Research Digest

This Digest explores pathways to environmental stewardship, particularly through connectedness to nature and other nature experiences

This Digest provides practice-relevant recommendations for integrating technology and nature to enhance health, well-being, academic succession, and connection to nature.

This Digest highlights how parents and teachers are important role models in connecting children with nature to promote their environmental stewardship and ease their eco-anxiety.

This Digest presents the numerous benefits of risk-taking in natural environments, while also calling attention to a marked reduction in risky outdoor play opportunities over the past decade.

This digest presents recommendations for addressing adolescent mental health through nature engagement

This Digest explores the community and environmental benefits of green schoolyards.

This Digest focuses on children with special needs and inclusion as a social justice issue.

This back-to-school issue addressed nature and social-emotional learning.

In this Digest, we feature neurobiological assessments and biomarker studies that investigate how nature impacts the brain and nervous system.

The studies in this Digest highlight the role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in restoring culture, enhancing connection to nature, addressing colonialist consciousness and improving health.

This issue of the Digest focuses on youth involvement in the planning and implementation of nature-related initiatives.

This Digest offers evidence-based suggestions for using nature to promote the mental health and resilience of children impacted by adversity.

This issue of the Research Digest focuses on early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS), a relatively new area of interest internationally at the intersection of environmental education (EE), education for sustainable development (ESD) and early childhood education (ECE).

We’ve focused this Digest on lessons learned from green schoolyard projects around the world, including studies from 10 different countries. A dozen evidence-based recommendations for designing and using green schoolyards are offered.

Studies in this Digest were selected to illustrate more inclusive, socially just, and participatory approaches to research on children and nature. These approaches address increased diversity and pluralism in research, the use of culturally sensitive data collection tools and strategies, as well as children’s right to have their voices heard.

This Digest highlights research relating to inequities in opportunities for children’s engagement with nature. Included are studies that (1) raise awareness of inequities, (2) demonstrate the potential of increased nature engagement in narrowing disparities in health and well-being, and (3) provide examples of specific initiatives designed to address inequities in children’s access to nature.

The studies in this Digest highlight the importance of nature for the culture, identity, and health of Indigenous people as well as some of the challenges they experience navigating Western culture and the effects of climate change. This Digest also presents a number of studies that examine the critical role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in restoring culture, connection to nature, health, and resilience for both Native and non-Native individuals.

In this compilation, we gather studies from previous Research Digests that cover the benefits of green schoolyards and outdoor learning.

Studies in this Digest focus on the negative impact of climate change awareness on children’s mental health and possible interventions for addressing this concern. Related issues and specific intervention activities are also discussed.

Studies in this Digest focus on Hispanic/Latinx populations in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month. Latinx communities place a high value on nature, but they often face disparities in access to quality natural environments and nature-based activities. Research is needed to understand how best to serve these communities in the context of cultural assets related to connection to nature.

Nature-based learning (NBL) is an educational approach that engages children with the natural environment and natural elements as a pathway for learning. The studies highlighted in this Digest focus on NBL during the early years and include a number of different research designs.

As areas of research mature, it becomes possible to look for trends in the accumulating data across multiple studies by conducting systematic reviews. This Digest presents a handful of such reviews published in the last four years, covering a range of children and nature-related topics.

Family-based nature engagement – when children and their parents or caregivers experience a nature-based activity together – can take place everywhere from the backyard to parks and wilderness and even in women’s shelters and prisons. As this Research Digest shows, spending time in nature as a family is good for the whole family.

Parks play an important role in the physical and mental health of children and families and the resilience of communities. However, there are barriers to park access and use that often fall along income, racial and geographic lines. Improving access to high quality, welcoming and inclusive parks is one important way to enhance nature’s benefits and create more equitable outcomes.

Gardening can promote children’s physical, emotional, social, and academic development, as well as pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. Children of all ages and abilities can benefit from garden-related experiences.

Three of the 2022 C&NN conference track themes are highlighted in this Digest, each one focusing on increasing equitable access to nature. These themes are policy and public sector leadership, equity and inclusion, and cross-cutting topics.

The Children & Nature Network's Inside-Out International Conference brings practitioners together to advance strategies for turning the trend of an indoor childhood back out to the benefits of nature. Keynotes, breakout sessions, and hands-on workshops will explore current best practices within six tracks: family engagement, youth development, green schoolyards, policy and public sector leadership, equity and inclusion, and cross-cutting themes. To showcase our conference and promote an evidence-based look at these topics, our January and February Research Digests will introduce research aligned with these areas.

Interest in children’s spirituality has increased in the past decade, yet definitions and descriptions remain somewhat nebulous. Related research also remains scarce. What is known, however, is that engagement with nature promotes aspects of child development generally considered to be elements of their spirituality. We’ve sampled those studies for this Research Digest. We hope this Digest offers a moment for you to reflect on your own connection to nature as a pathway to, or an expression of, your own spirituality.

This Digest addresses children’s engagement in environmental activism, especially as this relates to climate change including factors influencing and/or supporting activism and different forms of children’s activism. Examples of how climate change activism can simultaneously address human health and the health of the planet are provided.

This Digest reviews the health, well-being, and developmental benefits of nature engagement for young children, birth through age five, including Health, Well-being, & Overall Development; Enhanced Play; Learning & School Readiness, and Connectedness to Nature & Sustainability.

This Digest focuses on the benefits children with special needs receive from engagement with nature, various types of nature-based interventions, as well as barriers to nature engagement for children with special needs.

Green schoolyards designed around children’s preferences and outdoor learning pedagogies can promote increased physical activity, socio-emotional health, engagement with learning, and connectedness to nature.

This Digest focuses on factors limiting children’s engagement with nature, some residing in the child and/or family; some associated with urban parks and public greenspaces; some specific to schools.

Studies highlighted in this Digest focus on the use of nature to achieve therapeutic goals. Different approaches and different populations served are addressed.

This Digest focuses on ways in which technology can be a helpful or limiting factor for engaging children with nature.

This Digest focuses on climate change resilience and ecological restoration in relation to the benefits for both people and the planet.

Integrating nature and art in culturally relevant ways can promote children’s nature connectedness and mental health.

This Digest focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of people around the world. Social distancing restrictions and limited access to natural environments have contributed to the mental health concerns.

Three themes are addressed in this digest, which features 2020 studies not appearing in another Digest: Connectedness to nature, Implications for design, and Social-emotional and play considerations.

This special issue focuses on the physical health benefits of both passive and active forms of nature engagement. Also discussed are several ideas about how health-care professionals are tapping into the health-promoting powers of nature engagement.

October-November 2020 | This Digest showcases recent findings regarding the impact of nature contact on mental health and emotional well-being, an area that has been extensively studied by researchers.

A collection of research examining the benefits of taking an intentional approach to promoting youth development outcomes in nature-based programs.

In this special issue of the Research Digest, we present articles addressing the benefits of nature-based learning for academic, cognitive, psychological, and social functioning and the development of environmental consciousness.

This month highlights ways children and families can connect to nature, including wildlife viewing, horticulture, surfing, art, technology-mediated nature, and more.

This Digest pulls research we call “second-hand nature” or indirect exposure to nature, which can be helpful during COVID-19.

This special issue of the Digest is focused on the healing power of nature and Indigenous cultures.

In this issue of the Digest we explore how accessing neighborhood nature is an important strategy for building resilience, buffering stress, and recovering from adversity.

In this Digest, created amid the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing, we explore the positive benefits of nature in the neighborhood and in educational settings on child development, health and happiness.

Each year, we see an increasing number of studies from around the world. This month’s Digest features such studies, from North America to Europe to Asia.

In recognition of our milestone, this issue of the Digest is dedicated to the syntheses of our current knowledge in the field.

This issues explores connectedness to nature and educational, family-related and health & well-being benefits. Plus design issues and recommendations.

This issue of the Digest continues the connectedness to nature thread exploring it from early childhood through adulthood and across the globe, and taking a comparative look at its predictors across nations, cultures and even parenting styles.

This issue begins to explore connectedness to nature and how it is is related to positive human functioning, environmental attitudes and conservation behaviors.

This digest explores research on education; environmental attitudes, behaviors, and preferences; and, health and well-being.

This issue of the Digest highlights several studies that include or focus on children with special needs, learning differences or disabilities such as emotional, cognitive or behavioral disabilities (ECBD) and autism.

Studies featured in this month’s Digest look at answering questions about what kind of nature contact has an impact on what outcomes, how, for whom, and under what circumstances.

This digest focuses on relationship between nature and outcomes or behaviours in academics, environmental attitudes, health/ well-being and social justice.

This month’s Digest is dedicated to youth and resident engagement. How do we involve those closest to the issues as we design spaces and programs to connect children to nature?

This digest looks at Formal & Non-formal Education, Mental and Physical Health, Park Use and Social Justice.

This digest explores Educational Benefits of Nature Exposure, Later-in-Life Benefits of Childhood Nature, Restoration Benefits of Nature Exposure and Understanding Sustainability Issues.

This issue focuses on early childhood nature-based education and giving children agency and a voice through nature connection

A focus on Attention Restoration, Green Schoolyards & Surrounding Greenness, Link between Childhood Experiences and Adults’ Connectedness to Nature, Research Tools, Social-Emotional Benefits, and Special Needs.

A focus on Children’s Perspectives and Interactions with Nature, Educational and Therapeutic Benefits of Access to Nature, Motivations for and Barriers to Interacting with Nature, Nearby Greenness, and the Role of Childhood Experiences in Adults’ Connectedness to Nature.

This research digest outlines new research that provides a rationale for focusing on children’s equitable access to nature.

We have collected these studies, originating from eight different countries, in this month’s themed Digest “Making the Case for the Mental Health Benefits of Nature — Studies from Around the World.”

A focus on Connectedness to Nature & Conservation, Developmental & Educational Outcomes, and Health-Related Outcomes.

This issue is focused on how young people become leaders in the environmental movement and the movement to reconnect people to nature.

In this issue: Connectedness to Nature & Ecological Identity, Education, Green Schoolyards, Physical & Mental Health, Play & Play Spaces.

This digest focuses on Connectedness to Nature, Education, Environmental Awareness and Knowledge, Mental Health and Well-Being and Social Justice.

This “special issue” of the Research Digest is focused on green schoolyards – a simple intervention with big potential.

In this issue: Addressing the Academic Achievement Gap, Forest Schools, Green Schoolyards, Horticultural Therapy, Urban Green Space Exposure and Youth Development

In this issue: Brain Development and Cognitive Functioning, Education, Greenspace Exposure, Mental Health and Well-Being, Physical Health, and Play and Play Environments

In this issue: Barriers to Nature Engagement, Education & Nature-Based Learning, Environmental Attitudes, Values & Behavior, Mental Health & Therapeutic Benefits of Nature, and Urban Planning

In this issue: Disparities in Access to Nature in Urban Environments, Physical and Social-Emotional Barriers to Equitable Nature Access, Outcomes Related to More, or Less, Equitable Access to Nature, Promising Strategies and Initiatives and Future Research Directions.

In this issue: Education, Environmental Knowledge, Fostering Connection to Nature, Physical Health & Health Equity, Restorative & Therapeutic Benefits of Nature, and Youth Involvement.

In this Issue: Conservation Values, Knowledge and Behaviors; Environmental Education and Education for Sustainability; Physical Activity, Health and Development; Play; and Social Justice

In this issue: Access to Nature; Benefits of Green Environments; Birth Outcomes; Environmental Knowledge, Attitudes & Behaviors; Play & Playgrounds; and Enhancing the Impact of Research

This month’s Digest is devoted to syntheses. We have gathered all the summaries, systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses published in 2017 that we could locate.

In this Issue: Conservation / Pro-Environmental Attitudes & Behaviors; Design, Planning & Policy; Early Childhood; Nature Therapy; Pathways to Benefits Nature; and more

In this issue: Access to Nature in Urban Environments; Contact with Nature and Health; Outdoor and Environmental Education; Pathways to Caring for the Environment; Social Justice; and Urban Greening and Crime Prevention.

In this issue: Early Childhood Development; Education; Environmental Concern/Conservation; Gardens; Nature Connectedness; Nature Therapy / Equine-Assisted Therapy; Urban Planning and Initiatives; Social Justice; and more.

Given the important role parks play in the health and well-being of our youngest to most senior community members, we’ve decided to highlight park-related studies in this issue.

In this issue: Education; Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors; Outdoor Classrooms/ Green Schoolyards; Plant Knowledge; Physical Activity; and more

In this issue: Children’s Voices; Early Childhood Education; Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors; Neighborhoods and Parks; and Social Justice

In this issue: Biophilia; Education; Environmental Attitudes & Actions; Parks and Park Prescriptions;

In this issue: Biophilia; Education; Environmental Action; Gardens and Gardening; Mental Health; Physical Health; Research Tools; Spirituality; and Urban Environments

In this issue: Creativity; Education; Environmental Concern; Families; Mental Health; Physical Health; Physical Activity; and more

In this issue: Nature Connectedness; Design & Planning; Conservation and Environmental Identity; Health Benefits; Physical Activity; and Social Justice

In this issue: Education; Families; Health; Mental Health; Cognition; and Play

In this issue: Education; Families; Health; Mental Health; Cognition; and Play

In this issue: Outdoor Play/Physical Activity; Nature-Based/Outdoor Learning; Families; Environmental Identity Formation; Community Engagement; Disparities; Nature Preschools; Place Attachment; Immune Functioning; Reduced Aggression; and Restoration