Languages of Encounter is a way of framing some of the key mechanisms through which children engage with, get to know, and make active meaning with the world—especially with the outdoors but, ultimately, in and across all of the spaces within which they live their lives. I invite you to consider with me, how play connects children to at least two planes of existence at the same time—the present moment (what we might call a real world) and, simultaneously, to a layer of fantasy (the otherworld).