May 23 2008
Go outside and play this summer
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It’s Memorial Day weekend and that means camping for our family. It’s one of the few times I spend time outdoors. While I used to love playing outside as a child, I don’t as an adult.
If you need a little inspiration to get outside and play, check out Richard Louv’s book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder
I reviewed the previous version of Last Child in the Woods in June 2006. The new, expanded 2008 edition contains a “Field Guide” with 100 Actions that families and communities can take, along with discussion questions, a report on the movement, and other resources for parents, educators, conservationists, business people and community leaders.
You can learn more about the book at www.lastchildinthewoods.com, go to Richard Louv’s website, or read the following an excerpt from the book.
BEYOND NATURE-DEFICIT DISORDER
It’s Time to Turn Consciousness into Action
By Richard Louv
Got dirt? “In South Carolina, a truckload of dirt is the same price as a video game!” reports Norman McGee, a father in that state who bought a small pickup-load of dirt for his daughter and friends.
McGee is turning consciousness into action. So is Liz Baird, who keeps a “wonder bowl” available for her children.
When Baird was a little girl she would fill her pockets with natural wonders—acorns, rocks, mushrooms. “My Mom got tired of washing clothes and finding these treasures in the bottom of the washer or disintegrated through the dryer,” Liz recalls. “So she came up with ‘Liz’s Wonder Bowl,’ and the idea was that I could empty my pockets into the bowl. I could still enjoy my treasures, and try to find out what things were, and not cause trouble with the laundry.”
McGee and Baird are among the thousands of parents who have joined – and are leading – an international children and nature movement. Sometimes known as Leave No Child Inside, the effort is bringing together people from all walks of life, who are creating grassroots regional campaigns, state and national legislation, and changes in their own families to help children become happier, healthier and smarter.
An emerging body of scientific knowledge links nature time to longer attention spans, better cognitive functioning, reduction of stress, and strengthened family bonds. What better way to enhance parent-child attachment than to walk in the woods together, disengaging from distracting electronics, advertising, and peer pressure?
Howard Frumkin, director of the National Center for Environmental Health at Centers for Disease Control, recently describes the clear benefits of nature experiences to healthy child development, and to adult well-being.
“In the same way that protecting water and protecting air are strategies for promoting public health, protecting natural landscapes can be seen as a powerful form of preventive medicine,” he says. He believes that future research about the positive health effects of nature should be conducted in collaboration with architects, urban planners, park designers, and landscape architects. “Of course, there is still much we need to learn, such as what kinds of nature contact are most beneficial to health, how much contact is needed and how to measure that, and what groups of people benefit most. But we know enough to act.”
If you’re a parent who missed out on nature as a child, now’s your chance. Indeed, all the gifts of nature that come to children also come to the good adult who introduces a child to nature.
Young people are acting, too, by becoming natural leaders in the movement. For example, a seven-year-old girl in Virginia rounded up her friends and enrolled them in her own Girls Gone Wild in Nature Club. Together they organize backyard campouts and bug hunts.
In Mississippi, teenager Josh Morrison founded Geeks in the Woods (www.geeksinthewoods.org) for his friends and fellow geeks everywhere. He defines “geek” as a “gaming environmentally educated kid,” and says he and his friends — “tired of being labeled” tech addicts — can have their PlayStations and their outdoor time too: “We could be the generation that makes a U-turn back to . . . a balance between virtual reality and what sustains all life . . . nature.”
Kellogg’s and 
by Darrin Lunde from Charlesbridge Publishing (
- a tale of a giraffe who’s scared of heights and two of his animal friends who have their own fears to overcome (
- the story of a painted turtle who adopts other animals behaviors (
by Catherine Ipcizade and illustrated by Ben Hodson. This book is an adaptation of ’Twas the Night Before Christmas and shares zoo keeper and animal preparations for the upcoming “Zoo Day.” Like all Sylvan Dell books, their website features a PDF of the 
I’m attending a special mommy blogger event next week in Southern California put on by the kind folks at Sony. We’ll be trying out Sony Digital imaging products and services including trying out the 
, 
, and the 
. Fancy! We’ll also be meeting with photography expert 
to read on the plane thanks to the folks at National Geographic.
to alter and improve your photographs.
kidthing
was released this week. And thanks to the folks at Click Communications, I have a preview copy that I hope we can watch this weekend, since we were too busy last week.
