Background

Hello, I am Dr. Özge Metin Aslan, a dedicated scholar and play activist in early childhood education. Currently, I am a Research Scholar and volunteer teacher in the outdoor classroom at the University of Minnesota Institute of Child Development, Child Development Laboratory School. I also serve as an Associate Professor at Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University. My research and publications focus on areas such as play, playwork, nature-based education, social withdrawal, and child-teacher relationships.

I founded Nature Playosophy to promote free play and to extend the impact of my projects that support children's social and emotional development through unstructured play in natural settings. This platform provides information and training materials on the importance of free play and nature-based education. I offer online training sessions for teachers and families, guiding them on how to integrate free play into daily and monthly programs. Additionally, I provide consultancy services to schools, helping educators and institutions enhance their knowledge and skills in facilitating free play and documenting the resulting learning processes.

My projects include "Hey My Friend, I Am Here, See Me," which focuses on multicultural education and anti-bias programs in early childhood, and the "Play Friendly Playground (Play for the Planet) " project, which trains playworkers and sets up pop-up playgrounds. Additionally, I am currently involved in a research project titled "Investigating Nature-Connectedness in Urban Early Childhood Education" at the University of Minnesota with Dr. Sheila Williams Ridge, aiming to understand and enhance children's connection to nature in urban settings.

Through my work, I aim to bring innovative approaches to early childhood education by supporting children's connection to nature and encouraging their free play. My goal is to re-evaluate the perspective of play in the field, particularly in my own country, for both teachers and families. I strive to explain that play is an endless cycle in the learning process, where the program emerges from the child through the documentation of play. Additionally, I emphasize how nature, as an unlimited resource, can be effectively utilized to support these learning processes.