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28.1: Introduction

  • Page ID
    142488
    • Amanda Taintor
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    Introduction to Outdoor Environment

    Research shows that today’s young children spend less time outdoors engaging in active play and exploring the natural world (Clements, "Status of Outdoor Play," 68; Ginsberg, "No Child Left Inside," 3–5; Hastie and Howard, "Prescription for Healthy Kids"; The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, "New Study"; Thigpen, "Outdoor Play: Combating Sedentary Lifestyles," 19–20). Researchers have identified several reasons for this decline, including:

    • Adult fears about crime and safety
    • Increased use of television, computer games, DVDs, and smartphones and tablets with digital media
    • More time spent indoors in structured activities
    • Childcare arrangements with limited free time
    • Loss of natural habitats

    An increasing number of educators, health/mental health professionals, and other child advocates agree that this trend adversely affects young children's health and development. Richard Louv, a child advocacy expert, worries that children are disconnecting from the natural world, a condition he calls "nature deficit disorder" (Louv, 2008) According to his research, nature deficit disorder contributes to a rise in obesity, depression, and attention disorders. As young children "spend less and less of their lives in natural surroundings, their senses narrow, physiologically and psychologically ...." (Louv, Introduction).

    Whether children live in urban, suburban, or rural communities, the outdoor world provides new opportunities to observe, discover, and learn. In an outdoor environment, children's cognitive capacity to appreciate beauty, express creatively, and perceive sensory patterns and variety expand to all new heights. (Torquati & Barber,2005)[1]


    [1] U.S Department of Health and Human Services. Supporting outdoor play and exploration for infants and toddlers. ECLKC. is in the public domain.


    This page titled 28.1: Introduction is shared under a mixed 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Amanda Taintor.