Kristen Day & Play · For event programs and promotion
Bio &
Stage Intro
Copy and paste what you need. No permission required.
Full bio for programs, websites, and registration pages
Kristen Day is the retired founder of Butterfly Hill Nature Preschool, the first play, nature, and forest school in central Minnesota, which she opened in 2014. A magical little world where mud pies are gourmet cuisine, sticks are wands, and childhood reigns supreme.
Her seventeen years in early childhood covered family child care, public school K through 2, traditional preschool, and eight years in the preschool she built herself. Somewhere in there she stumbled on a truth she cannot stop shouting from the rooftops: play-based learning is not optional. It is essential.
Now, as a keynote speaker, author of I’m Not Getting Them Ready For Kindergarten, and host of The Play Based Learning Podcast, Kristen mixes her B.A. in Elementary and Early Childhood Education with a whole lot of real-life mess, magic, and mischief. She has been speaking to early childhood audiences since 2018 and has worked with tens of thousands of educators across the United States, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, and Australia.
On stage she is funny, dramatic, and real. Her style gets described as a conversation with a best friend. She is the Lorax of early childhood education, there to speak for the children, and she leaves a room motivated to stand up for childhood.
Also: mom of four, donut enthusiast, book hoarder, and a travel junkie who thinks every airport latte tastes better on the way to someplace new.
Short bio for a printed program or a tight space
Kristen Day founded Butterfly Hill Nature Preschool, the first play, nature, and forest school in central Minnesota, and taught there for eight years. Her seventeen years in early childhood also spanned family child care, public school K through 2, and traditional preschool. She is the author of I’m Not Getting Them Ready For Kindergarten, host of The Play Based Learning Podcast, and has been speaking to early childhood audiences since 2018. Her mission is simple: help educators rediscover the wonder of play and give children the childhoods they deserve.
One line for a social post or a schedule grid
Keynote speaker, author of I’m Not Getting Them Ready For Kindergarten, host of The Play Based Learning Podcast, and your new play-based BFF.
Headshots and logos
High resolution photos and the Kristen Day & Play logo are at kristenrbpeterson.com/presenting under the planner toolkit. Please use one of those rather than a screenshot from social media, and no filters or recoloring on the logo.
How to say it
Kristen Day. Rhymes with “listen.” She previously went by Kristen RB Peterson, so if you have older paperwork or a returning attendee asks, that is the same person. Butterfly Hill is two words.
Tag her
Instagram and TikTok @kristen.day.and.play · Facebook @kristenrbpeterson · YouTube @kristendayandplay
Read this out loud
Stage
Introduction
For whoever is introducing Kristen. This is set in 18 point so you can read it from a lectern without squinting. Takes about 75 seconds. The pink lines are stage directions for you rather than words to say. Pause where the paragraphs break, and let the questions land before you move on.
Start with the questions. Let each one sit for a beat.
Does it sometimes seem that childhood has become a race? Learn faster, grow faster, get ready for the next stage?
Or that our children are stressed out, and needing something different from us?
Maybe that leaves you wondering what we could actually do differently for the young children in our care.
Now the shared ground. Warmer, slower.
Early childhood educators like us understand how much developmentally informed teaching matters. Ninety percent of the brain develops before the age of five, and brain research tells us that development happens authentically, through play.
Build the energy here. This is the turn.
Our next speaker is on a mission to get more play back into our days with children, so we can give them the childhood they deserve. A childhood filled with wonder, discovery, curiosity, and creativity.
Land it. Big and warm.
Author of I’m Not Getting Them Ready For Kindergarten, host of The Play Based Learning Podcast, and your new play-based BFF. Please join me in welcoming Kristen Day!
Lead the applause.
