Building Confidence
"The way that kids play in nature has a lot less structure than most types of indoor play," writes Cohen. "Letting your child choose how he treats nature means he has the power to control his own actions."
Promoting Creativity
My own spin on this: current lifestyles in much of America put kids in structured environments most of the time. They're at school, being shown how to color in the lines, or on the soccer field, being instructed in the game's rules. Unstructured play encourages brain development, imagination, and creativity. In nature, there's an unlimited supply of unstructured objects and environments for play and curiosity. It may take a little while for your child to catch on; you and they will both need patience.
Teaching Responsibility
Kids learn to be responsible for their own bodies while interacting with unpredictable environments—with sticks, animals, mud, and the like. They also begin to understand how they're part of a larger web of nature. Smaller children will realize that pulling up a flower kills the plant, for example.
Stimulating the Senses
As Cohen reports, "Nature may seem less stimulating than your son’s violent video game, but in reality, it activates more senses—you can see, hear, smell, and touch outdoor environments. Richard Louv, author of the book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, warns that 'As the young spend less and less of their lives in natural surroundings, their senses narrow, and this reduces the richness of human experience.' "
Moving & Exercise
Take a walk. Pick up some logs and make a teepee. Make a pile of leaves, dirt, pine needles, and jump right into it. These are not sedentary activities like staring at a screen. "Not only is exercise good for kids’ bodies, but it seems to make them more focused, which is especially beneficial for kids with ADHD," according to Cohen.
Thinking More
The wonder we experience in natural settings causes us to ask more and better questions. Whether raking up pine needles in the backyard or watching a stunning sunset over Mt. Washington, our kids learn to think more and better when exposed to the outdoors.
Reducing Stress & Fatigue
"Urban environments require what’s called directed attention, which forces us to ignore distractions and exhausts our brains," Cohen reports. "In natural environments, we practice an effortless type of attention known as soft fascination that creates feelings of pleasure, not fatigue."
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Read Childmind's Ideas for Getting Your Kids Into Nature
