How Nature of Early Play Products Support Healthy Child Development in Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers
If you run a daycare, preschool, or early learning program, you already know that the first five years of a child’s life matter enormously. Brain development is rapid. Children are learning through every experience—every texture they touch, every sound they hear, every object they pick up and examine. The question isn’t whether play matters. It’s whether your outdoor environment is doing enough to support what’s happening in those developing brains.
Research from sources including Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child, NAEYC, and the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework consistently points to the same conclusion: sensory-rich play—especially outdoors, with natural materials—supports physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development across early childhood. The right daycare playground equipment makes the difference between a space where children pass time and one where they actually grow.
Nature of Early Play (a division of the family-owned Play Mart, Inc.) makes commercial-grade outdoor play equipment and learning products designed specifically for infants (starting at 6 months), toddlers (18–36 months), and preschoolers (ages 2–5). Built from 85%+ recycled structural plastic (RSP™) in Somerset, Kentucky, these products bring children into direct contact with dirt, sand, water, plants, and mud—the materials that decades of child development research tell us matter most. These sensory activities provide the varied stimuli that drive cognitive and neural growth during the years when the brain is most receptive.
This article covers why nature-based sensory play is so important, what Nature of Early Play products offer, and how they can make a real difference in your program—for the children in your care and for your organization.
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Where It Started: A Family’s Experience Meets a Gap in the Market
Nature of Early Play grew out of a straightforward observation. Dennis and Rebecca Beach raised and homeschooled five children on 23 acres in rural Kentucky. Rebecca noticed something parents and caregivers have always noticed: kids who spend time digging in soil, splashing in water, and exploring plants develop stronger awareness of their bodies and surroundings, solve problems more readily, and manage their emotions more effectively than when they’re limited to indoor activities.
In 2006, the family attended an advanced design course at Harvard University. The program confirmed what they were seeing at home: while there were plenty of quality play structures for school-age children, almost nothing existed for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers—particularly products that used natural elements and were built to hold up in commercial group care settings.
The Beaches expanded their existing family business (Play Mart, Inc., established in 1980) and launched Nature of Early Play. The result is a woman- and family-owned line of outdoor equipment, 100% manufactured in the U.S., designed for the daily demands of early childhood programs. Every product meets or exceeds ASTM F1487 and CPSC safety guidelines, includes ADA-accessible options, and is made from recycled materials that hold up through years of heavy use with very little maintenance.
What the Research Says About Sensory Play and Outdoor Learning
Nature of Early Play Products Support Healthy Child
Sensory play—activities that engage touch, sight, sound, smell, and movement—is directly tied to how young brains develop. Occupational therapist A. Jean Ayres (1979) described how the brain organizes sensory input to produce adaptive responses. When infants and toddlers handle sand, splash water, or feel the texture of leaves and soil, they strengthen the neural pathways that support balance, attention, and emotional regulation.
Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child (2019) identifies three core principles of healthy development that sensory-rich play supports: building responsive relationships, strengthening core life skills like executive function and self-regulation, and reducing sources of stress. Outdoor settings add to these benefits. Research links time in natural environments to lower stress hormone levels and better ability to focus and sustain attention.
A 2020 systematic review by Dankiw et al. in PLoS ONE examined unstructured nature play across early childhood and found positive effects on physical health (motor skills, activity levels), thinking skills (creativity, problem-solving), and social-emotional outcomes (cooperation, self-confidence). For children under five, even brief daily sessions of sensory-rich outdoor play were associated with more complex language use, greater persistence, and fewer behavioral problems.
NAEYC’s 2022 position statement on Developmentally Appropriate Practice reinforces that self-directed, playful learning with open-ended natural materials supports development across all domains. Head Start’s ELOF identifies sensory exploration and contact with nature as central to learning, social-emotional development, and cognitive growth.
Richard Louv’s concept of “nature deficit” (2005) is also worth noting here. Many children—particularly in urban and lower-income communities—have limited access to outdoor natural spaces. Programs that provide structured sensory nature play help close that gap.
Physical Development: Strength, Coordination, and Body Awareness
Nature of Early Play products are built with age-appropriate physical challenges in mind. Each collection includes multiple height options, accessible routes, and open-ended components so that children can progress from supported infant exploration to more complex preschool-level activity.
Garden Products
Raised planters, digging beds, arbors, and plant supports give infants a chance to pat soil and touch leaves while seated or supported, building early awareness of touch and body position. Toddlers dig, plant seeds, and water with child-sized tools—activities that develop coordination and upper-body strength. Preschoolers do full-body work: bending, reaching, carrying soil and water, which builds gross motor skills, balance, and stamina. Research from Michigan State University Extension connects gardening to both motor skill development and early STEM learning (understanding how seeds become plants, for example).
Sand Play Sets
Sand play tables come in multiple heights (including infant-accessible), with chutes, ramps, diggers, and integrated play kitchens. Infants explore texture through supported scooping. Toddlers pour, sift, and build, strengthening their pincer grasp and hand-eye coordination. Preschoolers construct tunnels and mountains, practicing planning and spatial reasoning. The resistance of sand also provides deep-pressure input that helps with sensory regulation and body awareness.
Water Play Systems
The water play line includes Double and Triple Nature Bowls, Spout & Splash units with built-in hand pumps, reservoirs, watermills, and troughs in straight, U-shape, and zigzag configurations. These systems are entirely self-contained—no plumbing needed—which eliminates installation costs and contamination concerns. Infants experience gentle sensory input through caregiver-guided splashing. Toddlers learn cause and effect by operating pumps. Preschoolers build channels and predict water flow patterns. These activities build fine motor control, shoulder stability, and core strength while providing movement-based sensory input.
Nature Tables and Bowls
These are contained, accessible surfaces for loose natural materials like stones, leaves, pine cones, and soil. Their low profiles and varied textures work for crawlers through runners, encouraging reaching, grasping, and early mobility.
Mud Kitchens
Available in Corner, Island, Trio, and Master configurations—with working sinks, faucets or recirculating pumps, stoves, and storage—these mud kitchens turn messy play into structured physical activity. Children stir, pour, “cook,” and clean, all of which involve upper-body rotation, wrist strength, and sustained effort.
A 2024 review in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (Craig et al.) confirms that nature-based outdoor play environments for children under three significantly improve motor skills, balance, and overall physical health—results that programs using this type of equipment see firsthand.
Sensory Bins: A Flexible Extension of Outdoor Play
Sensory bins are a hands-on way to extend sensory play into additional spaces—classrooms, covered porches, or transitional areas. By filling a bin with materials like sand, rice, beans, or water and adding objects of different shapes, colors, and textures, staff can create focused exploration stations that support fine motor skills, cognitive development, and sensory regulation.
What makes sensory bins effective is their ability to engage multiple senses at once. Children see vibrant colors, feel varied textures, hear the sound of materials pouring, and explore different weights and densities. This full sensory exploration builds connections in the brain that support learning and creativity. A bin filled with colored rice and hidden objects, for example, encourages children to use sight and touch together to discover and identify new shapes.
Sensory bins also develop fine motor skills directly. Scooping, pouring, pinching, and sorting small objects strengthen the muscles in children’s hands and fingers—groundwork for writing, drawing, and other tasks that require coordination and control.
The greatest strength of sensory bins is their adaptability. For infants and toddlers, a bin might include soft blocks, textured balls, or water for gentle splashing. As children grow, you can introduce more complex items like kinetic sand or small building materials, challenging preschoolers to create, construct, and problem-solve. Bins can also be themed to reinforce concepts like shapes, colors, seasons, or early math and science, making them a useful complement to outdoor sensory play equipment.
Thinking Skills and Emotional Well-Being
Children learn by doing. Piaget’s work on cognitive development (1952) describes how infants learn about cause and effect by dropping stones into water or watching plants grow, how toddlers sort materials by texture and weight at nature tables, and how preschoolers form and test ideas (“Will this mud hold together better if I add more water?”) in kitchens and sand areas.
Nature of Early Play products naturally support early STEM learning. Garden planters introduce biology and environmental concepts. Water systems demonstrate physics—flow, gravity, force. Sand and mud present open-ended building and engineering challenges. Harvard research shows this kind of sustained, self-directed exploration builds executive function: working memory, impulse control, and the ability to shift between tasks.
On the emotional side, sensory play in natural settings helps children manage stress. The steady rhythms of water flowing or plants growing provide calming input for overstimulated children while offering enough variety to engage those who need more stimulation. Mud kitchens in particular encourage pretend play that helps children process emotions and build confidence. Longitudinal data link regular outdoor nature exposure to improved attention, reduced ADHD symptoms, and greater overall well-being (Dankiw et al., 2020).
Social Skills and Inclusion
When several children dig in a shared garden bed, pump water together, or collaborate on an elaborate mud meal, they practice negotiation, turn-taking, and empathy without needing a formal lesson. Nature tables support a natural progression: infants observe, toddlers imitate, preschoolers create shared stories and projects.
The design of these products supports children of all abilities. Varied heights, accessible routes, and open-ended materials mean that children with different needs can participate side by side. Sensory input can be adjusted—gentle water flow for children who are more sensitive, vigorous digging for those who want more intensity—which helps with emotional regulation and peer acceptance. Programs using these products report more cooperative behavior and fewer conflicts during outdoor play time.
Practical Value for Your Program
The developmental benefits are clear, but administrators also need to think about budgets, maintenance, safety, and logistics. Here’s what makes these products work from an operational standpoint:
- Built to last. The 85% recycled structural plastic stands up to extreme weather and heavy daily use for 15–20+ years with very little maintenance. That’s significantly longer than wood or metal alternatives. Quick-ship options and full-site design services are available to simplify installation.
- Safe and compliant. Commercial-grade construction, rounded edges, non-toxic materials, and ASTM/CPSC certification help reduce liability concerns.
- Environmentally responsible. The recycled-material manufacturing process appeals to families and funders who care about environmental impact, and can strengthen grant applications.
- Low maintenance for staff. Self-contained water systems require no plumbing. Surfaces are easy to clean, which saves staff time every day.
- Flexible and scalable. Modular components let you start with one area—an infant room, for example—and expand over time to a full outdoor learning environment.
These products also align well with common funding sources, including Head Start, state Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS), and federal grants for outdoor learning. Programs with similar installations have reported improvements in CLASS observation scores, fewer behavioral referrals, and higher family satisfaction.
A Worthwhile Investment
Quality sensory play in natural settings is not an extra—it’s a core part of what young children need. Nature of Early Play products put decades of research into practice through durable, well-designed equipment that your staff and children will use every day.
If you’re looking to improve your outdoor spaces, explore the sensory and imaginative collections linked above, request a custom site plan, or call the team at (800) 43-PLAYS to talk about what would work best for your program.
References
1. Ayres, A. J. (1979). Sensory Integration and the Child. Western Psychological Services.
2. Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2019). Play in Early Childhood: The Role of Play in Any Setting. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/videos/play-in-early-childhood-the-role-of-play-in-any-setting/
3. Dankiw, K. A., Tsiros, M. D., Baldock, K. L., & Kumar, S. (2020). The impacts of unstructured nature play on health in early childhood development: A systematic review. PLoS ONE, 15(2), e0229006. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229006
4. National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (2022). Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth Through Age 8 (4th ed.).
5. Craig, D., et al. (2024). Effective Nature-Based Outdoor Play and Learning Environments for below-3 Children: A Literature-Based Summary. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
6. Piaget, J. (1952). The Origins of Intelligence in Children. International Universities Press.
7. American Academy of Pediatrics (2018). The Power of Play: How the Science of Play Can Help Us Reclaim Our Children’s Playtime. Pediatrics.
8. Michigan State University Extension. (Various publications on gardening and sensory play.)
9. Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).
10. Louv, R. (2005). Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Algonquin Books.
These sources represent peer-reviewed, university, and professional-organization research supporting the benefits of sensory play discussed in this article. Full texts are available through the linked DOIs or organizational websites and can be used in program planning and grant writing.
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