Children live and learn through their senses.
More than any other physical environment, it is nature – for all its colors, textures and shapes – that stimulate a child’s senses best. For this reason, the outdoor environment is essential to the health and development of children of all ages.
During the past decade, seminal books, the new nature movement, and news articles have raised public awareness about the role of “nearby nature” in children’s lives. We can thank activist-author Richard Louv, researcher-architect Robin Moore, researcher-educator Louise Chawla, and so many others working to promote natural environments in the lives of children.
We now know children who lack access to nature suffer for it. Young people’s irregular access to the outdoors has detrimental effects on their attention, academic performance, and physical and emotional health. We know that rich, outdoor settings offer a wide range of developmental benefits to toddlers and preschoolers. And the growing body of research, tells us that sustained periods of outdoor learning offer many physical and cognitive benefits to children of all ages.