Getting Kids Back to Nature :

When I was a kid we had twice-daily recess on school days, and once the last bell of the day rang, there was never any thought of being indoors. On weekends and summer days, we ran out of the house first thing in the morning, hollered for the next-door neighbor to come out to play, made quick trips in for lunch and supper, and then reemerged until darkness and our moms forced us inside.

Today's children spend little or no time outside. With studies showing that children spend from 36 to 44 hours a week with electronics, there's little time left for being outdoors. Also, more and more kids' lives are too overscheduled for outdoor play. When they're not attending an organized class or program, they're busy with homework, being drilled with flashcards or “learning” on the computer. And because school is now more about seatwork and meeting requirements for standardized tests, they’re lucky if they get 15 minutes of recess a day.

But when children spend most of their time indoors, they’re missing out on everything the outdoors has to offer them.To begin with, the outdoors is the best place for young children to practice and master emerging physical skills and to experience the pure joy of movement. It’s also the place where they’re likely to burn the most calories , which is absolutely necessary in the fight against obesity.

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Additionally, the outside light stimulates the pineal gland, which is the part of the brain that helps regulate the biological clock, is vital to the immune system, and simply makes us feel happier. Outside light triggers the synthesis of vitamin D. And a number of studies have demonstrated that it increases academic learning and productivity!

Young children learn much through their senses, and the outdoors is a virtual wonderland for the senses. There are different and incredible things for the children to see (insects, clouds, shadows), to hear (traffic sounds, birdsongs, leaves rustling in the wind), to smell (flowers and the rain-soaked ground), to touch (a fuzzy caterpillar or the bark of a tree) and even to taste (newly fallen snow, a raindrop or a freshly picked blueberry).

Children who spend much of their time acquiring experiences through television, computers and even books are using only two senses (hearing and sight), and this can seriously affect their perceptual abilities. Also, much of this learning, which falls under the content area of science, can’t be acquired indoors. Nor can children who spend most of their time indoors be expected to learn to care for the environment.

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