Society too disconnected with nature - Home & Garden - MiamiHerald.com

Society too disconnected with nature - Home & Garden - MiamiHerald.com

You'll have to excuse me if these next few items aren't timely. I save them when I see them and rarely have time to post them. Regardless of when they were written they're still very pertinent.

Full article can be read from the link above.   

Understanding nature helps children see the interconnectedness of our ecosystem and the delicate balance required to preserve it. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

Do you notice a disconnect between the natural world and our daily life? Do you wonder why obesity is quickly becoming our country’s biggest health issue? Questions like these prompted author Richard Louv to coin the term “nature-deficit disorder” in response to the growing problems that stem from society’s dependence on the indoors. The concept that we need to unplug and spend more time outdoors is not a recent development; botanical educators have been sounding the same anthem for decades.

Why is it important to connect to our natural world? Can’t we just learn what we need from the Discovery Channel or our iPad?

While it may seem frivolous to schedule “outdoor time,” researchers are finding that it can contribute to our physical and mental health, especially in children. It has been found that children who have access to and utilize outdoor spaces are less likely to exhibit symptoms of attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, have less anxiety and improved balance skills. They are also less likely to become overweight and are able to cope with stressful situations better than children who do not have outdoor experiences.

How can we overcome nature-deficit disorder? Believe it or not, pediatricians are now prescribing “nature” to their patients who are struggling with obesity and other health issues. Garden strolls and retreats to natural areas have long been used by physicians to help their patients.

You don’t have to wait for a doctor to tell you to get outside — be sure to enjoy those moments daily. Allow for children to have “unstructured” time when they can use their imaginations and explore their world.

Safe places to play are very important. Botanic gardens, school gardens, parks and even your own backyard can all be perfect areas to help children (and adults) overcome nature-deficit disorder.

As we dedicate time to observing nature, we develop a “sense of place.” What is a sense of place? It is something different for each of us but a very important component of a healthy life. Knowing who you are and where you came from enables you to see where you want to go and what possibilities are in your future. As we move towards a global society where information is just a click away, these local connections become even more vital in building our concept of self.

When we look at the bigger picture, engaging in outdoor play not only benefits us physically, it also opens doors to understanding the natural rhythms and life cycles of our local environment. Getting to know your neighbors — local plants, animals and humans — allows you to see the interconnectedness of our ecosystem and the delicate balance we all must work to preserve.

Ready to accept the challenge? Go ahead, unplug your laptop, leave your phone at home and take a walk in the natural beauty that is all around you!

Learning for Life: Practical Tips for Making Outdoor Learning a Reality (Guest Post by Emily Plank)

Learning for Life: Practical Tips for Making Outdoor Learning a Reality (Guest Post by Emily Plank)

You'll have to excuse me if these next few items aren't timely. I save them when I see them and rarely have time to post them.  Regardless of when they were written they're still very pertinent.

Great guest post on Learning for Life by Emily Plank. Whilst I can quite easily design a natural playspace we often forget that naturalistic play and the benefits derived from it are a state of mind, both for educators and children. Emily provides a detailed and practical account of her personal experience in developing both a natural play philosophy and natural play space area/experiences.  


"Absolutely delighted to have Emily from Abundant Life Children guest posting this week, sharing her thoughts on how to create an outdoor area that allows for real quality learning.

Emily Plank is passionately passionate about care for children in their early years. She is a play-enthusiast, expert block-builder, and skilled storyteller, honing her skills during her days with the children at her in-home program, Abundant Life Children. When she’s not playing, she is tirelessly spreading the message of play and respect to those who work with children (teachers, parents, and policy makers) through her blog, abundantlifechildren.com, and her in-person workshops and presentations.



Practical Tips for Making Outdoor Learning a Reality

I am one of those “outdoor education” types: championing the child’s right to be muddy, cheering unstructured time in nature, encouraging adventure, and supporting efforts to unplug. Yet, despite my utopian idea of young children busily building forts or crouching to inspect the tiny wings of a moth, actually developing a style of education that works outside is an ongoing challenge!
I grew up a city girl in Southern California. Despite what you might assume, I spent a good deal of time outside engaged in typical childhood endeavors of tree climbing and endless swinging. Mostly, I remember playing for long stretches with my brothers or my friends, making up story lines to mimic the realities we observed around us.

My mission as an early childhood educator has been to identify the critical elements of nature play and find a way to make those elements work-able in my day-to-day experience. I am an in-home care provider, meaning I am charged with the care and education of a small crew of seven children with a wide age range (currently, 15 months old – 4.5 years old). They arrive at my home around 8:00 am and stay until 5:30 pm. I am responsible for preparing meals (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack). I clean, I assist with toileting, I encourage thoughtful interactions between children, and I structure the day.

Through the process of developing my space, I have found several key elements and ways of implementing those elements that have been very successful in my setting.

1. Defined spaces. Environment signals usage. Cluttered spaces signify high intensity activities and chaos (think giant, unordered toy boxes). Partitioned, disconnected spaces suggest inflexibility in material movement. Wide-open fields offer spaces for running and kick a ball, but limit small-motor, creative play.

Strategically designing an outdoor classroom involves balancing the many uses: areas for art, areas for small gatherings of 1-2 children, open areas for running and jumping, areas for creative expression, and areas for messy and dirty play. One of our favorite and most frequently used areas is a large rectangular area with a mulch base. It serves as our art and outdoor eating area, since it is a natural space for messy activities.


2. Independence – keeping the children in charge. My firm belief is that one of the greatest gifts we can give to children is to foster their sense of competency. How frustrating is it to want to do something, but lack the ability? An outdoor classroom should provide lots of child sized items, movable step stools, and clearly defined and age-appropriate expectations.

On nice days, we frequently take our shoes off outside (sand + shoes = bummer!). But, keeping track of seven pairs of shoes is an impossible task for me. Children at Abundant Life are clear about the expectation: if you take your shoes off, put them on the shoe shelf where they can be easily found later.

3. Water. For play, and for washing. Children need water to facilitate their experiences with other materials (dirt, sand, grass, etc.), to expand their basic mathematical and spatial development, and to clean up when they are ready to come inside.

A water hose with an on-off valve that children can activate on their own, a sophisticated water pump allowing children to draw water whenever they want, or even a large group size water thermos on a low table can provide the opportunity for children to collect water for their play whenever they want.


4. Specific interest areas. The following is a list of areas that I think are a “must have” in outdoor classrooms. Some of these areas rotate in my outdoor classroom, but all are available at any moment when the need arises.

Digging space – an unused dirt patch in the corner or a dedicated sandbox. Children should be able to dig deep and mix with water. Keeping kitchen materials nearby facilitates dramatic play with mud or sand.

Levels – children want to climb in order to see the world from a different point of view. When we finished digging for our sand pits, we used the dirt to create a grassy knoll in the middle of our yard. Large tree stumps, moveable wooden crates, or heavy-duty wooden blocks that can be stacked accomplish the same idea.

Tinkering area – loose parts and fasteners. Consider hammers and nails, string, tape, glue, natural materials such as pinecones and acorns, small pieces of wood, wooden wheels, and popsicle sticks.







Mixing station – an assortment of dry and liquid materials for children to combine and mix. In the past, we’ve included oats, vinegar, oil, baking soda, lotion, syrup, liquid water color, sand, dried beans, rice, and sequins. Some areas prohibit the use of food items for sensory play as it can send a conflicting message about the use of food, so deciding on what materials to include requires some reflection.

What about you? My outdoor program is always changing…do you have ideas that are on your “must-include” list when you take children outside? Leave a note below in the comments – I’d love to hear your ideas!

Let your children go tree-climbing: National Trust attacks parents who mollycoddle | Mail Online

Let your children go tree-climbing: National Trust attacks parents who mollycoddle | Mail Online
You'll have to excuse me if these next few items aren't timely. I save them when I see them and rarely have time to post them.  Regardless of when they were written they're still very pertinent.

Another report examining how phantom fears of potential liability and a hyperactive media have been instrumental in separating children and nature. Not really sure about, "a generation of weaklings"
Full article can be read from the link above.   

Children are being cut off from nature by mollycoddling parents who refuse to let them play out in the rain, climb trees and get dirty, according to a National Trust inquiry.

In a report out today, the charity urges parents to give youngsters wellies and a raincoat and send them outdoors to build dens, make mud pies and go bug-hunting.

It warns that children are increasingly leading ‘sedentary and sheltered’ lives due to health and safety fears, the rise of indoor entertainment such as video games and the decline of outdoor activities in school.

Children should be encouraged to play outdoors and allowed to climb trees, according to a National Trust inquiry

Council bureaucrats and police sometimes have ‘negative attitudes’ and regard outdoor play as ‘something to be stopped rather than encouraged’. But parents are the most powerful influence over their children’s exposure to nature and the countryside, the two-month inquiry concluded.

Interviews with groups of children found that many had picked up messages from their parents that the outdoors is dangerous and they shouldn't go out in the rain in case they ‘slip or catch a cold’. Activities such as climbing trees were also seen as too risky.

Only older boys were regularly allowed out without an adult, with others closely supervised, according to the interviews conducted by research firm Childwise on behalf of the Trust.

Grandparents also have a role to play, according to the inquiry, since they are likely to have spent more time outdoors as children and could pass this on to younger generations. The National Trust inquiry, which canvassed the views of organisations and members of the public as well as children, also found that youngsters’ time is ‘over-scheduled and pressured’ – often with activities that cost money.

‘The power of family life in shaping children’s experiences was perhaps the most emphatic message underlined by respondents,’ the report said. The inquiry was launched following the publication of a report in March, commissioned by the Trust, which found that children’s health and well-being was being damaged because they are losing touch with nature.

Stephen Moss, the naturalist and broadcaster who wrote the report, warned that youngsters were suffering from ‘nature deficit disorder’ and growing up ‘a generation of weaklings’.

The Ecology of Hope: Reconnecting Children and Nature : Living Green Magazine

The Ecology of Hope: Reconnecting Children and Nature : Living Green Magazine


You'll have to excuse me if these next few items aren't timely. I save them when I see them and rarely have time to post them.  Regardless of when they were written they're still very pertinent.

Great article. It focusses on the idea that just like hair or eye colour, comprehension and appreciation of  nature is hereditary. Hereditary in the nurture sense.


Full article can be read from the link above.   

Ecology is a term my grandfather, Perl Charles, taught me. He was born in 1899, the oldest of four children of Bula and Tom Charles, who settled in New Mexico in 1907. Granddad, as were many in the family, was a lifelong conservationist. Humorous and wise, he epitomized common sense.

He taught me that all parts of any environment, living and nonliving, exist in relationship to one another in an ecology. Combine ecology with hope, and we get what I am calling the Ecology of Hope.

For many reasons, beginning with the enormity of the challenges we face – from the malaise of the culture of depression to the ravages of lost biodiversity and global climate change, to the fragmentation of families, to the disillusion of many youth – we, who can, need to demonstrate the positive power of the Ecology of Hope.

We can exercise the will, make conscious choices, and cultivate a sense of efficacy in ourselves and others. We can make life better for children, and ourselves, by opening the door to the first classroom – the natural world, from backyards to neighborhoods to parks and public places.

We can inspire in children a belief that the world can be a better place. We can go a long way to achieving that goal by reconnecting children and nature.

......We together can heal the separation between children and nature. We can reestablish a healthy, natural balance between technology and natural systems. We can build a movement that succeeds in reconnecting children and nature and in that process inspires a new generation to believe in a better future.

We can be a generation that leaves a legacy of leadership and an Ecology of Hope.


Cheryl Charles, Ph.D., is an educator, author, innovator and organizational executive, and cofounder of the Children & Nature Network(Cnaturenet.org).

Suzuki Foundation and teachers make connecting kids with nature part of the lesson plan - thestar.com

Suzuki Foundation and teachers make connecting kids with nature part of the lesson plan - thestar.com

You'll have to excuse me if these next few items aren't timely. I save them when I see them and rarely have time to post them.  Regardless of when they were written they're still very pertinent.

Full article can be read from the link above.   

Mother Nature is not far beyond the classroom door. But when schoolchildren go looking for her, it often involves bus rides, permission slips and expeditions to conservation areas.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Especially this fall, when teachers of Grades 4 and 6 will have a new tool to get kids outside and immersed in the nature at their fingertips.

Connecting with Nature is a new educational guide developed by the David Suzuki Foundation and Nipissing University’s Schulich School of Education. The 170-page book is available for free on the foundation’s website.

“It expands the walls of the classroom, it goes beyond the blackboard and gets (students) out there using their senses as they learn,” says Jenny Guibert, one of two project managers for the guide and an education instructor at Nipissing’s Brantford campus. “It’s how kids get that instant connection with nature.”

....That’s why the 16 lesson plans — aligned with the Ontario curriculum — include activities like a walkabout in the schoolyard to identify nature, and treks through the neighbourhood to find sources of water, pollinators and to track how many people are walking, cycling, driving or waiting at bus stops. These then become springboards for discussing topics like biodiversity, water conservation and green transportation.

.....Until recently, the focus was on teaching kids about issues like recycling and climate change. Now, it’s on cultivating a love of nature first, and helping children recognize and appreciate it exists.“That has to be the starting point, especially with that age group,” says Clare. “You want to build on that sense of wonder.”

.....The Toronto District School Board is enthusiastic because it fits with their initiatives to promote“eco-schools” and recent plans to convert parts of schoolyards into “nature study areas,” says board superintendent Jeff Hainbuch.  ......“You can’t learn about that connectedness just from a textbook,” he says. “But you don’t have to go to an outdoor ed centre to do that either.”

Jordan Tamblyn remembers what it’s like to be a kid catching frogs, picking flowers and exploring the woods near her cottage...... “Kids inherently want to go outside and that’s where they do most of their learning,” says Tamblyn.

PROJECT WILD THING: A feature-length documentary by David Bond & Ashley Jones — Kickstarter

PROJECT WILD THING: A feature-length documentary by David Bond & Ashley Jones — Kickstarter

A cinema documentary about nature, evolution and the future of childhood.  Tessa Rose has pledged their support how about you?

Preschool Education Deserves Expansion, Investment: National Education Policy Center Brief

Preschool Education Deserves Expansion, Investment: National Education Policy Center Brief

Many years ago I attended a seminar lead by James Garbarino, who had studied how  positive early childhood education experiences could affect adult education social and moral outcomes. He urged awareness that a greater investment at this formative age would reduce subsequent spending on law and order, drug rehabilitation and other social remediation programmes. Looks like his message fell on deaf ears. Pity. It's always about money.

Full article can be read from the link above.

In a brief released Tueday, National Education Policy Center managing director Dr. William Mathis urges policymakers to invest in high-quality preschool education, citing its universally acknowledged economic and social benefits.

According to Mathis, in inflation-adjusted dollars, overall funding per child is lower than a decade ago, despite the fact that high-quality, intensive preschool education for at least two years has been found to close as much as half the achievement gap.

Involvement in preschool programs can also yield more positive adult outcomes, such as fewer arrests, less drug use, fewer grade retentions, higher college attendance rates, higher employment and earnings, greater social mobility and less welfare dependency.

Mathis goes on to explain the key elements of a quality preschool program, which include small class sizes and ratios — 20 or fewer children, with two adults. He also says programs should boast well-trained, adequately compensated teachers and include strong links to social and health services. The author highlights the importance of featuring a mix of child-initiated and teacher directed activities, with adequate time for individualized and small group interactions.

According to Mathis’ brief, economically deprived children benefit most from preschool, but all children experience some advantage from participation in such programs. Branching off that, children from middle-income families tend to struggle with access because they are not eligible for programs like Head Start, which enrolls fewer students than state or district programs. Results indicate Head Start is a cost-effective program with lesser but nonetheless positive results, suggesting it should be retained but also strengthened

Besides broad investment in preschool, Mathis recommends states develop and monitor early education standards in order to ensure quality programs. Furthermore, programs should be expanded to include three-year-olds, with an emphasis on needy children and promoting the well-being of the “whole child.”

The results of a Chicago-based study released last June bolstered the findings from similar, smaller studies showing that high-quality preschool "gives you your biggest bang for the buck," according to Dr. Pamela High, chair of an American Academy of Pediatrics committee that deals with early childhood issues. The study tracked more than 1,000 low-income, mostly black Chicago children for up to 25 years, including nearly 900 who attended the city’s intensive Child-Parent Center Education Program in the early 1980s. Overall, those who attended the program fared much better in life than their peers who did not attend preschool, recording fewer arrest and securing better jobs.