Resources
This collection of free toolkits, reports, infographics and advocacy tools is designed to help you or your organization connect children, families and communities to nature. Please check back often. We add and update resources regularly!
Resource Search
We’ve had the honor of collaborating with many inspiring women over the past year. In recognition of Women’s History Month, we’re spotlighting just a handful of them.
This paper reviews research on the relationship between a young person’s nature experiences and subsequent pro-environmental behavior as an adult. A literature search of an academic database is supplemented by discussions with experts in the field.
As preschoolers, my two young boys would hang longingly outside the fence of our neighborhood public school and ask if they could join the pickup soccer game....
“As long as you have a green roof over your head, everything will be okay.” So goes Lucy Stott’s adaptation of her grandfather’s mantra. Born of a long line of New Yorkers, Stott was fortunate to have access to a green space via her elementary school’s outdoor classroom – a green roof. In the concrete jungle, green rooftops can provide shade, capture airborne pollutants and reduce rooftop temperatures. Enough green rooftops can even lower citywide ambient temperatures by up to 5°F. In this article, Stott, now in her freshman year of college, shares some of the research behind the benefits of green roofs, as well as her own personal experience. Living Architecture Monitor.
Over the past decade, the Cities Connecting Children to Nature (CCCN) initiative — a joint national partnership between the Children & Nature Network and the National League of CIties — has helped nearly 50 cities across the U.S. to prioritize youth nature connection. A new report conducted by two independent research firms helped quantify the impact of CCCN’s nine years of support in helping cities connect children to nature. Now, the new Nature Everywhere Communities initiative builds upon CCCN’s successes, with the Children & Nature Network, National League of Cities and Kaboom! partnering to advance equitable access to nature everywhere children live, learn and play. CitiesSpeak.
Students around the globe are feeling the effects of climate change, with hotter weather and other climate-related disasters on the uptick. Hotter temperatures have negative effects on students’ test scores. Climate disasters like storms and droughts cause children to leave school and join the workforce early to support their families, while hurricanes and wildfires cause children in higher-income countries to miss school days. Even children exposed to climate disasters in utero can face impacts, with higher rates of ADHD reported among kids whose mothers were pregnant during Hurricane Sandy. On top of all this, researchers predict that climate change will exacerbate existing inequalities in education worldwide. Conversation.
In a beautiful, urgent blend of memoir, ecology and history, Pulitzer Prize-nominated novelist Lydia Millet “urges respect for the staggering interconnectedness of existence.” Balancing grief and wonder, Millet helps us face and process the ecological ruin that we’ve wrought on our planet, our species and those with whom we share our home. She investigates the question, “Where does our childhood love of nature go?”, among other pressing queries. Scientific American.
The Madison Advisory Council has been crucial to the planning and development of our 2024 Nature Everywhere Conference. Composed of fourteen distinguished leaders from...
GROWING POWER: Urban Roots connects young people with natural spaces, food systems – and one another
"Being in nature - it's a luxury, right?" Paloma Cardoza, a child of immigrants, leveraged her educational background in habitat restoration to work with a major...
A kindergarten-only school in Toronto, Canada, has teamed up with a local farming group to introduce little ones and their parents to nature through a community garden. At guided sessions, participants learn about growing carrots and the local ecosystem. The program brings nature’s benefits to residents and restores habitat in a dense urban neighborhood, while providing free organic produce to community members during a time when food can be increasingly hard to afford. CBC.
In Australia this April, Lismore Rainforest Botanic Gardens will host an interactive, theatrical experience designed to inspire and connect children to the natural world. Part theater, part quest and part wacky science field trip, children will embark on a Magic School Bus-esque adventure complete with talking fungi, booming rocks and nests of song, while being prompted to collect clues, solve puzzles, navigate obstacle courses and work collaboratively with each other and the forest to save the environment from disarray. Australian Rural & Regional News.
Watch the recording of our Babies, Toddlers and Preschoolers in Nature event featuring Alexis Burroughs, Jessica Carrillo Alatorre, and Gabriel Pickus. They discuss benefits of nature engagement for young children, tips on how to prepare for the elements, tangible tools for nature play, whole-child centered learning with nature as the teacher and more!
Women aren’t the only ones leading today’s environmental movement — girls are doing their part, as well. Fourth grader Thaaragai Aarathana has collected 1,000 kg (over 1.1 U.S. tons) of plastic during her dives off the coast of Chennai in India. On her very first dive, she discovered “many beautiful fish — and basically an equal amount of plastic.” So she decided to do something to help. Watch the video to meet Aarathana, her father and the rest of her allies working to clean up marine pollution in their community. DW.
Western Australian nonprofit Nature Play WA works to ensure that children have access to the time and space needed to freely play. In this piece, Nature Play WA CEO Kelsie Prabawa-Sear details the importance of unstructured independent play in the outdoors. Citing academic research on the topic, she notes that many of today’s children are suffering from over-supervision. “If you’re looking for a place to start, I suggest asking the kids what they’d like to do. Ask them what makes them feel free and happy,” she says. West Australian.
Author, ecologist and human-rights journalist Dr. Trish O’Kane found her way to birding and ornithology in an unlikely way: when returning to her home in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, she was struck by the resilience of the birds who’d survived the devastation. Now a senior lecturer in ornithology at the University of Vermont, she pairs her college students who have experience birding with elementary students as “bird buddies,” creating opportunities for community-building across age groups. “One of the main goals of my class is to build a flock,” she explains. Revelator.
This document is intended to provide guidance to City of Austin Parks & Recreation staff, contractors and vendors hired through the City of Austin, and other Partners (Austin ISD and other schools, Non-Profits, etc.) in the design, installation, maintenance, and management of nature play spaces. This document is intended to provide guidance to City of Austin Parks & Recreation staff, contractors and vendors hired through the City of Austin, and other Partners (Austin ISD and other schools, Non-Profits, etc.) in the design, installation, maintenance, and management of nature play spaces.
From virtual reality to the growing recognition of nature connection as a human right, a wide range of societal trends and factors influence the worldwide movement to...
Dudley Edmondson was a young kid when he learned about the power of nature. The writer and photographer experienced a lot of challenges while he was...
The Children & Nature Network strives to support and increase the leadership and diversity of young people benefiting from and contributing to meaningful connections to nature, outdoor...
This article, along with the powerful accompanying video, examines the barriers to winter sports that many Black participants can experience. Organizations like Hoods to Woods and Brown Girl Outdoor World offer supportive communities to help Black, Indigenous and other People of Color enjoy the benefits of outdoor winter recreation. Zeb Powell, the first Black snowboarder to win a gold medal in X Games history, reflects on the movement: “It’s a crazy energy I’ve never seen on the mountain. We are the community. And we can lean on each other to talk about how to grow the sport our way.” ABC News.
A recent review of existing research around the world has found that botanical gardens are the most effective type of green space to mitigate heat during heatwaves — an increasingly common occurrence in today’s global climate. Botanical gardens reduced air temperatures during city heatwaves by an average of 5 degrees Celsius, or 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Wetlands, parks, playgrounds and trees planted along streets also had drastic cooling effects. “By implementing just some of the measures we describe, cities can become more resilient, and their citizens can be healthier and happier too,” explained Prof Prashant Kumar, the lead author of the study. The Guardian.
Chinese researchers observed fourth-grade students over a semester, during which they participated in weekly activities in a campus garden. The study found that more than 60% of the students had a greater interest in nature after just four months. The garden also helped alleviate their study-related stress. China.org. Read more (Interested in more of the latest research relating to children and nature? Check out our Research Library — with lots of studies coming from China! — and subscribe to our monthly Research Digest.)
Late January saw the 12th World Environmental Education Congress in Abu Dhabi, which connects thousands of experts from around the world to share advances in environmental education and education for sustainable development. The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Commission on Education and Communication held a workshop on Greening School Grounds and Outdoor Learning, with Children & Nature Network staff Jaime Zaplatosch Ehrenberg and Brenda Kessler helping to lead the presentation. IUCN.
In North Carolina, the Woodson Branch Nature School has steadily expanded its programs to include weeklong projects in eco-arts, outdoor regenerative agriculture, outdoor education and forest time. School founder Debbie DeLisle was influenced by Richard Louv’s book “Last Child in the Woods,” and his term “nature-deficit disorder.” “He touched my heart, back in a very important time in my life when my kids were little,” DeLisle said. “They were getting stuck inside too long in front of screens, and it was having a profound effect on the development of the human brain.” Asheville Citizen Times.
Near Yosemite, an art and environmental education camp in Mariposa County, California, draws upon the area’s scenic beauty, abundant riparian species and local Indigenous culture to offer place-based education to TK-6 students. “Our cultural arts are deeply tied to our natural environment,” said Clay Muwin River, a teaching artist at the camp and member of the Northeastern Passamaquoddy and Mi’kmaq nations. Thanks to a collaboration among the local school district, arts council and conservancy, students at the camp make dye from carefully harvested native plants, collect willow stems for basket-weaving and build pottery from clay unearthed from the creek. EdSource.
In this short video, leaders from the Nkwejong Nature Everywhere community team in Lansing, Michigan discuss their participation in the Nature Everywhere Communities initiative. The team plans to expand its network and explore strategies for bringing its programming to scale in Michigan through community mapping, policy advocacy and action planning. The Nkwejong/Lansing team is just one of 19 U.S. communities selected to participate in Nature Everywhere, a roster which includes Sonoma County in California – also featured in a recent local news story of their own. WILX.
On May 28, 2024, hundreds will gather on the shores of Lake Monona for the largest international gathering of children and nature advocates worldwide. The Children &...
A visual design studio and a magazine in Bengaluru, India have joined forces to educate youth on subjects related to nature, climate change and ecological conservation through art workshops. During these sessions, students engage in activities like zine-making, where they explore ecological functions and best practices for engaging with the environment. This approach not only enhances understanding of these concepts but also allows children to practice storytelling and create educational products to share with their peers. Mint Lounge.
Members of Wisconsin’s Ho-Chunk Nation are creating and strengthening a community of environmental stewards through a Master Naturalist program. Run by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Office of Extension, the 40-hour immersion program integrates Hoocąk language with lessons on sustainability and foraging. Participants learn how to identify native plants and gain insights from tribal members on local restoration efforts, all while emphasizing generational knowledge and Ho-Chunk culture. NPR.
DONATE TODAY TO BECOME A MEMBER
Help us make sure that all children live, learn and grow with nature in their daily lives.