How Does Nature Affect Children

Having a bond with nature is key to appreciating simple aspects of life more. Walking instead of driving and stopping to look at the scenery every once in a while will get some one that much closer to achieving that bond. However, people have become accustomed to depending on machines to do their work and ignoring nature or feeling that they are too busy to stop and smell the roses. A strong connection with nature will allow people to open up relationship with themselves and nature can help build bonds with others and the

“Kids see Nature as a lab experiment.” Children in the modern civilized society view nature as a lab experiment that ought to be studied. This lab education that children encounter with nature leads to no interest with the abundance blissful beauty of Mother Nature, which is really devastating. Nonetheless, if children were educated about their forefather’s interaction with wildlife such as: haunting, gathering, and encountering the exquisite of Mother Nature would they spend more time outdoors interacting in the woods than only lab experiment? Also, do the children need to be educated about the advantage and the benefits to encourage children

Nature, one of earth’s greatest gift to humanity, is something that has been around us for centuries, even before any one of us existed. Its existence has become a necessity to our survival. In Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv, Louv analyzes how a relationship with nature is beneficial to the health of us as individuals; both mentally and physically, especially within children. He interprets nature as a cure to heal the mind, body, and soul. Given the facts in Louv’s research, nature is a gift from earth that has proved to benefit individuals by the fact that it decreases the obesity rate in children, it reduces ADHD, and it increases our mental stability.

Surveys show that in various exercise programs, participants reported a higher level of satisfaction and enjoyment when the sessions were held outside. These positive effects can be supported by several other studies that demonstrate the restoration from mental fatigue and stress due to nature’s influence. Overall, these participants experienced a revitalization resulting in higher self-esteem, engagement, vitality, enjoyment, and adherence. Scientifically, nature has been proven to positively influence the cognitive functions of various individuals. Researchers Hartig, Morg, and Evans found within a group of students that, depending on their choice of place for vacation, the environment proved to have impact on their proofreading performance. They compared a group of students who participated within a backpacking trip to a group of students who remained in urban areas for vacations, and found that the individuals that backpacked for that short period of time actually experienced higher levels of improvement in their proofreading performance. There are various more studies that further support the theory that utilizing nature as an instructional environment provides more meaningful learning. A study within Sweden showed that children who experienced the outdoors during day care displayed greater motor coordination and better attentional

A child has a ‘sense of wonder’ outlook on the world at a young age when they are learning many new things and experiencing opportunities they may not have been presented with otherwise and the McMillan sisters catered to this idea of how a child learnt. Due to this teachers would learn how to attract children through their likes and how to maintain their attention for more than short periods of time. McMillan also believed “Outdoor play and being taught in fresh air are important.” (Meggitt and Bruce, 2015: 247) This supports physical development as a child would be able to move around plenty outdoors as it would give a child many opportunities to move closer towards their early learning goals for physical development. Playing outdoors also

As I feel my eyes move across the screen of my newly installed television and the different types of scenery flash on and off my screen in an instant I know this movie's setting is in nature. What is nature? Most of your minds instantly think of trees and the woods and you are completely right. Nature is the woods, oceans, parks, rivers, lakes all around you. Nature is the outside world in which you are probably not in right now. In this paper, I am going to talk about the problem of Nature-Deficit Disorder and how we can change this problem in our homes, communities, states, nation, and untimely the world. I feel as though I am in nature when I watch my television but, in fact, I am not. This frame of mind can be detrimental and can briskly

According to Reynolds, “a growing body of research shows that people who spend time outside in sunny, green and natural spaces tend to be happier and healthier than those who don’t” (1). People who are happier have better mental health than those who are not as happy. While some people might generally have a happier disposition, the fact that nature can improve one’s happiness implies a better mental health status. Changes in mental health can occur very quickly as short term exposure to nature is significant in producing adjustments. According to Reynolds, “short durations of viewing green pictures may help people to recover from stress” (2). It is healthy to have a little bit of stress as it increases motivation, but an excessive amount can lead to depression and anxiety. As Reynolds mentions, viewing green pictures may help people recover from stress which indicates how they will likely experience better mental health since feelings of anxiety or depression will be decreased. Haile notes how she noticed a significant drop in anxiety after her forest bathing experience which is evidence attesting to the healing properties of

Childhood was drastically changed decade to decade; the change of outdoor play from tree houses and walking by the swamp to kids sitting inside on electronics. The author discusses the mental and physical effect of “nature deficit disorder” with children’s lack of outdoor time, which is not a medical term by any means, but Louv supports the theory. In the past few decades we have changed through three frontiers extremely fast: utilitarian to romantic and now an intellectualized view on nature. Louv briefly talks about a “forth frontier,” where he does seem very optimistic view of the future in children’s intimacy with nature. The connection with nature across all of America has weakened with time but there are many benefits of this connection.

In the video last child in the woods, Richard talks about the different ways it is good to connect with nature. Different ways to interact with nature can be by going out and listening to the movements of the leafs, or lift up rocks and logs and see underneath that there are bugs and your not alone. When you go out into nature and have a wonder for things, Richard states that, that’s a way your letting spiritual ways grow within yourself. So many good things can come about just from connecting with nature. You can develop healthy childhood development by letting kids go out into nature or even getting yourself out and connecting. Studies have showed that those kids who connect with nature have a bigger mind set. They end up succeeding more

Those who are nature deprived tend to be more depressed than those who spend a few hours in outdoors. Also, nature soothes and restores an individual. It has been said that 95% of individual who were interviewed said that after being exposed to nature their emotions change from being sad, angry, anxious and stressed to being calm, relaxed, and balanced. The longer you are in nature the more it decreases mortality. Yes! Those who spend more time out there with trees and plants tend to live longer. Overall it helps our bodies to be restored, at balance, stress free causing diseases to not have higher levels of happening, than when we are in the

Children have to be raised and taught to love and grow from hardships of life that will always come through in our world. Nature can show that there is still hope after war and loss. As a rainbow comes out after a storm. Lessons that can be learned from nature are more valuable. As Thoreau says, “ I went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if i could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Thoreau lives through simplicity and through his own doctrines that nature and natural life is the most educational and the only lifestyle needed to survive in this world. He says that he went to the woods to discover what he had not yet lived referencing that there is more to life than what society puts out there. There is a deeper life and deeper meaning than what most people live. Thoreau gives many reasons he chose to live in the woods to find a deeper meaning. He says, “ I wanted to live deep and suck out all of the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life..” Our society can become very overwhelming and in those moments it's important to take some solitude and realize what life is really about. Nature allows us to learn and take in every moment at our own pace. Nature isn’t a test score judging how “smart” or “decent” we

only a few examples, it is obvious that the leash on children has tightened, with parents and educators to preferring to keep children indoors to avoid the potential repercussions. But with proper preparation and educating parents and caregivers on ways to make outdoor play safe for the children in their care, there is no reason why children should not be allowed to follow their natural inclination to run and climb and jump. In an article, Play in Natural Outdoor Environments: A Natural Choice, it is suggested that parents and caregivers “should have a plan for what activities the children will engage in while they are outdoors and before the children go outside. Caregivers should discuss what activities the children will be doing so that

1. With a deeper understanding of the importance of nature play to healthy child development, and to their sense of connection to the world, we can create safe zones for nature exploration.

My sophomore year of college I got a job working as a teacher’s assistant in an early care and childhood center. One of the main parts of this center’s curriculum focused on nature play and exploration. From the first day I began working there to three and a half years later on the last day, this topic was always extremely intriguing to me. It fascinated me to watch these young children engage in nature exploration and learn so much from it. I chose to research this topic in order to learn more about the relationship with students and outdoor classrooms in an elementary public school setting. I wanted to see how it

In the article, “Growing up, naturally: The mental health legacy of early nature affiliation”, it shows that many studies have now “demonstrate the emotional and psychological benefits associated with higher levels of nature connectedness, much less is known about how factors such as childhood nature experiences might influence nature connectedness development”( Windhorst, Eric; Williams, Allison 2015). According to the final results, it stated that “Students who measured relatively higher in nature connectedness recalled growing up in the vicinity of accessible, expansive, natural places, and being raised in families that modeled a love for nature and valued shared nature experiences. Overall, findings suggest that positive experiences in natural places growing up may have long-term mental health benefits through fostering a more ecological self” (Windhorst, Eric; Williams, Allison 2015). This article is meaningful to me because it helped me examine my personal environment and how it affected my