Tag: children
Find Your Secret Garden, Down the Block
“Play is something done for its own sake… It’s voluntary, it’s pleasurable, it offers a sense of engagement, it takes you out of time. And the act itself is more important than the outcome.” – Dr. Stuart Brown, National Institute for Play Play comes in as many forms as there are people in a city. While…
Youth Health and Nature
This month consists of an exciting repertoire of respected scientists casting their vote in favor of nature engagement. In an increasingly urbanized planet, close and consistent connection to nature has become rare in many places. Millions of people spend hours working indoors, driving or riding public transportation. In order to minimize unsustainable urban sprawl, cities…
ADHD, medication and nature: An interview with an emerging scholar
This month as we examine the cognitive benefits from being in nature we talked with Matt Stevenson of the University of Copenhagen. Stevenson is a PhD fellow in the Forest and Landscape College and one of many emerging, dynamic projects developing out of the Centre for Outdoor Life and Nature. Stevenson represents many new scholars around the…
Are Children Choosing Technology over Nature?
Research shows that exposure to nature is an important part of childhood development. Along with the stress reducing properties of nature, play in nature offers the opportunity to explore, develop social relationships, experiment and learn in a way that urban environments do not. According to a recent poll by the Nature Conservancy however, only 10 percent of the children surveyed…
Healthy Minds in 2015
Each month in our Open Voices blog we share insight from leaders in our communities who are advancing what it means to have sacred, open green spaces in our cities. As you resolve to make your 2015 a spectacular year, we encourage you to spend more time outside for you and your family’s mental health…
