” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”] The Children & Nature Network is leading the movement to connect all children, their families and communities to nature through innovative ideas, evidence-based resources and tools, broad-based collaboration and support of grassroots leadership.

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2020 Leadership Summit | May 7-8, 2020 | Atlanta, Georgia

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NEWS CENTER

media coverage and leadership writing

GROWING THE MOVEMENT: Because Every Child Has a Right to Nature

Fourteen years ago, my book Last Child in the Woods introduced the term “nature-deficit disorder.” The term was new, but the trend (of alienation from the natural world) was not. Parents, educators, caregivers had been witnessing childhood move indoors. They wanted to...

By Richard Louv | Dec 6, 2019

NATURAL DETROIT: Developing Youth Through the Magic of Nature

Let me paint the scene. School’s out! The final bell has rung and kids are flying out of every door at Merriman Elementary School in Romulus, Michigan, rushing home to start their summer adventures. Days prior, my classmates gushed about the vacations their families...

By Ajee Witherspoon | Feb 20, 2020

Playing Freely in Nature May Boost Complex Thinking, Social Skills in Kids

Researchers from the University of South Australia found that nature play positively impacts the health and development of children ages two to 12. The study, published in the journal PLOS One, found that nature play improved children’s levels of physical activity, health-related fitness, motor skills, learning, and social and emotional development. It also showed that nature play may deliver improvements in cognitive and learning outcomes, including children’s levels of attention and concentration, punctuality, settling in class (even after play), constructive play, social play, as well as imaginative and functional play.

Study Highlights New Strategies For Helping Children Process Negative Emotions

The findings of a study of indigenous people in southern Chile challenge Western assumptions about the value of spending time outdoors to help children regulate their emotions. The study surveyed 271 parents and teachers in southern Chile, approximately half of which were Mapuche, an indigenous people of the region. Researchers found that the Mapuche parents believe children should respect, but not fear, nature and that nature can help children cope with sadness in a positive way.