{"id":29054,"date":"2026-08-05T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/landscape-architecture\/2026\/08\/05\/playing-is-learning-making-the-case-for-going-outside\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T18:45:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T22:45:57","slug":"playing-is-learning-making-the-case-for-going-outside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/landscape-architecture\/2026\/08\/05\/playing-is-learning-making-the-case-for-going-outside\/","title":{"rendered":"Playing is Learning: Making the Case for Going Outside"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

The Natural Learning Initiative<\/a> (NLI) got its start after two global children\u2019s rights activists each found their way to NC State. For 25 years, co-founders Robin Moore and Nilda Cosco have been using their combined expertise in landscape architecture, urban planning and the psychology of learning to bring back outdoor environments that support child development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two met as members of the International Association for the Child\u2019s Right to Play, years before their paths led them to NC State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe both come from the field of play,\u201d said Moore. \u201cI was president of that organization for almost 10 years. I\u2019m passionate about children’s play as a way of learning about the environment. That goes back to my own childhood as a kid in the woods in the south of England, doing my own thing.\u201d Cosco, similarly, spent her childhood freely roaming her hometown in the grasslands of Argentina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a kid in the woods or the grasslands, it turns out, has a lot of benefits: self-confidence, cognitive development and a stronger immune system, to name a few. But when Moore was pursuing his master\u2019s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1960s, there was no research literature available about child development and the outdoors. That has changed significantly in the last 25 years. This growing body of research, including work by members of the NLI team, has provided Moore and Cosco with a foundation to grow NLI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe look upon play as learning; in fact, we call it \u2018playful learning,\u2019 especially with young children,\u201d said Moore. \u201cIt’s not a separate entity \u2014 it’s part of the learning process. It’s very much tied to the natural world, which is the big motivator of play, because nature is constantly changing. It’s not a fixed entity that looks the same day after day. It’s always got something new to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sets a natural learning environment apart from a traditional playground is that it\u2019s less structured, less predictable and more like, say, playing in the woods. But it isn\u2019t just about introducing children to nature in a vacuum. NLI takes a holistic, community-based approach to developing play spaces and, ultimately, influencing policy to support healthy child development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From NLI\u2019s very first project in the late 1990s \u2014 the Southern Pines Discovery Park primary school \u2014 involving the community has been integral to their process. The group employs co-design processes to engage stakeholders and train them to creatively use and manage the finished playscapes.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n \n\n
\"The
The impact of NLI extends far beyond the bounds of NC State \u2013 spreading knowledge across six continents, including working with designers at IKEA on a line of playful children\u2019s furniture.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
\n \n\n
\"Pursuing
Pursuing its mission, \u201cCreating environments for healthy human development and a healthy biosphere for generations to come,\u201d NLI has co-led countless state policy initiatives, including with the NC Division of Child Development and Early Education.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Michigan
Michigan State Parks partnered with NLI to create design guidance for system-wide implementation of natural plan and learning spaces. The Hartwick Pines State park pilot project will serve as an example for other parks. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n

In 2007, in collaboration with the N.C. Division of Child Development, NLI launched a signature program, Preventing Obesity by Design (POD), that combines the naturalization of outdoor playful learning spaces with opportunities to conduct research that can inform future work. Ultimately, POD\u2019s goal is to reduce childhood obesity by introducing children to environments that support physical activity, healthy eating and outdoor learning early in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we started, there was not much research on children\u2019s environments that was high-quality and based on evidence,\u201d said Cosco. \u201cWe did a lot of design assistance work to create demonstration sites that we could use for teaching and for showing how these environments grow, how people manage them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The demonstration sites allow researchers to observe how children interact with the play environment, creating a feedback loop between design and research. That work informs their professional development program and feeds new projects, becoming one of the secrets to NLI\u2019s success over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NLI\u2019s professional development program, which includes the annual NLI Design Institute, has now served more than 2,300 participants, including public health professionals, nutritionists, teachers, child care center owners and others. NLI also offers a popular course on teaching children to garden \u2014 an easy, cost-effective program that can improve children\u2019s physical activity levels and their interest in eating fruits and vegetables.
\u201cThe idea is to reach out, to disseminate these ideas, to show how they can be done,\u201d said Cosco. \u201cWe have passion for that and a very, very strong commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NLI collaborates with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Education Commission to improve spaces where children spend time \u2014 such as parks, greenways, residential areas, streets, childcare facilities, schools, botanical gardens, museums and zoos \u2014 reminding all involved that children have a right to play, learn and access nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, NLI is an award-winning national leader in the development of healthy outdoor play environments. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) appointed NLI as a national provider of technical assistance to serve CDC state funding recipients, expanding NLI\u2019s impact nationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

True to Moore and Cosco\u2019s roots, the organization remains a dedicated advocate for policies that support nature-connected childhoods. This is an area where Moore hopes NLI continues to have a meaningful impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost groups write their scientific papers and get them published and they\u2019re happy,\u201d said Moore. \u201cBut we\u2019re not. We want to change things out there in the world in a more direct way. For example, our communications team does an excellent job of translating research into easily digestible print and media resources for practitioners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"To
To support the continuing work of NLI, Robin Moore generously funded the position of a postdoctoral scholar in childhood biophilic design. Pictured, left to right: Dean Mark Elison Hoversten, NLI Research Professor and Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture Robin Moore, NLI Research Professor Nilda Cosco, and Associate Dean of Research, Doctoral Programs and Global Engagement Soolyeon Cho.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, NLI has been able to work with more than 60 graduate students on design and research projects. \u201cOur work spans many disciplines, both within and beyond design,\u201d said Soolyeon Cho, associate dean of research, doctoral programs and global engagement, and NLI\u2019s interim director. \u201cWe hope to see NLI become a hub where students from our college \u2014 but also from social science, psychology, implementation science, communication science \u2014 can come together to shape the future of this field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moore and Cosco both agree that rooting childhood in nature is the essential heart of the NLI mission \u2014 healthy human development and a healthy biosphere for generations to come. Ultimately, they see their work as defining a subfield of landscape architecture that supports healthy children who become stewards and protectors of our planet.<\/p>\n

This post was originally published<\/a> in College of Design Blog.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n

The Natural Learning Initiative<\/a> (NLI) got its start after two global children\u2019s rights activists each found their way to NC State. For 25 years, co-founders Robin Moore and Nilda Cosco have been using their combined expertise in landscape architecture, urban planning and the psychology of learning to bring back outdoor environments that support child development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two met as members of the International Association for the Child\u2019s Right to Play, years before their paths led them to NC State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe both come from the field of play,\u201d said Moore. \u201cI was president of that organization for almost 10 years. I\u2019m passionate about children's play as a way of learning about the environment. That goes back to my own childhood as a kid in the woods in the south of England, doing my own thing.\u201d Cosco, similarly, spent her childhood freely roaming her hometown in the grasslands of Argentina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a kid in the woods or the grasslands, it turns out, has a lot of benefits: self-confidence, cognitive development and a stronger immune system, to name a few. But when Moore was pursuing his master\u2019s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1960s, there was no research literature available about child development and the outdoors. That has changed significantly in the last 25 years. This growing body of research, including work by members of the NLI team, has provided Moore and Cosco with a foundation to grow NLI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe look upon play as learning; in fact, we call it \u2018playful learning,\u2019 especially with young children,\u201d said Moore. \u201cIt's not a separate entity \u2014 it's part of the learning process. It's very much tied to the natural world, which is the big motivator of play, because nature is constantly changing. It's not a fixed entity that looks the same day after day. It's always got something new to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sets a natural learning environment apart from a traditional playground is that it\u2019s less structured, less predictable and more like, say, playing in the woods. But it isn\u2019t just about introducing children to nature in a vacuum. NLI takes a holistic, community-based approach to developing play spaces and, ultimately, influencing policy to support healthy child development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From NLI\u2019s very first project in the late 1990s \u2014 the Southern Pines Discovery Park primary school \u2014 involving the community has been integral to their process. The group employs co-design processes to engage stakeholders and train them to creatively use and manage the finished playscapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\"The
The impact of NLI extends far beyond the bounds of NC State \u2013 spreading knowledge across six continents, including working with designers at IKEA on a line of playful children\u2019s furniture.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Pursuing
Pursuing its mission, \u201cCreating environments for healthy human development and a healthy biosphere for generations to come,\u201d NLI has co-led countless state policy initiatives, including with the NC Division of Child Development and Early Education.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Michigan
Michigan State Parks partnered with NLI to create design guidance for system-wide implementation of natural plan and learning spaces. The Hartwick Pines State park pilot project will serve as an example for other parks. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n

In 2007, in collaboration with the N.C. Division of Child Development, NLI launched a signature program, Preventing Obesity by Design (POD), that combines the naturalization of outdoor playful learning spaces with opportunities to conduct research that can inform future work. Ultimately, POD\u2019s goal is to reduce childhood obesity by introducing children to environments that support physical activity, healthy eating and outdoor learning early in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we started, there was not much research on children\u2019s environments that was high-quality and based on evidence,\u201d said Cosco. \u201cWe did a lot of design assistance work to create demonstration sites that we could use for teaching and for showing how these environments grow, how people manage them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The demonstration sites allow researchers to observe how children interact with the play environment, creating a feedback loop between design and research. That work informs their professional development program and feeds new projects, becoming one of the secrets to NLI\u2019s success over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NLI\u2019s professional development program, which includes the annual NLI Design Institute, has now served more than 2,300 participants, including public health professionals, nutritionists, teachers, child care center owners and others. NLI also offers a popular course on teaching children to garden \u2014 an easy, cost-effective program that can improve children\u2019s physical activity levels and their interest in eating fruits and vegetables.
\u201cThe idea is to reach out, to disseminate these ideas, to show how they can be done,\u201d said Cosco. \u201cWe have passion for that and a very, very strong commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NLI collaborates with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Education Commission to improve spaces where children spend time \u2014 such as parks, greenways, residential areas, streets, childcare facilities, schools, botanical gardens, museums and zoos \u2014 reminding all involved that children have a right to play, learn and access nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, NLI is an award-winning national leader in the development of healthy outdoor play environments. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) appointed NLI as a national provider of technical assistance to serve CDC state funding recipients, expanding NLI\u2019s impact nationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

True to Moore and Cosco\u2019s roots, the organization remains a dedicated advocate for policies that support nature-connected childhoods. This is an area where Moore hopes NLI continues to have a meaningful impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost groups write their scientific papers and get them published and they\u2019re happy,\u201d said Moore. \u201cBut we\u2019re not. We want to change things out there in the world in a more direct way. For example, our communications team does an excellent job of translating research into easily digestible print and media resources for practitioners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"To
To support the continuing work of NLI, Robin Moore generously funded the position of a postdoctoral scholar in childhood biophilic design. Pictured, left to right: Dean Mark Elison Hoversten, NLI Research Professor and Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture Robin Moore, NLI Research Professor Nilda Cosco, and Associate Dean of Research, Doctoral Programs and Global Engagement Soolyeon Cho.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, NLI has been able to work with more than 60 graduate students on design and research projects. \u201cOur work spans many disciplines, both within and beyond design,\u201d said Soolyeon Cho, associate dean of research, doctoral programs and global engagement, and NLI\u2019s interim director. \u201cWe hope to see NLI become a hub where students from our college \u2014 but also from social science, psychology, implementation science, communication science \u2014 can come together to shape the future of this field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moore and Cosco both agree that rooting childhood in nature is the essential heart of the NLI mission \u2014 healthy human development and a healthy biosphere for generations to come. Ultimately, they see their work as defining a subfield of landscape architecture that supports healthy children who become stewards and protectors of our planet.<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Natural Learning Initiative celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. See how it uses landscape architecture to promote child development and health outcomes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":29055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"ncstate_wire","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-29054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-_from-newswire-collection-280"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":{"ncst_posts_meta_modified_date":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/landscape-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/landscape-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/landscape-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/landscape-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/landscape-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29054"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/landscape-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29058,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/landscape-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29054\/revisions\/29058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/landscape-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/landscape-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/landscape-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/landscape-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}