Back to Nature

05/12/2021

Back to Nature

When you think back to your childhood, what memories do you have of long summer days and hazy summer evenings? Do you think of playing games of kick-the-can, hide-and-seek, or tag? Did you gently catch fireflies to watch them shimmer inside an old jar before you released them again? Were you outside, enjoying nature during the warm, sunny days, or perhaps playing in puddles after a cool summer rain? These are the memories that today’s children may not have, as research shows kids only spend minutes a day outside (Juster, 2004), spending most of their time indoors on screens.

The worst part is that this can cause permanent detrimental health effects. Childhood diabetes, obesity, vitamin deficiencies, asthma and vision problems are all on the rise. ADHD diagnoses (Sax, 2000) and antidepressant use by children (Delate, 2004) are at an all-time high. According to Dr. Michael Rich, Director of the Center of Media and Child Health, Children’s Hospital Boston, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health, “We have shifted our culture from one that is engaged in a healthy, interactive, imaginative way to one that is inwardly facing, sedentary and expecting things to be fed to us.” (National Wildlife Federation, 2010)  Exposure to nature can mitigate symptoms of all of these conditions. Getting kids connected to nature is essential to both their well-being and the well-being of our society.

“Nature brings out more social feelings, more value for community and close relationships,” says Richard Ryan, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry and Education, University of Rochester (National Wildlife Federation, 2010). When kids are given an hour of unstructured outdoor playtime, it has a positive impact on their bodies, their minds, and their spirits. With benefits from the easily measurable (increased levels of Vitamin D, improvements in nearsightedness) to the more intangible (being nicer to others, decreases in anxiety and depression), spending time playing outside, away from screens and structure, is an easy-to-implement regimen to improve the quality of kids lives. (Bravender, 2020)

There can be conflict and even resistance when children that are used to being entertained by technology are sent outdoors to discover nature. One way to offset that is to use technology to enhance outdoor time spent together (National Wildlife Federation, 2013). There are apps that bridge technology and nature, leveraging the power of a smartphone as a nature learning resource. 

The Merlin Bird ID app, created by the Cornell Ornithology Lab (Cornell University, 2021), helps kids identify birds using descriptive characteristics, like place, color, and size, or even identify birds from photographs. From the app, it’s easy to contribute to birdwatching research in Merlin’s sister app, iBird, which can be used to create a bird life list. PlantNet provides a similar identification tool from photographs but for flowers, leave, trees, fruit and more (Floris'Tic, 2021).

Looking for more adventure? Try the Geocaching app, which uses your phone’s GPS to lead you to hidden locations nearby, often complete with logbooks, small tokens, and more. Geocaching will get the whole family into the woods, walking through the prairie, and even exploring their neighborhood (Groundspeak, Inc, 2021). A quick search revealed over 2000 hidden caches in our area, and thousands more in our state.

Penworthy’s catalog is filled with products that can enhance outdoor play and exploration. The series “Animals in my Yard” teaches kids about animals they might encounter in their yard or elsewhere, like bats, porcupines, armadillos and snakes. “Watching Animals in Nature”, a book by Abby Colich, shows kids how easy it is to spot animals, their traces, and their sounds, in the nature right around their home. 

We even have Penworthy STEAM-to-Go kits to help get kids outdoors and in nature. The Examine Science and Nature kit includes a handheld microscope to study both the included prepared slides and other things kids find in nature. The Explore the Outdoors kit is perfect for nature walks and backyard exploration and comes with both a submergible Aqua Viewer and a 2-1 Explorer Scope for up-close examination of everything from rocks to bugs. For future geologists, the Rocks and Fossils kit includes a stereoscope viewer that lets kids get up close and personal with the included specimens as well as ones they find while out playing.

We are committed to developing reading and life skills in kids across the US. All of our Penworthy Prebound Books and STEAM-to-Go kits will help you deliver high quality materials to your youngest patrons. Now get away from your screen and go outside and play! It’s good for you!

References:

Bravender, T. S. (2020). Expanding the definition of pediatric environmental health. Pediatric Research, 976.

Cornell University. (2021, May 11). Home. Retrieved from Merlin Bird ID: https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

Delate, T. G. (2004). Trends in the use of antidepressant medications in a nationwide sample of commercially insured pediatric patients, 1998-2002. Retrieved from Psychiatry Online: https://psychiatryonline.org/

Floris'Tic. (2021, May 11). PlantNet. Retrieved from PlantNet: https://plantnet.org/

Groundspeak, Inc. (2021, May 11). Geocaching. Retrieved from Geocaching: https://www.geocaching.com/play

Hoffreth, S. a. (1999). Changes in American Children's Time, 1981-1997. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.

Juster, F. T. (2004). Changing Times of American Youth: 1981-2003. Ann Arbor, MI: Institite for Social Research, University of Michigan.

National Wildlife Federation. (2010). Whole Child: Developing Mind, Body and Spirit through Outdoor Play. Reston, VA: National Wildlife Federation.

National Wildlife Federation. (2013). Friending Fresh Air: Connecting Kids to Nature in the Digital Age . Reston, VA: National Wildlife Federation.

Sax, L. (2000, November 1). Ritalin - Better Living Through Chemistry? The World and I.