Outdoor Play Connection

In this episode of Wildly Unplugged, I had the pleasure of speaking with Claudine, founder of Outdoor Play Connection, about the importance of getting kids outside, overcoming common barriers to nature, and making outdoor exploration more accessible for families.

Practical Tips to Unplug & Connect with the Wild:

If you’re looking to start small, Claudine suggests:

🔌Find 20 minutes. You don’t need a whole weekend—just 20 minutes of intentional outdoor time can provide real benefits.

🔌Take an everyday activity outside. Eat a meal, have your morning coffee, or read a book outdoors.

🔌 Observe. Listen to the birds, feel the wind, or watch the clouds—simple things can be powerful when done with intention.

📸 Follow on Instagram: @OutdoorPlayConnection
🌎 Visit the website: OutdoorPlayConnection.com

Let’s hear your story! Click here to submit your tale.

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Transcript

 Welcome to Wildly Unplug, sharing stories of nature, conservation, and creativity. Discover what develops when you unplug and step outdoors.

 Welcome, Claudine.

Thank you so much for being here today.   Thank you so much for having me.  So before we start talking about your company, Outdoor Play Connection, tell us about your journey before that.  So things got started for me when my first child was about she's about two years old and I just noticed she was very much an observer.

She still is in other classes. And then, so I tried something different and we actually went to a class. That was all outdoors in Prospect Park. We lived in Brooklyn at the time. And I noticed an instant difference in how she interacted in the class. When we arrived, she went right to the teacher. She  engaged into all the activities, was very into what was happening in the moment.

And in other classes, she was very reserved. And so it really like made me think like, what is this and why is there such a difference? And now it's, kid to kid, but like, she just.  in this environment. So I kept doing it. And then when we left Brooklyn, we moved to the suburbs in New Jersey. I wanted to bring that with us.

And I actually asked them if they would let me franchise their, their concept but they weren't interested. So I just decided to start my own. And when we moved here, I asked if anybody would like to get together with me. Outdoors in a local reservation. And I had 30 families show up and all were very excited to be there and wanted more of it.

And I realized that there was such a demand and I was one person. So I started my own group and then I started coaching parents on how to start their own groups. And it just has grown over the last 10 years into what it is today.  So why do you feel that connecting children with the outdoors is important? 

Well, I think we're all connected to the outdoors, but we forget. And it's in our modern society, with our phones and our computers and just the demands of our, our world today we're, we're meant to be connected to nature. So we just need to give children that opportunity. So I think the real thing was that, that, experience for my daughter was a natural connection for her.

And she is exactly that child still to this day. She's an intern in my classes. She's now 14. And I think it's so important because it really does bring us back into Connecting with nature, which we know is so beneficial to our mental health, our physical health and all of that. And it's just, it's easy to step away and forget about it.

So bringing kids to that is so important because if they don't have that baseline I would, it makes me sad to think kids wouldn't have nature in their, in their world, especially growing up, because then how do you connect to it again when you're an adult, if it's not your norm. So that's part of what I do is really just helping.

The outdoors be easy for families so that not only the children but the parents can enjoy it too.  That's great. We just, we recently moved and growing up, my son was in a neighborhood where there were very few trees. He was playing, in the yard and stuff like that, but it wasn't until very recently that he would hang out with his friend and they are just in the woods.

For hours and hours and hours, and he cannot get enough of this. And I'm like, that's the childhood that I had and I loved. And I still remember and recall those memories. And I'm so happy he's finally getting that now at 16 years old, but we just, we didn't have that opportunity. So what are some other barriers that you think people are facing when it comes to connecting with nature? 

I get these questions all the time. And I ask people what's holding you back, and usually it's the weather. They don't know how to go out unless it's a clear, sunny day. Or some people are dealing with it's too hot, it's too cold, it's rainy. So it's all of the elements. And honestly, it's like every element of weather  people can be challenged with.

And it's, Knowledge is power. And when you understand how you can be out in these elements, it makes it easier. Also, time is like the next thing. So it's usually, how do I find time in my schedule? Our schedules have gotten more and more busy and filled. So it's like, how can you fit this into your schedule?

Into your time of your day and into your week when you already feel overwhelmed with all the things that you're doing. So I would say those are the two big challenges that I hear on a regular basis from families that they're trying to figure out.  And then what all about also, because you're in New Jersey, I know you guys have big black bears.

And also you have teeny tiny little ticks that carry Lyme disease and things like that. So what are some things that you can do to help calm people's minds over fears like that? Yeah. So once we help them get past the aspect of finding time and then get through the aspect of how do I go out when it's not the perfect kind of weather that I like, then it's what elements am I going to deal with when I get there.

And I'd like to just take a pause in a moment and say that getting out into nature doesn't always have to be in the forest where you're going to find ticks and coyotes and bears and snakes and all of that. You can actually step outside and just be outside and if you have a backyard, if you have a porch, And literally take a moment to intentionally see there are usually trees around.

There's a plant, there's grass, there's something around that you can intentionally take a moment to observe and see and realize that nature is still there because when we're moving around and doing things so fast. We can miss those moments. So I like to tell people like the first thing to do to tackle the time aspect is, can you take your five minute coffee break or your tea break, whatever break you're taking in step outside and take that moment outside?

Can you just take your kid's meal outside? Can you do breakfast outside? Can you have dinner outside? So there's all these little things that you can do in your day that you're already doing, but do it outside. Take a craft outside, taking a meal outside is great because the birds will usually clean up any of the mess and taking your craft outside is great.

It's much easier to clean up any mess that's made. And so those are like little tips that I do to get over the time. And then we talk about a little bit about gear and how to be outside in the rain, how to be outside in the sun, the heat, the cold. And when we tackle those things, you start to feel comfortable, like I can do this.

And a lot of those things will then protect you from the, from the other. So it's like this. This whole part of educating on how you can do these things simply and just having the knowledge and knowing what to do will take away that kind of obstruction of like, I can't do this. And it's when you start peeling those layers slowly, you can realize that it's something you can do on a regular basis.

Now, bear safety, coyote, like, we have bears, we have coyotes, we have snakes, we have ticks we have a teen hiking group, we were on our hike last month, and we watched a mama bear and her two cubs walk right across the path, and it was, my daughter was so excited because she really wanted to see a bear, and  they don't want, they don't want anything to do with us, right, so if you don't poke the bear, bears are just, they're bears, right, like.

If you're a bear in the woods, like, what do you, especially here? They have a pretty good life here where they can just, you know they are the big animal in, in the, in the forest. But yeah, she just walked across with her two cubs and we just observed. So I think it's just knowing what to do and like, okay, there are bears in the forest.

Well, what do you do? You stay loud, right? If you do see a bear and they're right near you, like thankfully that wasn't our situation, like, you get big, right? You don't run. So like having the ideas of what to do when you see wildlife, there's really, you can be okay about it. And while we're hiking People were coming by and saying, I saw a bear.

We saw like five bears and like, everyone's like, Oh, and I'm like, it's fine. Because all those people just saw a bear and they were able to tell us about it. Right. So it's like that mindset of that's awesome. There's a bear in the woods and we're visiting and we might get to see one and it can be completely safe.

Yesterday I was working with a school and I was going to show them some rasp, some berries. We have lots of things blooming in our forest right now. Cause it's springtime for us now. But I went to show them this plant, and as I stepped in that space  a snake was right next to my foot. And I was like, Oh, well, I was going to show you the plant, but let's talk about the snake.

And the snakes went up to the rocks where we can all see it really up close. And I just told him, I was like, look, first rule of snakes, leave them alone. Stay back. You don't know they're trying to figure out that snake trying to figure out if we are safe  Or is that snake in a safe space? And so we all got to really have this amazing experience of watching this snake  Kind of go is on its way and check us out and observe it in its natural habitat, which is to me such a gift.

And so having the knowledge of knowing how to be in that situation safely gave us the opportunity to then observe nature in that space. And I can digress as much as you would like on all of this, cause I get super excited about all the things in every season, but that's just a little bit about.  How I kind of work with families in my classes and when I work with families when I coach with them and like how to just make this something that you know about so it's no longer a fear based concern because that's usually what it is is I don't know what to do and what if and what if so we avoid it and that is that's protecting you and I understand that so I'm here to help provide that information to make it easier. 

That is great that you're able to  calmly demonstrate how to react around like a snake, if, if anybody's going for something, you're not expecting to see some sort of animal, as long as you're calm, then the children and the people around you are going to mirror that and like, oh, I saw.

Claudine and how she reacted and she was just fine and we got to observe and it was really cool. So that's really neat that you're taking people outside to have these experiences so that they can recreate it on their own and know to stay calm and everything will be fine.  So everything will be fine. 

And what is your favorite class to teach? 

Wow I don't think I have a favorite class because All my classes are very similar. It's just, they're different people. So I have classes that are parent child class which has the parents attend. We have nature school classes, which allow drop off, but they don't require drop off. So parents are always welcome into our classes because I like educating the parent along with the child.

I feel like then it brings them together in their knowledge and it helps the family then bring what they learned from class. It's back home. And, that's my end goal is to really get people to want to be in nature and to not need me to be there with them.  It makes, gives me so much joy when a parent comes to me and says that their child took them on a hike on the weekend after going through some of our classes.

And I work with schools. Also, I run forest day programs for schools. And  every one of these classes, I do the same thing.  And I just, I just love what I do because I really get to share my knowledge with people and I can see how it lets them enjoy being there and taking away the fear. And I've seen the transformation in so many kids and so many families that I really just love sharing. 

What I do and helping people overcome whatever it is that's holding them back. Because I see what it can do. I see the benefits that it does for the kids and the family and everybody. I can't really pick a favorite just because they're all so much the same.  I'm just sharing what I love to do.

And I really am like a big, like gigantic, happy child in the forest. I'm like climbing on the logs and jumping in the puddles and getting excited about all the things we see. It's like, it's, it's. I love it. I don't know how else to explain it. Like, I really love what I do.  That's, well, that's important and that's awesome.

And then that's going to shine and show to everybody else. When you're doing the  parent child classes, and this might be a little bit of a leading question, which age group do you find to be more hesitant out in nature? Oh, I love this question. We actually have our classes are multi age. So we actually have all of our classes are any age.

So  are the parent child is generally ages two through 10. But siblings will come that are under two. And the nature school is ages four through 12. And then we have a team group, which is tweens team. So it's 11 through 17. And  so and I think you're asking more of like what Age group has hesitation in just being there,  and it's not connected to age.

It's really connected to the individual. I have seen every age group come in completely all in, and I've seen every age group come in completely reserved and like not sure what's going on. So I really think it has to do with The person, the child and where they're coming from. And I think that's one of the things I enjoy in what I do is that we really do take our classes from a perspective of teaching to the person, teaching to the child and like, what do they need?

We do an emergent curriculum. So we get to know the kids the first two weeks, we have the same two projects that is collaborative. That also allows people to bring their own individuality to the project. And it allows the guides to also get to know the kids so that we can then  A program for them that will help with what they're looking to work on and what they're interested in, because when you're interested, you learn more.

We really get to incorporate what they want into the class, which then brings a lot more out. So I don't think there's a specific age group that struggles. I've seen the same struggles from child to adult.  I was not expecting that. That's. Interesting. How did you become so knowledgeable about your, the floral, flora and fauna in, in Jersey? 

So I, I am very honest with people and letting them know that I'm always learning, right? So I let, I have a team of eight guides that work with me and we all have different strengths. We have some amazing mushroom identifiers and plant identifiers that like. are just amazing, and their knowledge is extensive, way beyond mine.

And I've actually learned a lot from them, just from working with them. Most of my learning has been from questions of children.  So the children come to the forest, they want to know what things are, they're curious. I've relearned how to be curious since I started these classes 10 years ago with my own children, when they were, two and five, and we were out in the forest with, with our groups, and  they would notice things, and it helps.

You as a parent to then start noticing things and being observers. So learning how to be an observer as a parent is something that I. Help encourage with the parents in our classes, because that's where the children are going to learn, but it's also how we're going to learn. And if somebody asks about something, if child says, Oh, what is this plant?

And if I know it, I explain to them everything I know, but if I don't know it, I tell them that. And I say, this is a new plant for me. I was like, this is something we have to look up. I have some field guides. Sometimes we utilize the seek app, which will also be helpful. So I'm showing them the different tools that they can use. 

And then we're learning together, so my knowledge is much more than it was 10 years ago. Obviously, especially through a lot of the training I went through on top of this, but I'd say most of the knowledge that I have about what's in our forest is by being there and answering questions along. Like I did take a certification course as an outdoor educator and nature school director, which just enforced a lot of the knowledge that I had and helped me with.

know how to grow that, but I'd say that most of my knowledge came from questions from children.  That's good to know. As a  person that teaches nature journaling, it's, it takes a load off of my mind to be like, the point of nature journaling is to ask questions and to be curious and write those things down in your journal.

And I don't have to know everything because there's just. So much to know and learn and as if I'm leading a hike or something, I get a little bit more nervous. Like, oh, gosh, I have to know everything. I have to be the expert. But yeah, you're right. Carry a field guide. Use the C gap. There are other things to do.

Yeah, there's a lot that we have to realize that what we're teaching the Children. I don't want them to ever think that I just know everything. That's a lot of pressure first on me, but it also puts a lot of pressure on them and that they feel like they have to know, right? How are they ever going to know that much?

So when we start to let Children know that we don't know things, it actually relieves a lot of the pressure. And I feel like you get a different bond and connection with them. And we're also then teaching them how to learn. Mhm.  And I feel like that's one of the most important things that we could do, is to, they will ask questions and they are built to learn.

But now we're showing them all the resources that we have, in that you could ask somebody that knows, you can look at a field guide, you can look it up on this app, and now they have the tools  to figure out exactly what they need, if I'm not around.  That's great, because then it brings down that, Wall of teacher, student, and you guys are co observers together out in the forest.

We actually don't call ourselves teachers. We are, we call our, our, my whole team, we're a team of guides because we're there to guide them through their experience in the forest. And we let people know that at the beginning of classes is that, we are here to be, we're here for safety  and you know our knowledge right but we are here to guide you when you have questions like we're here to learn with you and we really help parents in the parent child classes or when they do attend the nature school and in learning how to be an observer and seeing what the kids are interested in and allowing that to happen and And also the other thing that's unique in our programs is that we do not require the children to do anything.

So we do natural journaling. We have journals out. We have things out for journaling. Anytime they want to do that, we put projects out and they can do it when they want to, or not at all. When we go on hikes, we talk to the kids about what they want to accomplish on the hike and where they might go.

It's always a conversation. So they're always part of. Deciding what's happening in their day. So it really does empower them to have the control over what's going to happen in their class and really feeling that we're partners in the experience.  That definitely helps my first nature journaling class. I had a, I had an agenda and this is what we're going to do.

And they had no, no part in it. They're like, ah, do I have to do this, this, this feels like schoolwork. But when I'm trying to get their attention, like, oh, let's flip this log and they got interested in that and. It became like that scene and yes, man, where she's running with a camera and taking pictures and leading that group.

That's what they were doing with their nature journals. They were running and, being flexible and meeting them where they're at is definitely important and letting them decide. I, I struggle doing things when I don't want to, right. Like when, when I have tasks I have to do, like, but when you're in the moment and they have their journals in their pack and like at any moment, they.

They know if they want to pause, the whole group will pause and they can journal something. And we also talk about like, sometimes journaling isn't, there can be a lot of pressure of like, do I have to write about what I did? And it's like, no, you can draw anything you want in nature. Like you can literally just be in nature  creating.

You can draw, you can write, do whatever you'd like.  Journal, something that you saw that was interesting yesterday, but the concept is that you're surrounded by nature and you're inspired from where you are.  You brought up creating in nature. I was peeking around on your website. You have outdoor creators and that really spoke to me.

It's like the plein air, the outdoor painting events, but for children,  are there any aha moments that you've seen in children as they are creating outdoors?  Yes, I love when we've been doing a lot of mud painting recently because it's our rainy season and I really love it when  they look at me like, we're doing what?

I'm like, yes, and So when they start to realize that they can do these things and create because they're not really sure how it's going to come out, right? Like when you say we're going to be painting with paints, they generally understand what's going to happen. But like we're introducing things that are new and they realize how they can create with mud.

And when one day it was raining, so they're painting their whole canvas with mud and the raindrops are coming down. And one child said, he was like, look, it's the starry sky. Because the raindrops were coming down and it looks like it was a sky full of stars. And and I'd say the other thing that I see is when they realize things that they can do that they thought they couldn't.

Right. So some of these projects that we do might take, they might feel a little frustrating, right. And putting things together, especially when we work in winter, right. In winter, it's like a whole other ballgame in dealing with gear and being outside and it does get cold here. But so they it, it slows people down and they might like feel a little bit more challenged, but when they actually succeed in things that felt. 

Outside of their comfort zone. I just. I love that, that just the face they have and just the joy that they have that they did achieve it. And the fact that they're open ended projects really allows them to figure out how they want to put the pieces together. And when you're sitting there in the forest and all of a sudden they get sticks and twigs and this and that together and they build like a structure.

It's just pure joy.  Do you have any long term goals or  things that you're planning for the future with Outdoor Play Connection?  Yes, I do. I've had lots of goals since the very beginning, and I've learned over the years that it's great to have goals, and it's more important to keep an open mind.  A lot of the things that I'm doing now, I didn't plan.

Working with the schools is something was in like a future five year plan that happened within my first year. And so I've had to re evaluate all of my goals in the programmings that I wanted to offer and the things I wanted to do. And there's a project that I've wanted to do since the very beginning that I still haven't gotten to because there's been so much other things coming.

that are in need. So for me, my goal is to really continue to  learn from the things that I'm doing and learn what people need to provide the best programs. For the people I'm trying to serve. And I think having that open mindedness has really helped me provide more programs and help more people get outdoors.

Cause my main goal is to help people enjoy being outdoors and to help change the narrative that to be outdoors, you have to be outdoorsy  and be camping every weekend and being out in the woods. And taking a three day trip, backpacking, I really want to make it like, no, you literally can be outdoors by taking a walk around block and noticing the nature that's around you.

So that I stay really true to that mission. And I'm excited about working with more schools and just working with more organizations because when I work with.  These schools or organizations, I can help more people at once. So I love my classes and I love helping my community and I'll never stop doing that.

But I think the broader vision is like, how can I help more people? And that's by really helping other organizations find a way to get more people outdoors.  Yeah. When I'm looking for people to interview for the podcast, I'm like, it's about nature and your experience in nature. And a lot of times people are like, Oh no, I'm not outdoorsy.

And I'm like, but everybody has some sort of story with nature. We are all a part of nature. And they're like, Oh yeah, I guess I didn't think of it that way. So yeah, I totally understand that mission. And for our listeners, if they are not in the New Jersey area and they. Love your mission. They want to help out.

Is there anything they can do and reach out and help you guys?

Absolutely. They can find me on Outdoor Play Connection in Instagram and we do run fundraisers time to time where That will help us have supplies for our classes. And it helps me keep prices down also because we try to be inclusive, an inclusive community. And it's very expensive to run these programs.

If they want to help that way, they can I'm always open to ideas too. So you can always reach out and email me. And it's. It's really, I'm looking to become more than just New Jersey in the next few years. So we're hoping to slowly expand this out and help more nature schools thrive and help more outdoor creators, the Outdoor Creators Program.

Outdoor creators program is something that I want to expand across the country. It's a program that I started with. It's very easy for me to coach people to do. And so that's something they can look forward to having it, having the opportunity to build in their own area.  And then the fundraisers are those events or is that like a local thing?

Usually online, like we will, like we try to provide things that are helpful to being outdoors. So we've done a shirt. Fundraiser. So it's like you get the shirt and like the part of the proceeds goes towards the fundraising. And we're about to put out some hats and some other things. So as I find things that are really helpful, like we have sun shirts that help we have base layers that help.

So as we find things like that, I want people to be able to invest in helping us, but also getting something that helps them get outdoors.  What has been your favorite moment in nature 

for myself? I think I can't really say there's one because there's two aspects of my time in nature. There's one  for myself. I personally absolutely love to be in the forest when it's raining.  So many things are just so alive. You can see the plants literally being watered. And I love mud. I'm a big fan of mud.

So when there's rain, there's mud. So for me, I just love being surrounded by that. It's just like the activity that happens with the rain, the sound of the rain, and I just love hiking in the rain. The second thing I would say is really my experience in what I do with children, and I'd say I get so much joy out of seeing kids who Basically have this amazing transformation in coming and not really sure what to expect.

And then seeing them a month or six months or a year later and seeing how much they have changed over time in really connecting with nature and finding their place being there. And that to me really keeps me going in what I do. And just seeing so many kids just really transform in their time in nature where It just becomes their home from home. 

And I know you mentioned your Instagram before, where else can people find you?  I have a website, outdoorplayconnection. com and you can see any of our updated classes there. Anything else that's going on on, we'll be updated on the website.  And before we go, what is one tip that you have for someone that would like to connect with nature? 

I would say the first step would be is to figure out the time that you have. Right? So if you have a whole day, that's going to change what you do compared to, I really don't have time and I only have 20 minutes.  And I'll leave everyone with the fact that you really only need 20 minutes to start getting the benefits of being out in nature.

So if you can find 20 minutes and start where you can succeed. 20 minutes in the month. Find one day in your month to be outside for 20 minutes intentionally observing the nature around you and take the pressure off of needing to be out and go backpacking and start this whole X, you know, large trip that you have to take where you really can just take your meal outside for 20 minutes. 

And it's all about the intention. If you're intentionally out there to observe and listen to the birds or smell the flowers or see the grass or whatever nature it is around you, there's so much that you can take in if you're being intentional about it.  Thank you so much for being here today.  Thanks for having me.

I love chatting about this. Until next time, get outside and see what develops.     

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