Our Story

“Let nature be your teacher.”

William Wordsworth

The Craft of Play story begins shortly after founder Robert Wagmiller and his wife Jennifer adopted their two sons from China. Bob wanted his boys, Will and Lucas, to have the kind of happy, free, and independent childhood he had back in Ohio in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Bob’s childhood was one lived mostly outdoors. He explored nature, played outside, and roamed the neighborhood with friends and his brother. Afternoons after school and summer days were spent finding fossils, climbing trees, fording rivers and streams, catching frogs and snakes, and building forts and dams. He played basketball in the driveway and football and baseball in the backyard. He and his friends rode bikes around the immediate and surrounding neighborhoods

Outside of the school day, his childhood was by-and-large child-led, child-organized, and child-directed. It was a world in which kids chose what to do, what the rules would be, picked sides, and resolved their disputes. It was an era in which kids of different ages played together, allowing older kids to take on leadership roles and younger kids to learn new skills. It was a childhood that was, in short, free, fun, and independent.  

Drawing on his two decades of expertise as a university professor specializing in child development and his pre-graduate school time working in construction and home remodeling, Bob set out to design and build a backyard that would draw his kids and their friends outdoors for free play. His aim was to create a backyard that was more enticing than the iPhone, iPad, Xbox/Switch, and TV.

His designs for the boys’ backyard playscape, like Craft of Play designs today, emphasized the use natural materials and forms to create a built environment that challenges kids physically and cognitively, stokes their natural curiosity and desire to explore the world around them, and encourages them to take risks and test their abilities. Elements of his initial design included a large sandbox bordered by oak logs with glacial boulders in the sand pit for enhanced play opportunities and aesthetics, a hand-hewn 15’ long ash balance beam set between two 4’ high oak logs, twin black walnut log bridges over a backyard stream, and a clubhouse featuring a reading pod, climbing wall, a vintage 1930’s speedbag assembly, a maple and walnut art and tinkering desk, and a reclaimed chalkboard from a one-room schoolhouse in Virginia.

The boys’ playscape quickly became a gathering spot for the boys’ friends to gather and play freely. Bob’s constant refrain to other parents after school and during the summer was “If you don’t mind low-level parental supervision, send your kids down to play freely with the boys outdoors.” Many did.

After several summers watching his boys and their friends spend endless hours laughing, running, jumping, climbing, and inventing games in their new playscape, Bob launched The Craft of Play to design and build unique backyard play experiences for other families committed to free outdoor play. His passion and the mission of The Craft of Play is to create beautiful backyard play spaces that are organically connected to the natural features of a landscape and draw kids outside for free, challenging, and self-directed play.