Freedom Play
Jun 26, 2025 10:12PM ● By Kristen Williams
At Play Cousins Collective, we are practicing and proclaiming something sacred: Freedom Play, the intentional use of free play and nature connection as a pathway to generational healing, community resilience, and deep, liberatory parenting. Rooted in cultural wisdom and backed by research, Freedom Play is a radical reclamation of our right to raise Black and marginalized children in environments that affirm their joy, autonomy, and brilliance.
What Is Free Play?
Free play is child-led, open-ended, intrinsically motivated activity. There are no instructions, no right or wrong way to do it, and no adult agenda driving it. It often involves simple materials — sticks, water, cardboard, mud — and unfolds in nature, community spaces, or anywhere children feel safe to be curious, loud, creative, and free.
What Makes Freedom Play Different?
Freedom Play builds on the concept of free play but centers Black and marginalized families who have historically been denied access to land, rest, self-direction, and joy. It’s not just about letting kids play — it’s about using play to resist toxic norms, repair ruptures in intergenerational care, and build new ways of being rooted in community, autonomy, and love.
In short, Freedom Play is:
A healing response to stress, control, and oppression.
A cultural practice that reclaims play as a birthright.
A liberatory tool that prepares children to live fully, not just survive.
A Brief Cultural History: Black People and Land-Based Joy
For generations, Black people have been stewards of the earth, finders of joy in hard places, and creators of cultural play. But colonization, enslavement, segregation, and environmental racism ripped many of us from our land and natural connection. National parks were once segregated. City parks were not safe. Time in nature was sometimes seen as dangerous, especially for Black children.
Even today, Black children are more likely to live in areas with limited green space and face barriers to accessing outdoor recreation. They are also more likely to be punished for simply playing loudly, freely, or curiously.
Freedom Play says: “no more.”
Why It Matters: Freedom Play and the Brain
Neuroscience tells us that play is not optional; it is “essential” to brain development and emotional regulation. During free play, children experience what researchers call the “play state” or “flow state” where joy and curiosity guide behavior, and time seems to disappear. In this state, the brain releases:
Dopamine (motivation and pleasure)
Oxytocin (bonding and trust)
Endorphins (natural pain relief and joy)
This chemical cocktail reduces cortisol (stress hormone) and builds the foundation for executive function, the brain’s “CEO skills,” like decision-making, emotional regulation, and creative thinking.
SEL Through Play: Practicing the Skills to Inherit the Village
In Freedom Play, children aren’t just having fun, they’re practicing the very skills needed to hold relationships and lead with care:
Self-Awareness*: “How do I feel right now?” Children learn to tune into themselves.
Self-Management: Risk-taking, frustration, and patience, all explored safely through unstructured play.
Social Awareness: “What does my friend need?” Cooperative games build empathy and perspective-taking.
Relationship Skills: Children navigate conflicts, make up their own rules, and build deep bonds.
Responsible Decision-Making: Every choice in play is a practice in consequence and agency.
Nature Heals: The Research Is Clear
Studies have shown that nature-based play reduces toxic stress, enhances focus, boosts physical health, and even improves academic outcomes. For children exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), access to nature and play is a protective factor, a buffer against trauma and developmental delays.
Black preschoolers are 3.6x more likely to be suspended than their white peers.
Children with 4+ ACEs are 32x more likely to struggle in school.
Most U.S. children spend over 4 hours a day on screens and less than 10 minutes in outdoor free play.
The conclusion is simple: play and nature aren’t extras — they’re essential.
Reparenting Through Play & Healing Ourselves, Too
Freedom Play isn’t just for the kids. It’s for the village builder in you.
When you offer your child the space to explore, you also open the door for your own healing. If you were taught to sit still, be quiet, or stop asking questions, this may be your first chance to reconnect with the joyful, playful parts of yourself.
To parent differently, we must first pause and ask: “What did I need?” Freedom Play gives you the chance to give it to yourself and your child.
How to Begin: Tools for Practicing Freedom Play
1. Create Invitations to Play
Set up simple, open-ended spaces: baskets of natural materials, a mud kitchen, or a corner of the park with logs and loose parts.
2. Step Back
Let your child lead. Boredom is not a crisis — it’s the beginning of creativity.
3. Embrace Nature
Find patches of green, dirt, or water. Nature is our co-facilitator.
4. Observe, Don’t Direct
Watch what your child is drawn to. Ask questions, but don’t solve problems for them.
5. Reclaim Your Joy
Join in. Build a fort. Splash in a puddle. Be present. You deserve joy, too.
Where To Go and Who To Go With
Play Cousins Collective: Community-rooted, culturally grounded play programs and ECE training with Bernheim Forest
Bernheim Forest: Offers Free Play Training, their onsite PlayCo System a nature based playground, trails, and experiences in nature
Louisville Nature Center: Offers trails and hands-on nature experiences
Louisville Free Public Library: Some branches offer open-ended craft and discovery areas
Playport: Gives children hands-on freedom play using repurposed construction and river artifacts, combined with educational signage and interactive STEM prompts
Community Centers: Open gym time, craft sessions, Freedom Play zones with outdoor play areas
Wilderness Louisville Inc: Offers freedom play opportunities through its Louisville ECHO program, which brings mobile nature play, like fort building, and mud kitchens to city neighborhoods via community centers and parks
Final Thought
“The opposite of play is not work. It's depression." – Dr. Stuart Brown
Freedom Play is a radical act of love and cultural memory. It is how we raise whole children. It is how we recover lost parts of ourselves. And it is how we restore the village.
We invite you, parent, caregiver, educator, elder, friend, to join us in this movement. To remember what our ancestors knew: that joy is a form of resistance. And that every Black child deserves to grow up free.
Let’s make space for play.
Let’s make space for healing.
Let’s raise free people. Together.