52. Chelsey Bahe and Take 'Em Outside

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Chelsey Bahe from Minnesota. Chelsey is a professional nanny, auntie, writer, nature artist, and play advocate. She shares her passion for outdoor activity for kids, her innovative nature art, and her unique approach to child play and learning through exploration. She discusses the importance of children having the freedom to play, explore, and learn both indoors and outdoors. Her philosophy revolves around the idea that play can provide everything a child needs, especially in the early years of development.

Connect with Chelsea
todaywewillplay.wordpress
Take 'Em Outside

Books
Last Child in the Woods
There's No Such Thing As Bad Weather
Balanced and Barefoot

This Golden Hour
Free eBook Course
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Transcript

Chelsey Bahe: 0:00

The longer that I'm with kids and the more I learn about play and how kids learn I have come to realize that play really will provide them with everything they need if they have the freedom to follow their interests and experiment and they're designed to learn through play.

Timmy Eaton: 0:21

Hi, I'm Timmy Eaton, homeschool father of six and doctor of education. We've been homeschooling for more than 15 years and have watched our children go from birth to university successfully and completely without the school system. Homeschooling has grown tremendously in recent years and tons of parents are becoming interested in trying it out. But people have questions and concerns and misconceptions and lack the confidence to get started. New and seasoned homeschoolers are looking for more knowledge and peace and assurance to continue homeschooling. The guests and discussions on this podcast will empower anyone thinking of homeschooling to bring their kids home and start homeschooling. And homeschoolers at all stages of the journey will get what they need and want from these conversations. Thank you for joining us today and enjoy this episode of this Golden Hour Podcast as you exercise, drive, clean, or just chill. You're listening to this golden hour podcast. In today's episode, we get to spend time with Chelsea Baugh from Minnesota. Chelsea is a professional nanny, a writer, nature artist, and play advocate. She shares her passion for outdoor activity for kids, her innovative nature art. And her unique approach to child play and learning through exploration. She discusses the importance of children having the freedom to play, explore, and learn both indoors and outdoors. Her philosophy revolves around the idea that play can provide everything a child needs, especially in the early years of development. Welcome back to this golden hour podcast. Today, we have with us Chelsea Baugh from Minnesota, and she's not actually a homeschool mom or involved with homeschooling much at all. But she's a nanny. She's an auntie, a writer, a nature artist, and a play advocate who is passionate about getting kids outside. And we're gonna talk about her blog and her Facebook page, take them outside, and and a lot of the things that she's gotten into kind of on accident. Is Give us a little bio of yourself, and then we'll jump into some questions

Chelsey Bahe: 2:19

well, like you said, I'm a nanny and an auntie and my passion is getting kids outside to play. I started off right after college working in childcare and so I was in a center and the playground was, you know, artificial turf and just a basic playground and I always thought it was interesting that the kids were so happy out there even though it was very simple. And then after working in childcare, I became a nanny. The childcare center that I was working in closed, and so I became a nanny for 1 of the families. Mhmm. And then I had a lot more freedom and could take the kids different places. And after a few years started working for other families and realized that their childhoods were a lot different than mine. They had these big beautiful backyards, but they never had time to play in them because they were doing all these lessons and classes and from very young age, from age 2 and up.

Timmy Eaton: 3:17

And Kinda like a strict schedule almost.

Chelsey Bahe: 3:19

Yes. Every day it was something something organized that they and structured that they were doing. Yeah. And then I had this opportunity. I started a job with twins who were 3 months old, and I kinda wanted to I had a chance to lead the parents maybe down a different path. So I started researching as much about, like, how childhood is different now than when I was a kid. And I came across Richard Louv's book, Last Child in the Woods Yes. And I read that. And then I just made it a goal with these little babies to try to get outside as much as possible.

Timmy Eaton: 3:54

Is that something like you talked about the parents with? Or is that just man, if I'm the nanny, this is kinda what I'm gonna do?

Chelsey Bahe: 3:59

I didn't talk directly with them, but we were home. It was 10 hour days, and so and I wasn't at first, I wasn't able to drive them. They weren't comfortable. So we went on a lot of walks and spent a lot of time in the backyard. And then as the kids got older I just started sharing more about what they were doing outside and things they were learning while also continuing to learn more about the benefits of outdoor play myself. And I came across an organization called Pop Up Adventure Play, and I took what's called the Playworker Development Course. And that totally changed how everything about what I do with kids. A lot of people don't know about Playwork, and I wouldn't say that I'm the best person to try to explain it, but Yeah. It's a way of working with playing children. It's child centered and ensures that play is the main focus. And so through them, I started learning more about play work and play so our days, the priority would be making sure that the kids' play needs were met. Yes. And if I met their play needs, then I was more likely to have, you know, good cooperation, good listening. They were gonna eat good lunches and take good naps. And so doing that with the kids and then even though we were outside a lot, I was noticing that my own need to be out like, when you're outside with kids, it's still you're still getting benefits, but

Timmy Eaton: 5:26

I don't know. You're you're consumed with them, so you're focused on what's happening with them. Yeah.

Chelsey Bahe: 5:32

So then I just started spending more time outside myself alone without kids. And I was taking a walk 1 day, it was winter, there was snow, And I noticed a stick that had inter an interesting curve. And I picked it up, and I just looked it over. And kinda before I knew what I was doing, I was creating a picture in the snow with sticks. Yeah. It's awesome. And I was doing this at a nature center that the twins and I visited a lot. So then the next day, I brought them back, and I was just kinda curious if they would notice it on our hike. And they did. And so this kinda became a thing I did for them as I would make these pictures. Oh, that's so cool. I didn't really tell anyone else I was doing it because I didn't know if I'd get in trouble. You're not, like I wasn't picking things, but you're not really supposed to disturb the

Timmy Eaton: 6:20

I know. It's so funny. You know? I know. I live 20 minutes from National Park, and I'm always, like I think it's funny how 1 day we were playing with the frogs, and we got totally reprimanded, and it was like Oh. I'm pretty sure that's okay. But anyway.

Chelsey Bahe: 6:33

And then it just became a thing. The snow melted and I was like, oh that's it. There's no more canvas for me, so I guess I wait till next winter. But then I realized I could create the art on top of stumps, and I branched out and started using pine needles and different kinds of bark and just leaves anything that's loose on the ground. I don't pick things, but anything loose on the ground could be used for art. Yeah. And now I most of my art is I use bark to depict scenes of children playing outside with the hope that people who see it will be inspired to also get kids

Timmy Eaton: 7:13

outside. Yeah. Yeah. And I've okay. So I have to if anyone whoever's listening to this right now, this episode, you really do need to pause it, and then you need to go look because it's just it's unbelievable. Like, I mean, my wife and I spent so much time looking at those because they're fascinating. And you, and I remember I watched an interview that you were on, and you didn't you said that you weren't really an artist before that. You didn't draw and do that kind of stuff. Is that right? You didn't paint? And so this is but these are, like, so good. I so anyway, anybody who's listening needs to pause and go to what where would you send them? Is it today should they go to today we will play dot WordPress or is it's probably better to go to take them outside Facebook page.

Chelsey Bahe: 7:49

Yeah. Or I have an Instagram, which is just my name, Chelsea Bah.

Timmy Eaton: 7:54

Yeah. B a h e. Because you gotta take a look at this and then listen to the rest of the episode because it's just fascinating that what you started there. And I think anyone would just be like that. So and I like, when I was looking at them, I was like, no way. She used colors there, but it's just totally stuff from the ground. Yeah. Because it does. Like, when you look at some of the and I love the stump frame and background. I think that's so cool. And then is it always pine needles that you use or typically pine needles that you use to write a little message let them play or you've had you have quotes sometimes. And Yeah. It's so cool. I love it. I just recommend anybody going to see that, but it's awesome. Now, have you ever heard of like you, you referenced last child in the woods, right? Have you ever heard of

Chelsey Bahe: 8:35

forest schools? Yes. My niece attended a forest school for her preschool years.

Timmy Eaton: 8:41

I just recently interviewed a girl named Angelina Robillard who lives here in Southern Alberta close to me. And I've never met her in person, but she has a forest school called Academy in the Wild. And the whole idea is is it's kind of this idea of dangerous play, but it's not really dangerous. It's just exactly what you're advocating is let them play and let them explore and what it does for them. And then like you said, what it did what it does for us as adults to just be in nature and to be with creation. And and I love that like, what you're advocating to have kids, you know, just free and play. They the term that they use a lot of times is free play. So that they can just totally explore. But how did like where has it gotten to? How many how many creations have you made now that you've done this? So when did this start? What year was that?

Chelsey Bahe: 9:24

I wanna say it's been 9 years now. Wow. So yeah. Wow. And I think I have I have over 7000 that I've

Timmy Eaton: 9:33

made. Holy cow. And then you just take a picture of each 1 type thing, and then? Yeah.

Chelsey Bahe: 9:38

And sometimes you know, I'll take a picture and I'll go walk around the lake and come back, and it's already blown away. Yeah. Sometimes in the winter, I can make it on the weekend and then come back the next weekend, and it's still mostly intact. You just never know.

Timmy Eaton: 9:53

And is it always at the same place near the nature center?

Chelsey Bahe: 9:58

Yeah. There's a certain spot at the nature center where I make

Timmy Eaton: 10:03

all the art. But like if you've traveled somewhere or gone to another state or Canada or whatever have you done it in that in other places?

Chelsey Bahe: 10:10

Not too much. No.

Timmy Eaton: 10:12

Wow. And And 1 thing I was wondering is I could just see people catching on to this and doing this. Have you noticed or heard from people that have been have started their own kind of thing doing that?

Chelsey Bahe: 10:20

Sometimes people will post online and say, you know, my child was inspired to try. Here's their whatever animal they made. Yeah.

Timmy Eaton: 10:29

And yeah. So 1 thing I also read about was that you like, in being in taking these frequent walks that the nature center actually asked you to work for them. Is that accurate? Oh, no. I don't work for them. Oh, okay. I thought I saw something that said they commissioned.

Chelsey Bahe: 10:43

I have done programs with them where a group you know, people will sign up and we'll make we'll collect things and make

Timmy Eaton: 10:49

art. Oh, cool. Yeah. Awesome. So you've just I see. They just have basically asked you to help them kinda go through them to kinda do that. So and then how many, I so in reading about you and preparing for this, I didn't realize there was this whole nanny world that kind of communicates. Is that and 1 thing that I was so impressed with was 1 article that I and it basically said, I think it was a 2015 article in nanny magazine. And it highlighted your views on the importance of play for children. And I was wondering, would you be okay if I actually read your portion of that? Sure. I don't know if you know which do you know what do you know which 1 I'm talking I'm referring to? Okay. I just thought with the way that you said this, you capture, so many insights. Have you ever heard of Charlotte Mason? I have heard of Charlotte Mason. Okay. Cool. She talks about this idea of, obviously, tons of time in nature, and she uses this 1 term called masterly inactivity. And the idea is that the kids need free play and that they need to be able to explore and totally pursue their curiosity and their interests. And then there is a role. I noticed in your writing that you'll say things about safety and that you know, you wanna make sure the kids are safe, but that they should explore and that they should. And so the way that you put this together, I just wanna read it so that our audience can hear how you put this together. Chelsea said, childhood happens only once. These children spend 52 and a half hours a week with me. I have an obligation to honor their right to play, so I'm going to let them live. They splash in puddles. They play in mud. They climb trees, jump from boulders, and dip nets into the pond to catch tadpoles, fish, and snails. They play with sticks, balance on fallen logs, dig in dirt, build forts in the woods, roll down hills, examine mushrooms with their magnifying glass, and swing from low hanging tree branches. Sometimes they fall down. They skin their knees, bump their heads, and occasionally get a splinter. 1 time, 1 of the children even had a wood tick on his head. That doesn't mean I stopped letting them try new and challenging things. It doesn't mean I am careless or haven't made up or made safety a priority. It means I want children to have the confidence to pick themselves up. And after some comforting and cleaning of the boo boo, let them try again. The children are allowed to try. They're allowed to fall. It's how they become resilient. It's how they learn about all the ways their body can move and how they learn to be sure about their movements. It's the way they develop problem solving skills, independence, and the ability to work as a team. In my 12 years as a nanny, I noticed a lack of opportunities for children to truly play. Sure. There's no shortage of classes, lessons, clubs, or sports for kids to participate in, but there is a little there's little opportunity for play. Play is often defined as behavior that is freely chosen, personally directed, and intrinsically motivated. In play, a child is in charge of what happens. Their play belongs to them. There is no right or wrong way to play when a child is choosing it for herself or himself, even if the play has risk. When we are overly cautious and try to control too much, we are robbing them of their play. Now I know that was lengthy, but I just thought you captured so so much in that. And so kinda give us a background. What was that in response to? What what was the impetus for you writing that?

Chelsey Bahe: 13:53

There was an article about, I think somebody was writing about it was a nanny and I don't remember exactly, but they were, like, maybe not letting the child play with a stick or something. And I just think we need to play with sticks more. Yeah.

Timmy Eaton: 14:12

Yeah. And so it was just a response on that. And then who put the article together? How did it come together?

Chelsey Bahe: 14:17

Oh, it was in nanny magazine. Okay.

Timmy Eaton: 14:20

So you wrote in response to okay. That's cool. Yeah. I don't you said so many things, I think, that are just you know, pertinent to uh, not just a particular audience of homeschool kids or whatever, but to every child to get outside. And like you said, even adults need that.

Chelsey Bahe: 14:33

And I think for nannies, a lot of times we think our job is to make sure that they never get hurt, they never get dirty because we don't want parents to judge us, but we kinda need to shift and of educate parents that this is part of childhood and part of growing and becoming a stronger person.

Timmy Eaton: 14:51

And is there a particular demographic of people that you nanny for? Or is it like all over the map?

Chelsey Bahe: 14:57

It's like more wealthy

Timmy Eaton: 15:00

people. Yeah. And so that's what I was wondering. Like, how have they have you had a mixed response to these ideas of really getting them outside and little bit more risk and a little bit more exploration?

Chelsey Bahe: 15:11

Yeah. It's something that now that I really feel strong in my philosophy as I was starting to form my philosophy and learn it was, I had to be careful about how I presented things and just slowly start making changes.

Timmy Eaton: 15:27

Yeah. For sure. It's interesting because I I can see how it would be like an insurance concern or stuff like that, but the reality is you're just talking about going outside and playing and just being a child. And you mentioned, like, how that was different from your own childhood as far as these kids that you nanny for were having experience different from your own childhood. What did you mean by that or what was different?

Chelsey Bahe: 15:48

It's it feels as a nanny, you know, you always have to be with the child. When I was a kid, we'd go play in the backyard. We would there was a field that separated my house from my best friend's house, and we could just run across the field, ring the doorbell, get our friends, and go play in the field or in someone else's backyard. Yeah. I don't think our parents knew exactly where we were all the time. They probably knew more than we thought they did, but Yeah. And now it's like I, you know, I sometimes feel like I can't let kids play in the backyard alone because what if something happens and then I have to explain. But I feel like they're missing out on a lot by always having an adult

Timmy Eaton: 16:31

with them. Yeah. No. I think that just resonates, especially with this audience. Everything you're saying will just resonate. Now you again you haven't had some you haven't had much connection to the homeschool world, but you did talk about your own experience in school. What was your experience in school, and what are your thoughts on that? What are your thoughts on alternative education?

Chelsey Bahe: 16:47

My experience in school, I would say for all of elementary school, all of middle school, and the first part of high school, I was probably like, you know, a teacher favorite, did everything I was supposed to do, got good grades, went above and beyond. Mhmm. But then uh, the pressure just got to be too much and I just couldn't keep up anymore. And I if I had kids of my own, I feel like I would really wanna homeschool at least for the early years. Yeah. I'm very intrigued by homeschooling.

Timmy Eaton: 17:17

No way. Well, I like to hear that because I'm definitely biased, and, you know, I went to public school. That's like what but we've homeschooled our kids. We have 6 kids, and we've homeschooled them all the way through. And so it was just a total like, eye opener to me of the possibilities. And so I'm with you on being interested in that avenue. When you say was pressure, what do you what do you where was that coming from? What was the pressure? Because I feel like this is a real I hear I keep hearing that lately with families that I talk to, and that's why so many are transitioning to homeschooling. That being 1 there's so many there's so many reasons now, but 1 of them is pressure. And where are you seeing that where did you see that pressure coming from? Part of

Chelsey Bahe: 17:53

it was myself. I had pressure on myself to get perfect grades because I wanted to please the teachers. And but doing something to please teachers is, you know, extrinsic motivation. So if it's not coming from inside, it's not sustainable I feel like. Yeah.

Timmy Eaton: 18:11

Well Said. Yeah. So grades tests, and that kind of thing? Or Yeah. I

Chelsey Bahe: 18:16

was taking really really tough honors classes and just got to the point where I'm like, why I don't wanna do this. This

Timmy Eaton: 18:25

is yeah. Yeah. You're like, to what end is that good? You know, that's something that when I've studied a lot about I wrote my dissertation and my doctorate degree on home education. 1 of the most surprising findings to me was that homeschool kids that had never gone to school and hadn't taken a lot of standardized tests, they did fine in university testing and entrance exams. And to me, that was huge because as a high school student, I remember being like, that was everything because you would everything you were preparing for was to do well on tests and to get good grades. And if you take those out and take away the pressure, now kids are just learning, right? They're learning. It's I love, I like, I love how you put it in that spiel. I just read about the idea that like you're, when you're totally interested in what you're doing, then like, how did you put it? You said play is often defined as behavior that is freely chosen, personally directed, and intrinsically motivated. And that's just exactly what I'm seeing in a home education. Not always. There are definitely some families that do are more structured, and I think my family is similar to that. But the idea that you just if you can chase their interests, then they'll want to learn. And so no wonder they do okay on, you know, fine on tests when they get to university and and otherwise, because they like to learn and they enjoy it. And they haven't felt that pressure that kind of disenchants somebody from learning like that may have happened with you. So I can, I think that resonates with a lot of people? That's awesome. So where are you gonna go with this, with your like the art, the nature art? What's the next step or what do you have coming up? Or have you thought about that?

Chelsey Bahe: 19:54

I am actually hoping to get some I've written some children's stories that I would like to see published.

Timmy Eaton: 20:00

Yes. Yeah. Today I Will Play. Is that the

Chelsey Bahe: 20:03

Yeah. That was 1, but I have some other books or stories written that I would I'm working on. So it's

Timmy Eaton: 20:10

so is talk about Today I Will Play. Is that like a compilation of the art?

Chelsey Bahe: 20:14

So I had tried to get an art grant when the children that I was nannying went to kindergarten because I was worried that they weren't gonna have as much time to play. I knew that, you know, kindergarten is now the new first grade, and I wanted to get a grant to give this book to every kindergartner in the city, in the school district because it had it was a story for kids, but it also had something for adults to teach them about the benefits of play. Yeah. And I didn't end up getting the grant, but I ended up printing some of the book anyway, because I thought it was an important message.

Timmy Eaton: 20:55

Yeah. If I I would my advice would be to target a homeschool audience because they love that stuff. So then I know that there's stuff in Minnesota wherever you live in Minnesota. And I don't know. I just feel like it's such a good idea. And I just feel like you have some real opportunity to teach a course on what you're doing. And I know that's hard because but after 7000 pieces of artwork, I think you must have gotten better and better. Did you notice your progress with what you were doing? What did you notice in the evolution of the art? Yeah. I can,

Chelsey Bahe: 21:24

Definitely notice a difference in the way I make people now and just the limbs are smoother and it just fits together better.

Timmy Eaton: 21:32

Yeah. For sure. Have you considered that? Teaching it as a course or you know, creating some kind of class around it or a course that you could do online or something? I've thought about it. Yeah. I'm I just feel like I just feel like you would have a ton of homeschoolers respond to that. It's just so it encourages so many of the things that you're talking about, not only for the children, but for adults. And in your view, like how often are you in ideally, would you want kids to be outside? Like how often would this be happening?

Chelsey Bahe: 22:01

Oh as much as possible every day as long as they can. Yeah.

Timmy Eaton: 22:06

Yeah. And is there a certain age that you feel like you target? I mean, I know you're a nanny of what age range?

Chelsey Bahe: 22:12

So right now I'm nannying 3 year old twins and an almost 6 year old girl. Usually it's kids 5 and

Timmy Eaton: 22:20

under. Yeah. Yeah. And I think I read somewhere on yours that that it changes as they get older. But, you know, the principle that I don't know I don't know what age. I don't know. I forgot where I was where I read it, but the idea that I get it. You know, 18 year olds aren't doing the same type of exploration as 5 year olds. However, the principle I think is for all of us, just like you said for adults, is the need to be outside. And in this day of technology and which is so good, there's so many good tools out there. It is important to break from that and to connect with nature and to connect with people and have real communication and real interactions. And and I think that's so good for kids. You know, sometimes a parenting fallback is to give some kind of technology that occupies a child. But, man, why not do that the way you're doing it and let them and I know it's not always possible to, you know, just send them outside. I live in Southern Alberta, and they can get really cold and so can Minnesota. And Yeah. So it's not so what happens in the winter?

Chelsey Bahe: 23:17

We're we still go out. We have had a pretty mild winter so far. Yeah. Same here. I would say I think we spent about 5 hours outside today. It was high twenties. Next week, we are gonna have single digit highs, and so there might be some days where we're not out, or we might bundle up, cover all the skin, and go out for, you know, 10, 20 minutes at a time. Yeah. Just get that big movement in.

Timmy Eaton: 23:44

Yeah. I love that. I love that. Is there a way to nurture the same things? I know you can't replace nature and but is there a way to encourage the same behaviors inside when you're not able to?

Chelsey Bahe: 23:54

I think if you can let go of the need to control what the kids are doing and how they're playing, which is harder inside because kids can be messy when they play, and that's Yeah. Fathers, adults. But maybe a designated room or space where this is, you know, the yes space and you can do what you need to do in

Timmy Eaton: 24:13

here. Yeah. That's awesome. No. And I think that idea of instilling that type of freedom and let them feel that comfortable will let their guard down so they don't feel like they're doing something wrong when they do that. You know, like, when we're when it comes to the term homeschooling, there's kind of branches. I don't know if you've ever heard of unschooling, but this really is an unschool philosophy that you're talking about. An unschooling is really basically the idea of chasing your interests. And And I imagine that with your own children, you would want them to chase their own interests and take them take that as far as they want, whether it's in nature or anything. But I feel like that really does align. And the more I study the the movement of homeschooling, I'm I see that homeschooling is not really the right term for it anyway. It is more of a transition from the conventional way of thinking to pursuing curiosity and learning and in a way that's unfettered by too many adult um, distractions, you know, or interruptions to what kids are doing. I just 1 1 thing that came to mind, I my son just had a birthday. He just turned 12, and I have a 10 year old daughter too. And we took them to these I live in a place where it's the foothills of mountains, the Rockies, and we took them to this 1 neighbor that's just down the road from us. We live out in the country, and he's got these huge rocks. And so we just took the kids up there, and I just thought there's nothing I could have done in my home that would have peaked their interest. They would have spent we were my wife and I were getting cold. It was chilly, and it was windy. It's really windy where we live. And they were just exploring those rocks and wanting to show us everything that they found. And I was just like, man, you cannot fabricate that in in any other way than in nature. It's just amazing. And so I was wondering if you've had moments that really stand out to you over the years key just pinnacle moments where you were observing the kids and you're like, oh, I'm gonna remember that. Does anything come to mind when you think of either things that you've made that they've come upon and you've you kinda beheld the experience or just any other standout experiences or memories from being out in nature with the kids that you take care of?

Chelsey Bahe: 26:07

The longer that I'm with kids and the more I learn about play and how kids learn I have come to realize that play really will provide them with everything they need if they're if they have the freedom to follow their interests and experiment and they were I think is it Peter Gray that says they were designed to learn through play? I'm not sure. I think about with my last nanny family, the kids love to just climb on you know, in a parking lot when it snows and then they plow the big boat. Yeah, man. And if I think about this 1 day, it was negative 6 when we started. So we just went to this parking lot to climb on this mountain, and, you know, they're all bundled up. And they started off by climbing the mountain, and then they're, like, sliding down. Yeah. And then they experimented with throwing the chunks of ice off the top of the mountain, and they shatter on the parking lot surface. And then they set up an ice store where they lined up these big balls of ice and were selling it to each other. And then they figured out we can use a thicker piece of ice to free the smaller pieces of ice that are trapped in the snow pile. And then 1 of the children realized the big chunks of snow and ice, if she dragged them on the parking lot surface, it would draw like chalk. Oh, cool. Drew this big design with the snow, and then she told her siblings, follow my track. So then they're, like, walking on this track that she's making. And you know, here they are with the snow pile, and they didn't need me to be like, okay. These are your options. This is how we're gonna play with it. They're designed to learn through play, they're trying to figure out what is this thing and what can we do with it. Yeah. And you know, it was cold but they still were engaged and excited and

Timmy Eaton: 28:03

ready. Oh, man. I love that. I love that you I can just see and I'm not criticizing, but I could just see a certain parents and even maybe myself to an extent. 1, we are probably the ones that get bored or cold or whatever, and we're like, okay. Why don't you do this and then let's go? And then you're but they don't need you don't even need to facilitate the ideas. And if you are going to do that, I find that and I've watched this in other people. I have a neighbor that kinda does this. Just go and if for example, if you were to go and just start digging a tunnel, they would catch on and wanna take over, you know, take over and just do it. You don't have to say anything. You don't have to go, why don't we do this? You know, the kids are just in they're just totally into it. And I contrast that with I've taught for 20 years. I contrast that with the classroom where it is, you know, not always, but a lot of times it is hard to engage interest. And I get why. You can't compete with what they the entertainment that they have in their pockets. And and to hear kids that just are totally engaged in what they're doing and out in nature and expanding their mind, It's very proactive learning rather than passive learning in playing a video game or watching a movie or something. And so that's awesome. Any others come to mind? Any other key kind of moments out? I know there's probably a million. I'm just is it can you remember any in particular?

Chelsey Bahe: 29:15

Yesterday so we haven't had much snow. We just have a dusting. And we went to the nature center after I picked the boys up from preschool, and they saw somebody in the parking lot with a sled, and they were like, let's go sledding. And I said, I don't think there's enough snow for sledding to work. And he was like let's just try it. We can try sliding down on our bottoms. And how old is he? And I was like he'll be 4 next month. And I was like, you know, I could sit here and explain why, but there's no harm in just trying. So Yeah. Yeah. Up to the hill, and they ran up it. And they sat down, and they tried to slide, and it didn't work. And I thought they were gonna maybe be upset or disappointed, but they weren't. They just accepted it and then they ran to this tree that they like to climb, and they started climbing the tree. Yeah.

Timmy Eaton: 30:05

Yeah. I like that because

Chelsey Bahe: 30:06

I that that ability to like, move. Okay. This didn't work out, but let's find something else to do.

Timmy Eaton: 30:12

That's awesome. Yeah. You said in that article the idea of it building resilience. And that you know, think about a business. Like, If you tried something and then we're just just so disappointed or put out by that and then you just gave up they're just like, oh, that didn't work. Let's try something else. I love that innovation and just, Yeah. You know, resilience that you're talking about. That's awesome. Have you had moments where it was, like, moving where you were like, where you were observing them and you were kinda touched by it? Do you know what I'm saying? Where you were, like, just watching what they did and just kinda felt like, oh, man. I'm feeling something here.

Chelsey Bahe: 30:42

It's happens every day, and it's mostly like a social emotional moment where 1 will think of the other or they'll share without being told and or working through problems. And I'm like, wow. You're really getting this. And Yeah.

Timmy Eaton: 30:57

Growing up. I know. And it's crazy that these aren't your children, but you've formed this connection in this relationship. But that and tell us about that experience because it was it early on when you started making the nature art that somebody went by and observed and said, hey. These are expressions of love. What was that? Tell us about that.

Chelsey Bahe: 31:15

Yeah. That was early on. And so on especially on the weekends when I go there without kids, I'll be there for quite a few hours and I'll even now 9 years on, I will meet somebody new that has been coming to the nature center and specifically looks for my art, and they'll stop and tell me about that. And so 1 day that happened, and we got to talking and a woman did tell me that she thought that the art was like an expression of love left behind. Yeah. For others to see.

Timmy Eaton: 31:49

Yeah. And did that resonate with you? Yeah.

Chelsey Bahe: 31:52

And it's very cool that I have this connection to these people that I don't know. I've not met a lot of them, but I'm making this art and they're coming and enjoying it, and that's pretty cool.

Timmy Eaton: 32:06

Have you been, like, in public and people be like, oh, that's the Chelsea art lady.

Chelsey Bahe: 32:11

Not so much

Timmy Eaton: 32:12

anymore, but when you first started here. Yeah. Oh man. I like, I, again, I just feel like you have a market that you could I don't know what your interests are, but I just I feel like you really do, especially with the homeschooling world. And there's so many ways to get into that and connect with so many. And so now what are some books that you love and recommend particularly about this concept of letting children play and in particular in nature?

Chelsey Bahe: 32:36

Like I mentioned earlier, last child in the woods. Yes. I think balanced and barefoot by Angela Hanscom is a good 1.

Timmy Eaton: 32:44

And I'll these in the show notes so that people can reference these.

Chelsey Bahe: 32:47

I think it's called no such thing as bad weather by Linda McGirt, rain or shine mama.

Timmy Eaton: 32:53

Oh, awesome. That's good because that would refute a lot of what you know, what a lot of us actually think. So that's that would be good. I'd want her to challenge my thoughts on that because I live in a really windy place. But the 1 cool thing about the wind here because we're in Southern Alberta and it's there's typically not this year, but there's usually quite a bit of snow. And then when it blows, it creates these like, massive like, snow piles and drifts, and I don't know what people they call them in other places, but they call them Quincy's here or snow, you know, snow forts or whatever. And you really can. You can dig under those things, and then it's warm. If you sleep in them you know, winter camps or whatever like, they're amazing. And so so it does create so maybe that's 1 evidence of the of what she's talking about, but that's awesome. Any others come to mind? Any other or or sites?

Chelsey Bahe: 33:41

Not off the top of my head. Okay

Timmy Eaton: 33:44

I do you have anything else that you would wanna just kinda say about either letting children play or anything. And then definitely as we end, I wanna make sure people know where they can connect with you and your work and stuff like that. But did you have any I'll give you the final word. I'll you just on whatever it is that message you would wanna leave with this audience. Remember, these are tip these are homeschool families, and a lot of them are ones that are just starting the process. So

Chelsey Bahe: 34:06

I, I think really just that play will provide everything a child needs, especially in the early years and large chunks of uninterrupted time preferably outside are really

Timmy Eaton: 34:20

important. Amen. And so well said. I really appreciate that. And tell people where they can connect with you on the blog and your Instagram, your Facebook page. Let us know where all those are.

Chelsey Bahe: 34:31

Yeah. My Instagram is probably the best, which is just at Chelsea Baugh or I have the Facebook page take them outside.

Timmy Eaton: 34:39

Okay. And then do you still maintain the today we will play blog? Or okay.

Chelsey Bahe: 34:45

Cool. I write about our kinda daily adventures.

Timmy Eaton: 34:49

Yeah. Oh, do you do that daily?

Chelsey Bahe: 34:51

Or regularly? Not every day, but yeah. At least weekly.

Timmy Eaton: 34:55

That's awesome. That's really cool I really appreciate you taking time, and I again this is so relevant to this audience, they'll love the things that you've said. You've said things that are said in different ways in other places. Like I said, Charlotte Mason and others. I a couple months ago, I interviewed John Muir Laws. Do you know who that is? Yeah. Oh, really? The nature I've heard of Yeah. You should look up his stuff. He does he actually teaches nature journaling and nature drawing, and that's a whole movement. That's a whole thing. And I also interviewed somebody that created the business nature plus nurture, and and it's just anyway, this is so that's a whole movement that you're tapped into, and and I think you have a lot of opportunity if you're interested in that. But thank you for taking time today and being with us. Yeah. Thank you. I really appreciate it. That wraps up another edition of this golden hour podcast. If you haven't done so already, I would totally appreciate it. If you would take a minute and give us a review in Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps out a lot. And if you've done that already, thank you much. Please consider sharing this show with friends and family members that you think would get something out of it. And thank you for listening and for your support. I'm your host, Tim Eaton. Until next time, remember to cherish this golden hour with your children and family.