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October 11 - October 22, 2023
But what if more toddlers spent their days watching real birds instead of playing Angry Birds on their iPads? What if more kindergartners actually got to grow gardens? What if more schools increased the length of recess instead of the number of standardized tests? And what if more children who act out were allowed to get out?
if we want children to care about nature, they need to spend time in it first.
In Sweden, friluftsliv is generally defined as “physical activity outdoors to get a change of scenery and experience nature, with no pressure to achieve or compete.”
Prioritize daily outdoor time from when your child is a baby to make it a natural part of your routine from the get-go. Remember that not every nature experience must entail a grand adventure to a scenic national park—watching a caterpillar make its way across a sidewalk or simply lying in the grass and watching the clouds go by in the backyard can be a great adventure to a small child. Celebrate these everyday nature experiences together, and come back to the same places often to make sure your child forms a bond with your community and its natural areas.
OUTDOOR NAPPING 101 The secret of outdoor napping is to dress for the weather, as it’s not good for the baby to be too hot or too cold. Dress the baby the way you would dress yourself, and don’t double up on everything just because you’re dressing a child. Lastly, use good judgment when determining whether the weather permits outdoor napping. These tips can help get you started: • Very young babies should sleep on their backs in a stroller that has a flat bottom or a bassinet attachment. • Place the stroller near a wall and out of the wind, and make sure that the baby is protected against
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There really isn’t anything you can do inside that you can’t do outside.”
In Finland, a country envied by educators worldwide as the only non-Asian country to consistently rank in the top ten on the PISA test, students typically get a fifteen-minute break after each lesson, averaging seventy-five minutes of recess every day. They also have fewer instructional hours than students in any other country in the developed world, and little homework, leaving the children with more time to play outside.
A meta-analysis of two hundred studies showed that physical activity during the school day resulted in increased fitness, better attitudes, and a slight improvement in test scores.
Most of what children need to learn during their early childhood years cannot be taught; it’s discovered through play. —RUTH WILSON
These parents had gotten the message from the US Department of Education, and it was crystal clear. Kids these days need to spend less time molding Play-Doh and more time preparing for their corporate careers.
“all children and young people need to play. The impulse to play is innate. Play is a biological, psychological and social necessity, and is fundamental to the healthy development and well-being of individuals and communities.”
Plato said that “the most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things.”
She strongly believes children learn more from direct experiences and play than when they are just asked to memorize information that is passed down to them by a teacher.
“We see childhood as an important part of a human’s life and not as a race to adulthood. We believe and respect the fact that children have the right to a happy childhood.”
Instead, she thinks education in the early years should focus on supporting children’s curiosity and sense of wonder, and getting them excited about the world
As a parent, a great way to support them is simply to spend a lot of time outside, ask open-ended questions, and encourage your child’s innate curiosity and willingness to investigate.
“When their senses are engaged, they are strengthening their sensory skills. And strong sensory integration results in a higher incidence of learning,”
Hanscom recommends as much as five to eight hours of active play every day, preferably outdoors, for toddlers and preschoolers, and four to five hours of physical activity and outdoor play for school-age children up to the age of thirteen.
A former soccer coach, Hinic believes children in general start organized sports too early, and that most children of preschool and early elementary school age benefit more from playing outside. “Kids shouldn’t get enrolled in organized sports until they want to themselves,” he says. “Sometimes you’ve got to wonder if it isn’t the parent that wants the child to start playing soccer, more than the child himself.”
But according to a review of current research on youth sports from the American College of Sports Medicine, it’s not possible to establish that playing sports actually prevents obesity.
When a research team in Sweden compared children at nine different preschools, they discovered that the longer the children played in high-quality outdoor environments—meaning places with plenty of trees, shrubs, rocks, and hills—the more likely they were to have a normal body mass index and the less likely they were to be overweight.
when Ingunn Fjørtoft, a professor at Telemark University in Porsgrunn, Norway, compared five- to seven-year-olds at three different kindergartens in Norway, she found that those who played in the forest daily had significantly better balance and coordination than children who only played on a traditional playground.
“When your child comes to you and says he’s so ‘booored,’ give him a hug and tell him, ‘Good luck, my friend! I look forward to seeing what you get up to.’”
If you can help children love nature, they will take care of nature, because you cherish things you love. —MULLE
if you harm nature, in the end you also harm yourself.
“When you spend time in nature you learn to understand and take care of nature,” says Susanne Drougge,
“If you can help children love nature, they will take care of nature, because you cherish things you love.”
Messy, wild play is seen as a perfectly natural, even cherished part of childhood in Scandinavia, and the way I was raised, muddy hands, piles of filthy clothes, and wet boots were almost considered badges of honor, a testament to a day filled with adventure, new experiences, and lots of trial and error.
Human ecology researcher Ebba Lisberg Jensen at Malmö University believes the anxiety over so-called risky play is a result of the fact that society has become so safe and secure. “The safety becomes a little bit of a trap. We want more and more safety, and it’s just never safe enough. This is what we call ‘care anxiety,’” she says. “Once you’ve secured your children’s safety, you somehow feel like you’ve succeeded, and that in turns creates positive reinforcement.”
Peter Gray, research professor of psychology at Boston College, says that not only is risky play beneficial to children’s health and development but that depriving them of it can cause harm.
risky play is nature’s way for children to teach themselves emotional resilience and learn how to manage and overcome their fears.
Gray draws a straight line from the decline in children’s freedom to play and embrace risk to the dramatic rise in childhood mental disorders like anxiety and d...
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“Keep playing, my little trolls. Just keep playing.”
3. Fresh air is good for you. Yup, our parents were right when they told us that getting fresh air every day was good for us. Spending more time outside can reduce the risk for common infections, nearsightedness, vitamin D deficiency, and obesity, as well as lessen symptoms of ADHD, anxiety, and depression. Tip: It works wonders for adults too.
Just let them play. No employer in his right mind will care if your child started reading at age four or seven. Let your preschooler bake mud pies and worry about academics later. Unstructured outdoor play has everything kids need for healthy physical, social, and cognitive development in the early years. Older kids need time to play too; busiest extracurricular schedule by third grade does NOT win.
By immersing kids in the natural world early, we’re increasing the chances of them wanting to take care of it later in life.
