Where the Wild Things Were: Play, Childhood, and Iowa's Vanishing Landscapes

Where the Wild Things Were: Play, Childhood, and Iowa's Vanishing Landscapes 

As you wade into a sea of gold and copper, big bluestem and Indiangrass rise overhead bending and rustling with every pass of the breeze. Orange and purple islands roll with the waves as winged invertebrates float between. A steady buzz fills your ears as you catch the final glimpse of a serpent tail sliding beneath the depths. The muted hum is interrupted by a shrill, high-pitched wail as a killdeer darts low across the liquid gold before carving an arching path into the sky. The soil itself tells a story — pocked with vole burrows, scattered seed pods, anthills rising in small mounds, the curled remnant of last year's growth still clinging to the earth. 

Now picture a summer backyard, maybe one that looks a lot like the one from your childhood. A lawn kept up with care, a frisbee resting in the corner, the sound of a lawnmower fading somewhere down the street. These are good places. Places where kids have spent long afternoons, where families have gathered, and where memories get made. Getting outside, in whatever form that takes, is something worth celebrating. 

And if you've spent time in spaces like that, here's an invitation: what might you discover if you wandered a little further — like into a prairie remnant, a woodland trail, a brushy creek bank? Not instead of the backyard, but in addition to it. 

Both locations are set up for play. I know both of these places. I've played 3-on-3 tackle football in backyards like the second one — barbecues, catch, the whole ritual. Other days I explored forests and prairies, defending a castle under siege by orcs, watching birds as they dove and ascended, upturning rocks to investigate creatures below. What I've come to understand from both is that the environment itself shapes the type of play, and that wilder, more open-ended spaces tend to open something up in children that more structured settings don't quite reach. 

Play is a necessary and important part of a child's physical, mental, and social development, and research in child development and environmental education tells us that unstructured time in complex natural spaces sparks something special. When the environment has no predetermined “correct” way to interact with it, children become designers of their own experience. A rock becomes something to investigate, something to imagine, something to climb. A tangle of tall grass becomes a fort, a hiding place, a mystery. Psychologists call this "loose parts" play; environments rich in unpredictable, manipulable elements invite deeper creative engagement than those with fixed functions. 

This matters beyond fun. Studies consistently find that unstructured outdoor play supports children's ability to solve problems independently, regulate emotions, and navigate social situations without adult direction (Lee et al., 2020). When kids have to negotiate the rules of play themselves (e.g., who builds the fort, what counts as out of bounds, what happens when someone gets hurt) they are practicing the same collaborative and conflict-resolution skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives. 

Although it can be hard to allow your children more freedom and let them play outdoors in more unstructured and wild places, the benefits outweigh the bumps, bruises, or scratches that can occur. Unfortunately, the wild, open-ended spaces that naturally foster this kind of play are increasingly difficult to find in today’s Iowa. That makes seeking them out a more deliberate choice, and perhaps an even more worthwhile one. 

Letting children play in nature is no longer just a parenting choice — it is an act of conservation. 

Citations: 

Children & Nature Network. (n.d.) Kids need to be outside. Childrenandnature.org. Retrieved from https://www.childrenandnature.org/the-benefits-of-nature/ on June 17th, 2026. 

Gibson, J. L., Cornell, M., & Gill, T. (2017). A systematic review of research into the impact of loose parts play on children’s cognitive, social and emotional development. School mental health, 9(4), 295-309.  

Lee, R. L. T., Lane, S., Brown, G., Leung, C., Kwok, S. W. H., & Chan, S. W. C. (2020). Systematic review of the impact of unstructured play interventions to improve young children's physical, social, and emotional wellbeing. Nursing & Health Sciences, 22(2), 184-196. 

Sierra Club Iowa Chapter. (2025). Protecting Biological Diversity In Iowa Through Connectivity. 

Whitebread, D., Basilio, M., Kuvalja, M., & Verma, M. (2012). The importance of play. Brussels: Toy Industries of Europe, 1-55. 

About the Author

Kean Roberts is the Water Program Associate at IEC where he focuses on education and outreach. He holds a B.S. in Earth Sciences from Iowa State University, an M.A in Teaching, and a PhD in Science Education from Drake University. Prior to IEC, Kean worked as a public-school teacher where he taught 8th grade Physical Science, 9th grade Earth and Space Science, and 11th-12th grade Physical Science. His background in science education is complimented with a focus on environmental education where he embedded local environmental issues, outdoor hands-on experiences, and community involvement into each course’s curriculum. Outside of work, Kean enjoys going on adventures with his wife, daughter, and dog. Additionally, he enjoys painting miniatures (e.g., Warhammer 40k, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars) and playing video games.