MORE TIME OUTDOORS
To support healthy bodies and minds, our children need more time playing, moving and learning outdoors.
As environmental educator and scientist David Sobel put it, children simply “can’t bounce off the walls if there are no walls”.
When kids are given time and space in outdoor environments, what do they do? They play, they laugh, they explore, they have fun, and importantly they run, twist, spin, cartwheel, handstand, jump and roll.
In doing so, they are strengthening their bodies, improving their balance and motor control, and getting that important vestibular stimulation their bodies desperately need.
While more movement is important, the natural world also uniquely supports children’s wellbeing through calming the senses and mind.
It always fascinates me the way children who often struggle in home or classroom settings, and may even be diagnosed with behavioural or learning difficulties, so often thrive when they head outside.
One reason is the natural world provides a “just right” level of sensory information that helps to challenge and calm our senses and supports healthy sensory integration — or the ability to process all the sights, sounds, and other sensations coming at us from the outside world, organise this, and respond appropriately.
In today’s world, our children need these experiences more than ever, to reduce feelings of being overwhelmed or sensory overload.
MINDFULNESS IN NATURE
Natural environments help calm our emotions and behaviour through tuning back into our bodies — things like the feeling of the sun on your skin, the wind in your hair and the birdsong all around.
Research shows natural environments reduce physiological markers of stress, including lowering blood pressure and the stress hormone cortisol.
Put another way, nature offers a powerful form of mindfulness, which supports calmer minds and bodies for children and adults alike.
Another benefit is the way our brains tune in to the natural world around us which restores the ability to focus attention on future tasks.
For children, their capacity for classroom-based learning is bolstered from time in nature, with its tangible, rich multi-sensory experiences.
So, in the interests of our children’s health and fostering a love of the natural world, why not take the opportunity to opt outside?