The backyard has long been a space associated with recreation and relaxation, a private patch of earth to escape to, and a springboard for the imagination. In her signature style and drawing on her personal experience as a mother, gardener, and author, Amanda Thomsen encourages kids to create kingdoms of their own making, right in their own backyards. With whimsical projects for every season and any setting, from forest to pavement, fun-seeking kids and their families will rediscover the yard as a place for inspired play, using repurposed materials and existing features of outdoor spaces. Whether they’re creating tiny gardens inhabited by action figures, weaving a secret hideaway out of a loom of twine and twigs, or setting sidewalk cracks on fire with Coffeemate, Backyard Adventure lets kids of all ages turn their yards into a place they can call their own.   “Rocket fuel for a free-range childhood.” — Lenore Skenazy, president of Let Grow and founder of Free-Range Kids  “Play is the work of childhood and modern kids are play-deficient. Backyard Adventure provides the healthy injection of play all children need. They’ll never realize they’re learning physics, chemistry, botany, and engineering — they’ll be having too much fun!” — Katherine Reynolds Lewis, author of The Good News About Bad Behavior: Why Kids Are Less Disciplined Than Ever — And What to Do About It “Wow, what a treasure trove of ideas and projects. I was laughing and saying aloud, YES, YES, YES! Amanda Thomsen understands that the simplest things in nature are what nurture young souls and spirits. Hurrah!” —  Sharon Lovejoy, Author of Roots, Shoots, Buckets Boots, Sunflower Houses, Camp Granny and many more favorite books for children Permission to Play – Granted! Set kids loose and let their imaginations run wild with inspired ideas for self-directed play. Bolts, buckets, bubble wrap, and other everyday items become the building blocks of free-play fun. Kids are transformed into the independent masterminds of their own mud labs and confident kings and queens of their cardboard castles. Make exploding sidewalk chalk, bang on a wall of noise, fly high in a tire swing, launch amazing science experiments, perform on your own outdoor stage, build a straw bale fort, slip & slide on paint, weave through a yarn lazer maze! Amanda Thomsen is a professional gardener and the author of  Backyard Adventure.  She lives in the suburbs of Chicago with her husband and daughter, where she owns and operates Aster Gardens, a nursery, garden gift shop, and landscape design center. She can be found online at kissmyaster.com and on Instagram @KissMyAster and @Shop.Aster.Gardens.