and Mariana discuss injury prevention, the importance of risk, memorable childhoods, failure leading to innovation and resilience, well-being in children, the 17-second rule and a whole lot more! Also, be sure to search through the amazing resources on the below websites. Enjoy! https://brussonilab.ca/ https://www.outdoorplaycanada.ca/ https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/freedom-learn/201404/risky-play-why-children-love-it-and-need-it

In Episode 21 of Play it Forward, Lukas welcomes fellow playground designer Rusty Keeler into the studio. Inspired by European Steiner schools and wanting to give children the adventure of free play, Rusty is an established designer, artist, author, and international mover and shaker on the childhood scene for the past 30 years. Lukas and Rusty talk about changing our external environment to adjust our internal environment so we can say yes to children more. They also chat about adventure play, loose parts, regulating ourselves to reduce fear-based parenting, supporting fearless play, and inspiring the internal yes! https://rustykeeler.com/ https://rustykeeler.com/books/ https://www.facebook.com/rustykeelerdesigns https://www.cityofberkeley.info/adventureplayground/

A milestone podcast episode (20!!) with a milestone guest. Lukas met Adam Bienenstock at the Children & Nature Network Conference in California 2019 and they hit it off instantly. As a Playground Designer and general funny guy, Adam does incredible work with getting children into nature. Adam is one of Lukas’s greatest inspirations and mentors. In this long distance catch up over a drink, Adam shares stories about being asked to design the baby panda exhibit at Toronto Zoo, and a table-meeting with Greenpeace, Developers, Nature Play Advocates and an NRA Member. Adam’s honesty and sarcasm is refreshing and contagious in this delightful episode where he and Lukas chat about the importance of connecting with the right people for optimal childhood development, how nature provides the perfect backdrop for risk and play, and how removing sensory engagement increases risk of injury. https://www.naturalplaygrounds.ca/ https://www.facebook.com/BienenstockPlaygrounds/ http://www.outdoorclassrooms.com/ https://www.boldpark.com/