Kaya, I’m Daniel Burton, an educator, playwork practitioner, mentor, and co-founder of Educated by Nature. I live, work, and play on Whadjuk Noongar Country in Western Australia, and hold deep respect for the relationship First Nations people have with land, story, and culture. Their ways of being continue to inform and inspire the path I walk in reconnecting with nature, community, and what it means to be human..
My professional journey began as a primary school teacher in a Reggio Emilia-inspired and nature pedagogy-based school in Perth, where I developed a passion for learning that is rooted in curiosity, creativity, and relationship. That passion soon expanded beyond the classroom walls, leading me to co-found Educated by Nature – an organisation dedicated to helping children, families, and educators reconnect with nature and reclaim the power of play.
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Our first offering at Educated by Nature was a series of nature playgroups, gently walking alongside parents and their very young children as they stepped into outdoor spaces – often for the first time – with wonder, vulnerability, and a longing for connection. That work laid the foundation for everything we do: creating environments where children (aged 4 – 15) are free to play, explore, get messy, and experience risk, and where adults are supported to hold space, let go, and trust the process.
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I’m deeply drawn to the power of real play – play that is self-directed, embodied, unpredictable, and relational. Informed by Playwork Principles, Deep Nature Connection, Rites of Passage,, my work centres around building the kinds of environments and communities that allow human potential to unfold naturally and joyfully.
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The philosophy of the Evolved Nest resonated with me as both a compass and a confirmation. It echoes what I have witnessed time and again in our programs: that children thrive when immersed in responsive, rhythmic, nature-rich, and relational nests. These are the ecosystems of care that once held us, and must again if we are to raise resilient, joyful, and connected human beings. My dear friend Cameron Sprague called me the day he met Darcia and shared that I simply must make contact and jump on board and I’m so glad he did and I’m now here!!!
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I’ve also had the honour of learning directly from Jon Young, attending two Art of Mentoring camps in California and participating in the Acorn Leaders online course, which deepened my understanding of anchoring people in place, tracking the invisible threads of connection, and weaving regenerative culture through storytelling and shared presence.
I see myself as a village builder too – and thank Jon for bringing my awareness to this as a role to describe the work I have been doing; tending the spaces between generations, between human and more-than-human, between grief and joy, between what was and what could be.
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I look forward to listening, learning, and co-creating with you all.
I look forward to listening, learning, and co-creating with you all.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Outline Evolved Nest for Early Educators Checklist
Cameron Sprague & Daniel Burton
AUDIENCE: This tool would be designed to be a companion piece to the Nested World Checklist for Childcare Centers which is aimed at parents when selecting childcare centres. Instead of being intended for parents it would be for educators to audit their physical spaces and practices so that they can better create a cultural and physical environment that promotes the Evolved Nest.
KEY COMPONENT(S).
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Play
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Nature Connection
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Responsive Relationships
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Positive Climate
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO CONVEY?
MAIN POINTS:
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The Evolved Nest is a holistic, multidisciplinary, research based programme that creates the environment that all children need to be whole and fully actualised in their lives.
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Children in western culture are spending less time outdoors than ever before. Without time in nature children will never develop in the way that they were designed to.
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Play is the vehicle that children use to unlock, learn, and grow their understanding of the world.
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Play has been hijacked by modern educators as a tool for presenting instruction – ‘Play Based Learning’ which has seen a move away from authentic play – intrinsically motivated, self directed and freely chose.
BENEFITS FOR AUDIENCE:
By creating a cultural and physical environment that promotes the Evolved Nest within their settings they will have happier, healthier, and better regulated children. Many childcare centres create environments that go against children’s natural instincts and therefore have constant distressed (dysregulated) children that require staff’s time and attention. By working towards children’s natural instincts with adults working together it will be a better environment for not only the children, but also the adults who work within the settings as well. With the ultimate goal that as the Nest embeds it will be a better place for the more than human who share the place the childcare setting resides in.
STEPS:
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Create a simple introduction to the audit tool which includes links to Nested World resources for further reading and research for educators interested in using the Evolved Nest
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Create an audit tool that is inspired by the Nested World childcare checklist for parents
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This should include cultural elements such as ‘do all children have keyworkers that works with their familial caregiver to create care plans to support them etc.’
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Include physical elements such as ‘does the setting support the more than human by only using trees and plants within their setting that are native to that area’
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Build on play materials in Nested World by using inspiration from tools such as David Sobel’s Children and Nature Design principles and play theorist Bob Hughes
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MEDIA: After creation of the audit tool and acceptance by Nested World use Daniel Burton’s Campfire Conversations Platform and Cameron Sprague’s Puddle Patter platform to hold a joint podcast series with Darcia Narvaez to promote the Nested World and the new audit tool.