The New Nature Movement Blog
FEATURED WRITING BY RICHARD LOUV
Richard Louv is our co-founder and best-selling author of the quintessential “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder” and two follow-up books on nature connection, “The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age,” and “Vitamin N: The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life.”
GUEST BLOGGERS
Blog posts from guest writers worldwide sharing their work and ideas to connect children to nature.
LEARNING FROM THE PAST: Envisioning a Nature Connected-future For All Children
Is there a special place in nature that you remember and can be transported back to in a split second? Somewhere filled with vivid memories of unsupervised time in the natural world, alone or with a band of children, connecting with animals, and the master of your own...
CHILDREN AT SERIOUS PLAY: Connecting to the Natural World in an Interactive Nature Space
For kids, play is serious business. It’s not “just about having fun, but taking risks, experimenting, and testing boundaries,” states the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in a recent clinical report called The Power of Play. According to the AAP, play yields all...
NATURE SENSE: Tuning into Nature’s Operating Manual
Twenty-one years ago I sat at the base of a sugar maple tree. Both of us were bursting. The tree heavy with her seeds and me with a growing womb. I felt respect for the maple and her innate sense of how and when to shed her perfectly designed helicopter seeds. They...
A DOZEN WAYS FAMILIES CAN #OPTOUTSIDE EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR
In 2015, the leaders of the retail outdoor equipment Co-op REI made a big decision. They closed their doors on Black Friday, the biggest day in the global retail calendar. Instead, they encouraged their 12,000 employees to Opt Outside (#OptOutside), to reconnect with...
BEYOND EARTH DAY: Bringing Indigenous Perspectives into Learning From the Land
This past April, the students and educators of the Laboratory School at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study decided to opt out of Earth Day. For many years, the children at the JICS Lab School celebrated Earth Day with activities such as planting pansies...
CROSSING CULTURES: Making an “Impossible” Dream Possible
In “Last Child in the Woods,” Richard Louv wrote that we need to reconnect children and nature. We need to move toward biophilic societies, where nature is universal, accessible, on a daily basis for everyone. But to take on this task may at times bring to mind the...
PLAYGROUND & CHILD REUNION: Addressing Urbanization in India with More Outdoor Play
Kiran Bir Sethi, a founder of the organization, aProCh, writes of the origins and impact of this school-based project. Kirti Zala, aProCh Project Head, also contributed to the piece. I have been witness to the last five decades of India not as a...
BALANCING SCREEN TIME WITH GREEN TIME: Attention Retention Theory Helps Explain Why Nature Play Helps Learning
Nature experiences can be a perfect antidote to the buzzing distraction of modern childhood. After a trip to the forest or the beach, the mind seems reinvigorated. Here’s why. Attention Restoration Theory, first developed by Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, asserts...
NATURE AS TEACHER: A Transformative Experience
Outside the urban glare of Los Angeles, we found a night sky packed with stars and a still silence interrupted only by the wind’s whisper and the chatter of crickets and frogs. It was different, yet familiar. My father packed little more than a kerosene lamp, a small...
