The Benefits of Playing Outside in Nature

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What on Earth is Outside? An adventure through the trees, seeing the waves break, finding critters in the grass, and watching the stars fall out of the sky are just a few of the amazing benefits from playing outside.

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I'm crawling on my hands and knees through seemingly endless tunnels carved into the vegetation. I must get to the inner cave to rescue my fellow explorer who has been captured and is being held captive. Is this a scene from a movie? No, just an afternoon I remember as a 7 year old playing in the overgrowth in the park. I have been back to that thicket as an adult and it's pretty unimpressive, but as children it provided an amazing variety of otherworldly tunnels and hidden rooms in the dense brambles. I think most adults, regardless of where you grew up, have a memory similar to this. Unfortunately, children today are much less likely to have this type of experience. Simple exploration in nature appears to be a dying pastime.

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For a variety of reasons, from fear of abduction to over-demanding schedules, children have fewer opportunities to just play in nature. This disconnect from the outdoors is having a variety of repercussions for children today. I have had many opportunities to witness this first hand teaching at an outdoor science school. For most of the students that came to our school, walking on a trail, sitting by a pond or looking at the stars was a completely new experience for them. Many of them experienced physical difficulty walking up a hill. A more sedentary indoor life is not helping with the growing health problems children are facing. Besides the physical repercussions to the lack of time outdoors, there are psychological effects as well. If children don't have a chance to be out in nature they are more likely to be afraid of being outdoors. Without exposure to natural elements, they will grow up to be adults that will likely pass these fears or dislikes on to their children.

I have been blown away by students who could give me a 20 minute presentation on some rare Amazonian insect. When questioned if their parents were entomologists I would more often hear, “No I watch the discovery channel”. With such an astounding wealth of knowledge on TV, the internet and DVDs, children are learning amazing information about the natural world. While this can be a worthwhile additional learning opportunity, it is not a replacement for experiencing the world first hand. Watching a National Geographic special might give you the impression that nature is this far off exotic entity. Children need to connect with insects the, trees, shrubs and dirt right in their backyard or their neighborhood. It's hard to have an appreciation and deep love for an environment that's in a far off land.

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Seeing students break through their fear, boredom or apathy for nature to have one of those wonder-filled moments that makes you whisper “wow”, gives me hope. As an environmental educator it made me fill with pride to hear a first grader recite the life stages of a dragonfly, but I was just as happy to hear, “cool, look at that”, and glance over at a student staring at whatever small wonder they had just discovered for themselves. Teaching respect for the environment doesn't require booking a guided trip to the imperiled rainforest or giving children a lecture on carbon dioxide emissions, but rather just giving them a chance to play and explore outdoors.

For any adult that has witnessed the fascination and wonder on the face of a child lying on their belly examining the workings of an ant colony, that may be all the evidence you need to know the benefits of nature. Numerous studies validate the importance of children getting out in nature. Here are just a few examples. Children with views of and contact with nature score higher on tests of concentration and self-discipline. (Wells 2000, Taylor 2002). Children who play regularly in natural environments show more advanced motor fitness, including coordination, balance and agility, and they are sick less often (Grahn, et al. 1997, Fjortoft 2001). When children play in natural environments, their play is more diverse with imaginative and creative play that fosters language and collaborative skills (Moore & Wong 1997, Taylor, et al. 1998, Fjortoft 2000). If that's not enough to convince you, remember how fun it was to make mud pies.

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