Children and Nature

Smokey Nielsen, Early Childhood Educator

What has happened to children and families in America? They have stopped going outside! According to Dr. Marti Erickson, a former researcher on children’s health and well being at the University of Minnesota, parents in their 30’s, are the last group of parents to have played freely outdoors. Research gives 3 reasons for this:

• Parents fear of abduction and/or their fear of nature.
  Are we as a society becoming overprotective of our children? Studies show that abduction happens rarely and there are things you can do to protect your child.
  
  
• The amount of technology now available.
  Studies show that school-age children spend 45 hours-a-week on screen time. Get your child outdoors before they are hooked on screen time.
  
  
• Lack of access to natural environments.
  Lack of access is caused by the growth of our cities and suburbs and the amount of busy streets and highways that come from this growth.
  

How can we get our children outdoors and why should we? What do children learn from playing out doors? According to Dr. Marti Erickson the benefits are:

• Better physical health
• Reduced stress and anxiety
• Better concentration
• Improved cooperation, problem-solving, and creativity
• More likely to be stewards of the environment when they become adults.

What to Do Outside with Our Children:

Infants:

• Take daily walks and let your child touch the different textures outside: stones, sticks, leaves, flower petals, grass and tree bark.
• Take a blanket out doors for “tummy time.”
• Have naptime for baby under the shade of a tree.
• When your baby is fussy walk him/her outside where you both can relax.

Toddlers: 

• Go for daily nature walks and bring a basket or pail to collect your toddler’s treasures.
• Talk to the birds and animals you see, say hello and good bye to the flowers, birds, and trees to build language skills.
• Build a tent outdoors with blankets and a table or chairs.
• Go outside on rainy days to feel the rain and splash in puddles.
• In the winter go sliding on small hills, build a snowman adding carrots, berries, and nuts for its face and buttons so you can later watch the birds eat.

Preschoolers: 

• Continue with the toddler activities but allow your child freedom to explore more independently.
• When collecting things on your walks look them up on the Internet or in books to add to your child’s knowledge. Have them make a collage of what they have collected or begin a collection of rocks. Draw a picture about their favorite part of their time outdoors and then you write the words to their story.
• Give your child a space in your yard where they can look under rocks and find bugs.

• Go to a farmers market and let your child pick out new things to help you make and then taste at home. Ask a farmer if you could visit their farm so your child can learn about how things grow.
• Plant a garden at home.
• At night take a blanket and lay on a hill to see the stars. Before doing this look on the Internet or go to the library to get a book on stars so you can find the constellations.
• In the winter have your child take care of the bird feeders in your yard.  Make a graph to keep tack of what birds come to feed.

• Go to nature centers: the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge Center in Bloomington or Woodlake Nature Center in South Minneapolis
  
  
  
  
  

Additional Resources:

www.childrenandnature.org

www.greenhour.org

Driscoll, Michael: “A Child’s introduction to the Night Sky: The Story of the Stars, Planets and Constellations-and How you Can Find them in the Sky”.

Louv, Richard: Last child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder”.