You can’t get a better playground or classroom for kids than in nature. My little boy Banjo (named after an Australian Bush Poet Banjo Patterson) is now three years old and has spent the majority of his life in the great outdoors.

We’re lucky because we live on a large property in the far north of Australia so there’s lots of exploring to be done every day, but the same goes for when I speak to my girlfriends with young families in big cities - they also share a love of being outside with their little ones in their garden, at the park or around water.

When you’ve got a newborn, baby or toddler you can feel isolated at times, and sometimes you’re so sleep deprived it’s hard to muster up the energy to play with toys, do art and craft or run around the house. Personally, my answer is to get out in nature. The fresh air makes me feel better and there are endless things for kids to do.

I have so many memories of being outside, laying on the grass, giving Banjo a basket and asking him to collect small rocks, or telling him to fill up a bowl with water and go on a flower and leaf adventure to fill the bowl of water with floating flowers. When he was a newborn, just staring at the leaves in the trees was his favourite thing to do, then as soon as he could walk and it began to rain, playing in puddles would go on for hours.

These little games kept him so entertained but also meant from such a young age he was engaging and connecting with nature. It was in nature that Banjo learnt to count to 3, understand all the different colours, textures, shapes and sizes. I used to sit with Banjo, and still do, as he learns to use his senses with nature, to touch, smell and taste sticks, grass and leaves.

Understanding and connection lead to respect of our natural world, which we all need. So many adults are disconnected from the environment and it’s because they stopped spending time in it, so being in the great outdoors from a young age is super important to us and our family.

Animals are another huge part of our life; we are fortunate enough to have a menagerie of pets that Banjo has gotten to know and relate to. We have a dingo, rescue fresh and saltwater crocodiles (our biggest is 18 foot), a dog called Remi, two 12-foot pythons, a grass snake, emus, potty calf and a wallaby. People always ask how we teach Banjo about the potential dangers of wild crocodiles and snakes in the same breath that we teach him to handle and touch our pet crocodiles and snakes. And it all comes down to respect over fear.

Our approach isn’t to scare him into staying away from snakes for example, but to explain there are pet snakes and wild snakes as well as venomous snakes and non-venomous snakes and that we need to understand how they live and respect them in their natural environment.

There are lots of snakes around where we live and they’re often getting run over on the roads. One of Banjo’s favourite things to do is jump out of the car with his dad and tail (pull) the non-venomous snake off the road and into the bushes so it doesn’t get hit. Banjo has tailed several snakes by himself as his Dad has stood beside him, encouraging him and teaching him what to look for, where to grab the snake and the reason for moving them. And if you ask Banjo now what to do if he sees a snake in the bushes where he’s playing, he says “run to get daddy” he knows not to touch them alone.

I’m currently 35 weeks pregnant with our second baby and we’re expecting a girl. I can’t wait to share the same experiences with her in nature and for Banjo to lead the way in showing her what he’s learned. Our life in the bush is a bit different to most and has been captured in Netflix’s new series Wild Croc Territory airing on October 12. It follows our family as we move across the Northern Territory running our remote adventure tourism businesses and helping my husband Matt Wright, who is an animal conservationist and helicopter pilot, get his job done.

Banjo ends up on some epic crocodile relocations with us, we go hunting for traditional bush tucker with our friends from the local Indigenous communities, fish for barramundi and build a remote tent for us all to live in on the Tiwi Islands. It’s full of adventure and shows how much fun it is for a young family to live off the grid in nature.

Check out these videos of 2-year-old Banjo tailing a python at home with his Dad here and exploring a creek bed with his Dad and a small crocodile here.

You can watch Kaia and her family’s adventures on “Wild Croc Territory” streaming globally on Netflix beginning October 12. And you can follow along with their adventures on Instagram @kaiawright1

Nature Is The Best Playground For Kids by Kaia Wright