During the last playdate at our house, the two oldest children, aged 10 and 11, ran inside full of wonder and excitement.

“Aunty Sarah, look what we found!” 

They had found a snail! But to their disappointment, it was an empty shell with no snail inside. We often find lots of snails in our garden. To be honest, they are quite the pest as they eat the leaves off my beautiful plants. I encouraged them to go back and try to find one that was alive. A snail might have been something they hadn’t even seen before. 

That moment stayed with me, because so many children are growing up today without ever playing in nature and encountering simple wonders like this.

We live in Lagos, Nigeria, a city of over 25 million people, often described as a concrete jungle. Green spaces are scarce. The few parks available are far from accessible to most families, and areas that once held trees, soil, and life are steadily being replaced by housing developments and concrete structures.

As a result, many children are growing up with little-to-no access to nature.

Instead, they spend increasing amounts of time indoors, often on screens. Physical activity is declining. Concerns around childhood obesity, as well as mental and emotional health, are rising.

As Christians, we affirm that children are not simply future adults to be prepared, but image-bearers of God, already participating in his world. The hope is for them to reach their intellectual capabilities and mature into healthy, thriving individuals, and make this world more fruitful.

We long to see them flourish holistically.

And yet, one vital means in this process has been overlooked, undervalued, even dismissed because it seems too simple, too unserious:

Play.

Peter Gray, a leading expert in childhood development, writing in his book Free to Learn, notes that as opportunities for free play have declined, so too has the mental health of children and adolescents. He argues that play is not optional—it is essential. Through play, children develop the character needed to navigate life.

Play is the language of childhood. It is through play that children explore, imagine, test boundaries, solve problems, and make sense of the world God has made. In play, they are not stepping away from formation; they are participating in it.

And nature, in particular, offers a uniquely rich environment for this kind of free play.

In natural spaces, children are invited into a world not entirely pre-designed for them. They must engage it, interpret it, and respond creatively within it. A stick becomes a wand, a tool, or a marker in a game. A collection of bottle caps becomes a system of trade or play. A fallen log becomes a ship, a balance beam, or a place to gather.

In such spaces, children exercise imagination, creativity, and responsibility.

They encounter not only creation, but their place within it.

In our own small way, we are trying to create spaces where this can be experienced.

We open our home regularly to children in our community. There is lots of excitement when they get to come to “Aunty Sarah and Uncle Dami’s House”. The last play date we had was full of soapy trampoline time, water balloon and water gun fights, a mini game of football, and building sand castles in the sand pit. 

There is laughter. There is movement. There is exploration. There is play.

And while these moments may appear ordinary, they are not insignificant. Through them, children are being shaped, learning to take risks, to relate to one another, to navigate conflict, and to delight in the goodness of creation.

At the same time, these moments offer a foretaste of something greater. They point us toward the hope of God’s coming kingdom.

In Zechariah 8:4–5, we read “Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem…The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”

Here, the presence of children playing freely and safely is a sign of restoration. It reflects a community marked by peace, trust, and wholeness under God’s reign.

So as we dream of creating more spaces like this for more children in the city of Lagos, we are doing more than meeting a present need. We are participating in a future hope.

We are longing for God’s Kingdom to come. And we join in the prayer:

Come, Lord Jesus.