Bindi Irwin is Australian sunshine personified, and even though it was evening for me when I called her, her warmth radiated from the phone. Despite her busy life — helping her family run the Australia Zoo, traveling the world to support wildlife conservation efforts, and fighting endometriosis on top of raising her 2.5-year-old daughter Grace Warrior — Bindi opened up to SheKnows about the importance of taking time to play with her family. We chatted about how the Irwins handle playdates, what her dad, the late Steve Irwin, taught her about venomous snakes, and the one non-negotiable part of her day.
Like all kids, Bindi loved to play. Except growing up with parents Steve and Terri Irwin, and younger brother Robert, with the Australia Zoo as her backyard, her playtime likely looked a little different.
“We were kind of this wild family,” Bindi tells me with a laugh. “I grew up within Australia Zoo, so my home and my backyard is a sanctuary filled with wildlife. Growing up, we traveled a lot for our conservation work as well, and no matter where we were or what we were doing, we would always have playtime together as a family.”
She shares that some of her “best memories” were made playing with her parents and brother. “It was so incredibly special that they always set aside time to just have fun,” she continues, adding that she was “pretty much never indoors.”
“I was always running around in the creek or running around with animals or climbing a tree,” she says. “Honestly, looking back, I now really revel in the fact that I was so lucky to be able to have that childhood. I feel very, very blessed that I got that time with my family to run around as a wild child. And it was so much fun! It’s so much fun to have parents that just jump in with you and go. I think my dad was a very good example. What you saw on television was really him. He just had this hurricane-like energy; he would always just pick us up and off we’d go on an adventure together. And it was the very best.”
Because play was such an important part of Bindi’s childhood, she partnered with LEGO Group for their new Play Is Your Superpower campaign, which highlights a recent global study that found on average kids are spending just 2% of their week (or about seven hours) playing, with one in three (32%) spending less than three hours each week enjoying play. The study also found the average adult spends 26 hours a week scrolling on their smartphone, which is more than 3.5 hours per day. To make matters worse, the study found 70% of parents are prioritizing achievement-based activities over free play, believing “that it will lead [children] to greater success in the future.”
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“This current play deficit is a cause for concern for experts given the crucial role of play in shaping a child’s cognitive abilities, overall wellbeing and most importantly, in them having fun,” the LEGO Group said in a statement.
Irwin credits playtime for helping foster a lifetime love of animals and the world around her. “I really found that in my play, I wanted to connect with flora and fauna and every wildlife species that I could possibly imagine,” she says. “So if we didn’t have an animal at Australia Zoo, I would imagine I was playing with it and create my own little world, which was a lot of fun. You know, I’d be running around with red pandas in the Himalayas in my imagination or elephants on the African savanna. And I think that playtime really encouraged in me that connection with the natural world. It’s something I loved the most and it carried on throughout my entire life even today.”
Sounds similar to my own childhood, except I would imagine I was a reporter running around my neighborhood with a pen and paper to “investigate” missing dogs and other goings-on in the neighborhood, interview siblings, and create faux magazine layouts which fostered a love of communication and journalism that I still hold dear today! It’s wild to think how important can play be — and how much it can shape your future.
“Those moments of connection with play I still draw upon as an adult, and I think that’s really, really special,” Bindi says. “[P]laytime is so important because it gives kids the opportunity to have those building blocks for the foundation for the rest of their life. It really gives you this opportunity to learn and discover — almost like accidentally learning something along the way. You play and you’re building confidence, you’re expanding on your knowledge, and discovering the magic of the world around you.”
“As adults, sometimes we forget that childlike play is so important for the joy in your heart,” she tells SheKnows.
Now, the Irwins continue playing together as a family, which Bindi calls “so much fun” and something that “brings that joy back to life.”
“I think you’re never too old to have a play,” she adds with a laugh. “Play may look different as you get older, but it’s so important to have that playful energy in your life.”
For the Irwins, playtime involves spending time with Bindi’s daughter Grace, who she shares with husband Chandler Powell. Can you imagine what a playdate with Grace Warrior Irwin Powell would be like?! Bindi shares, “Playdates for our family are a lot of fun. Because we live in Australia Zoo, I feel like every day turns into a bit of a playdate for our family,” she laughs. “We have so many guests that visit Australia Zoo … so we just all end up hanging out with other parents and kids and it’s really, really fun.”
Bindi reveals that her family has friends “from all over the world” that work on their conservation properties with their families. “Our playdates are a little not-usual … we end up having playdates in the middle of Western Queensland surrounded by emus, so it’s a lot of fun. I guess that’s the Irwins for you,” she jokes.
Often their play involves spending time with the animals at Australia Zoo — we’ve all seen the adorable videos of little Grace! — but sometimes Bindi has to be careful teaching Grace, and other kids visiting the zoo, how to be safe around animals.
“When I was little, when my parents were working with venomous snakes, they wanted to make sure that it was completely safe,” Bindi recalls. “But when you’re three or four years old, you can’t really understand the concept of ‘venomous.’ So my mum and dad would say to me, they’d go, ‘Bindi, this snake is hot, so you can’t come near it.’ As a little child, I understand the concept of hot — can’t touch that because it’s hot. So that was something that my parents said to me that I started using as a parent myself. ‘We have to be careful because this animal is a little hot. So we can’t go near it, we can’t touch it.’ I love those little educational tools to build an understanding.”
She also wants to make sure kids understand “how an animal moves and reacts.” So teach kids that mice will tend to scamper by, so you don’t need to give them space — whereas a snake or a spider do need space. “I think that that education on how an animal behaves is really valuable in being comfortable in the natural world,” she explains. “So I’ll always be grateful to my parents for giving me those tools, and as a parent now, I’m able to use those tools that they imparted when I was a kid and it’s been really helpful for me.”
There is one non-negotiable for the Irwin family to help foster a love of wildlife, play, and family time: going on family walks together. “In the mornings and the evenings, no matter what is happening during the day, we always go out on a family zoo walk,” she says — which sounds absolutely magical! They stroll through the zoo gardens and check on the animals, making sure everyone is fed and happy, and go around exploring, which Bindi finds “very soothing.”
“No matter what has happened during the day, whether it’s a really fun and exciting day, or it’s a more challenging day, I really look forward to that time where I know I’m going to be with my family, I know that I’m going to turn off my phone, and I just enjoy the time and really try to let everything else go and be completely present,” Bindi says. “Because sometimes we forget to do that because life is such a whirlwind. So if you can find that time to be utterly present with your family it really helps feed your soul. It’s just good for your heart. I love that time.”
The Irwins aren’t so different from us! It’s just their family time happens at a zoo instead of a neighborhood or local park. But the feeling of togetherness and play is what’s most important.
Bindi — who proclaimed me and my three sons official Wildlife Warriors — encouraged me and our readers to go out and spend time with those you love, enjoying each other’s presence and just having fun playing together, both on World Play Day on Oct. 12 and beyond.
“It’s so special, isn’t it?” she asks me. “I mean those moments that you get to share, they are the best. I feel like that’s the magic of life. Those joyful moments with the people you love. Oh, my goodness! It feels like the meaning of everything.” She’s so right!
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