Every year parents in this country spend hundreds, and more likely thousands, of dollars on toys, games, and activities to engage and entertain their kids. These “things” may be great for keeping young minds and bodies active, but many of them are unnecessary. Kids need structured play yes, but they also need “free” and unstructured play and this is easy to do when the world’s largest playground is right outside your back door. Why not let them play outside?
Every toy, book, and TV show that comes out has been designed and redesigned several times in order to make it educational and entertaining for children. Millions of dollars are spent trying to find the best ways to market to your kids and hook them for life. The great thing about nature is that, while being entertaining and stimulating to the imagination, it’s also educational and stimulating to their minds in a way that toys cannot compete with. Nature can teach children the basics of science, economics, and creativity.
It’s affordable too! Depending on where you live, exploring nature is usually pretty inexpensive, if not completely free. It may mean adventuring in your backyard, a local park, or perhaps going to the local nature preserve or state park (which usually have low cost fees or memberships). This way, you don’t have to pay for expensive toys (which lose their luster quickly), jungle gyms, or memberships to expensive entertainment centers, but you still get the benefit of stimulating and educational play. Cheap is a mom’s or dad’s best friend in this economy.
Nature makes kids think. Lately there’s been a trend in education towards inquiry based learning. Researchers have found that if students explore and experiment to figure out answers on their own, they’re going to learn more efficiently, and retain more of that information. It also helps them develop skills to be able to learn things on their own later. What better environment to learn things than out in nature. There are lessons for kids of all ages to discover about the world around them.
It may also help the planet. Children will not protect what they do not love. What better way to help do your part than to get your children interested in their own planet than right now when they’re young and impressionable? What might be a fun time for them now, might be a future hobby, career, or world saving invention. At the very least, the nature play they experience now, can motivate them to protect the environment for their own children later on.
Nature play is also fun. Nature gives kids a chance to use their imagination and be free to just be kids. Other forms of entertainment seem like they work to help them grow up and mature faster than what is normal.
While unstructured play outside is great for kids, you can also find a lot of places offering structured classes and learning sessions for kids that focus on the natural world. Check your local park, science center, zoo, or museum. There’s a good chance they have classes you can sign up for, and since many of these places are not for profit, they’re usually affordable as well as informative.
Spending time in the outside world is so important for developing minds. It can also be a great escape for you as well. Take your children outside and create some memories and learning experiences.
Required Reading: Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder
Talking to Fireflies, Shrinking the Moon: Nature Activities for All Ages
This is so true!!! My daughter itches to go outside and could stay out there all day! I only wish we we had a house with a backyard so I could let her roam freely!
I thought about this just yesterday! While at the pool another Mom was complaining about how her boys don’t play outside and how her 12 year old had already spent 3 hours playing video games ( it was 12:30 pm ). He was complaining about “having” to swim and wanted to go home. I politely said how I understood her situation. “No you don’t. Your that family. Your kids go outside and play, they see the pool as a treat and I’ve heard about your hikes.” was her response. What a wonderful compliment for someone to give! Yes we are that family. I truly think my kids are going to be better off mentally, physically, and better rounded adults because we are that family. Perfect NO, they still have a lot of the cool stuff, but use it in moderation. Like all good things should be used!
My kids have the most fun making “mud slush” outside and picking bark off the tree in the backyard to look for” sticky sap.” We just took a trip to Florida and I have more pictures of them “riding the waves” in the ocean and looking for seashells than character pictures at Disney. My 8year old says she is living on the coast when she grows up so the ocean can be her backyard. Hey- why not???
Can’t agree more! I grew up in Bulgaria and every summer break was spent on the farm with my grandparents. Al the other kids from the city were there and we loved to just go into the beautiful fields and play from dusk to dawn. We never had the toys, videos or other luxuries available to American kids today…but we had the freedom to explore nature, as you pointed out. I prefer my childhood any day over the childhood some kids have here – locked at home, playing video games. Thankfully, our home has a huge open backyard and many kids so my 6 month old son will go and play freely with them as soon as he starts walking.
Thank you for the great educational blogs! :-)
Thank you for another great post!
This is so true!!!! We have been taking our son to our neighborhood park which is about 1/2 mile away ever since he was born! In the summer it is nearly a daily event and my son who is 4, walks there. We stopped using a stroller as soon as he started walking. Every year he finds something new to do at the park. We took him on his first hike in the mountains this summer and he loved it! Him and I planted a veggie garden together and we put up bird feeders this year so we can watch the birds feeding. And he has been gardening with mom ever since he was born too! I used to set him up in his stroller outside while I gardened.
There is so much more we can do without TV and video games. I love the ideas you prosposed.
I use to be a high school teacher and during my student teaching phase I had the honor of working with a teacher who used an inquiry based Geometry book that was so cool! The kids wrote the postulates and rules of Geometry after discovering them for themselves rather than the book giving it to them. It is truly the way to go in my opinion for learning.
Having spent the better part of today hiking with my kids, I couldn’t agree more. I was going to write more but am unable to get out of this conversation about the nervous and pumonary systems. Yes, the lungs are a spot in your body where there’s a lot of air.
This is one of the big downsides to living in suburbia. I grew up in a fairly rural area and my home was surrounded by woods. There was a creek running through our property and a lake nearby. I have a ton of fond memories of playing in our yard, with friends and/or siblings or alone. My kids, by contrast, live in a condo complex with boring manicured lawns a a few professional landscaped trees. My kids spend plenty of time outside, but most of it isn’t *NATURE*.
I am so proud of myself that I have raised my 11 yr old daughter so far to realize that nature is amazing, and it’s very important to cherish our earth, since we survive off it. She loves camping, and going to the park, and plenty simple things that a lot of kids her age don’t care much for. She doesn’t own a cell phone, she has a nintendo ds, but never plays it. She’s not huge into tv. She is actually hanging out in her room right now just drawing. I love it. My 2 year old son, of course, loves to play in the dirt in the yard with his shovels and pails. Yesterday I took him outside to jump in the puddles from the storm we had, and he loved it. It’s monsoon season here in AZ so we’ll be getting plenty more storms to come, and many puddles to jump in. :)
AMEN! If you are interesting in “getting kids outside” you should check out these great people that write books exactly about that. Their names are Frances and Hugh Keiser. They are retired Grandparents that spend so much money on their mission each year – she writes, he illustrates. They have a beautiful book series called – Pelican Pete.
http://www.pelicanpete.com.
We really love them and carry their products in our line.
Thanks for posting about this. It is so important to get kids outside and connecting with nature. They are smarter, happier and better problem solvers. Plus, there are so many other benefits–as shown in recent studies.
I usually don’t plug my website in the comment section, but….While unstructured play is critical, if you need a few ideas to motivate your kids to get out and connect with nature check out: http://www.yourwildchild/com
I’m off to finish packing for our weekend camping trip!
Great blog Melynda!
I love taking my 11-month-old outside. As much as my 4-year-old enjoys nature, my baby just revels in it. He points and coos and babbles. He could spend hours just stroking tree bark. I really think there’s no more stimulating or educational way we could spend our time than just being outdoors together.
Plus, it somehow always picks up my own mood, too. Just try to be grumpy with your bare feet in the grass, it’s not possible. :)