Value of Nature and
Play For Healthy Kids
In 1976, we began inventing children’s
board games sold through our mail-order
catalog Animal Town. Fun kid's games
based on cooperative play were soon
offered to families. Our major theme was
cooperative play with an emphasis on
nature, environmental protection and the
joy of play. We were concerned about the
absence of cooperative games and the
highly competitive games offered to
children (e.g. Monopoly, Risk). We knew
cooperative play (where everyone works
together to come up with a solution -
beneficial to all) was a great model for
children, families and society.
Cooperative games are very conducive
to fair play, openness and the sharing of
ideas. Studies have shown that
cooperative models of learning are linked
to emotional maturity and strong personal
identity.
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Parents, teachers and home schoolers became interested in our products, service
and philosophy through our highly regarded mail-order catalog Animal Town. For
nearly 25 years – up to the year 2000 - we offered our catalog of ideas and
products to parents and teachers. Our latest endeavor Cooperative Games and
Child and Nature, includes many of the same ideas, but with an added focus on the
importance of nature. Access to fields, creeks, ponds, wildflowers and orchards from
one’s home has greatly diminished for many people in the last 30 years; many
children are now more separated from natural settings…for many reasons. We are
striving to put children’s play and getting outdoors in nature as top priorities.
The following information represents our essential philosophy.
The Value of Being in Nature
The great philosophers, writers, artists and poets have written volumes about the
mystery, harmony and beauty of Nature:
When one tugs at a single thing in nature,
he finds it is attached to the rest of the world.
- John Muir
Children take delight when the wonders of the natural world are revealed to them.
They truly thrive as they interact with nature – becoming sponges absorbing all her
offerings. Remarkably, both children and nature offer us rewards of awe, wonder
and delight and each is sensitive to change and need to be handled with care. Will
children be the ones to understand and in time give back, to heal and protect our
world?
If a child is to keep alive his (her) inborn sense of wonder…
he (she) needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it,
rediscovering with him (her) the joy, excitement and mystery
of the world we live in.
-Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder, 1956
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People innately crave fresh air, the
greening of the landscape, wildlife, rivers
and sunsets. It’s refreshing to be outdoors
absorbing and exploring all the natural
wonders. School is a logical place for
children to learn about nature and getting
outdoors is the premier place to learn.
George Santayana wrote, “A child
educated only at school is an uneducated
child.” In one way or another, human
beings will always crave interaction with
nature. Perhaps we embrace our pets as a
way of subconsciously keeping in touch
with a little bit of nature.
Children do not get enough time to
experience nature on a daily basis in
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these busy times. Vanishing green spaces, lack of access to natural areas,
dangerous traffic, dominance of television and computers, more homework, and
increased participation in competitive team sports have all affected how much time
children spend outdoors. Children, teenagers and adults need a standard daily
dose of time spent in nature just as there are standard daily doses for vitamins and
minerals. According to author Richard Louv (see his new important book, Last
Child in the Woods), if young people fail to get enough of nature it can lead to NDD -
Nature Deficit Disorder, which shows up as attention difficulties and higher rates
of physical and emotional illness. The author's research shows that environmental
based education dramatically improves standardized test scores, grade-point
averages, problem solving skills, critical thinking skills and decision-making skills.
The benefits of being outdoors - sunlight (vitamin D), fresh air (oxygen), and
tranquility - are essential to good health at any age.
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The Value of Play
Play is essential to a child's all-around
development. The United Nations
Declarations of the Rights of the Child
declared children's rights must include
play, adequate nutrition, special protection,
housing, health care and education
(including a respect for the natural
environment). Adults often dismiss the
value of children's play, but it is an
essential component of healthy
development. Play is a very special activity
with distinctive features that set it apart
from other behaviors. During play, children
free themselves from external rules and
are not concerned with particular goals.
Honoring childhood play as an integral part
of life establishes a life-long pattern of
healthy playfulness. And what better place
to play than in nature?
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By encouraging children to play outside, children are free to explore, investigate, ask
questions, be silly and have fun. Children's interactions with others and with nature
allow them to express their thoughts and insights, to try out new ideas and test the
boundaries of their growing world.
Play is the highest level of child development.
It is the spontaneous expression of thought and
feeling…It is the purest creation of the child’s mind as it
is also a pattern and copy of the natural life hidden in man and in all
things.
-Friedrich Froebel
Playing board games gives entertaining and fascinating insight into others. Everyone
is closely seated or sprawled out on the floor around the game facing each other.
Not only do they observe each other's expressions and feel their emotions, they
exchange views while observing each other's skills and ideas. Usually game playing
animates people…they become theatrical and react spontaneously, resulting in
laughter and merriment. In other words everyone is really enjoying each other!
Impediments to Play and Playfulness
Children of today are more sedentary than any previous generation.
Traditional outdoor games are being abandoned in favor of television,
computers and electronic games. As a result concern about rising
levels of childhood obesity and inactivity is reaching unprecedented
levels.
- Sally Goddard Blythe, The Well Balanced Child, 2004
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Many educators, pediatricians, sociologists
and researchers recognize TV and other
high-tech entertainment as major
impediments to our social well being. On
average, American children between the
ages of 2 and 18 spend 5½ hours each
day, or 38 hours per week, watching TV or
playing computer games. Much of that time
is spent alone, when they could and should
be socializing with other people, and
playing outside and absorbing nature. In
1999 the American Academy of Pediatrics
urged parents to avoid television viewing
for children less than two years of age.
Research on early brain development
demonstrated that babies and toddlers
have a critical need for direct interaction
with people for healthy brain growth.
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Pediatric doctors have warned that TV viewing by children can lead to violent
behavior, obesity, apathy, lower metabolism and decreased imagination. Even
traditional games – running and jumping, climbing trees, playing on a swing are
being abandoned in favor of electronic technology, which often interferes with the
development of a child’s imagination. Play should be a normal and necessary part of
everyday living.
But it’s not only computers, television, and video games that
are keeping kids inside. It’s also their parents’ fears
of traffic, strangers, Lyme disease, and West Nile virus; their schools’
emphasis on more and more homework; their structured schedules; and
their lack of access to natural areas.
-Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods, 2005
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