Adapt the how-to steps in this guide to turn your backyard into a vibrant, fun-filled Nature Play space.
If you’re a parent, ask yourself – when was the last time your child climbed a tree? With increasing reliance on technology and parental safety concerns, children have never been so separated from the natural world. Catalyst investigates the science of outdoor play and shows how it can improve children’s health, academic performance, mental well-being, personal and social development, concentration levels and symptoms of ADHD.
Length: 6m : 19s
In this in-depth interview, author and activist Tim Gill urges parents to consider the level of freedom and types of experiences they had in childhood. He explains why allowing children to fulfill their need to test their own limits helps them assess risks, learn their capacities, gain confidence and become more resilient. Tim talks about unstructured play and what a great play space looks like; garnering peer support from other parents; and what can be done to help the growing number of children suffering from anxiety and depression. You’ll learn why it’s vital to weigh up the risks vs benefits of certain types of play and how to be a little less risk averse and a little more free range.
Length: 1h : 06m : 00s
Subject Area: Risk, urban planning
Children’s safety and development is important. Current trends show us that reduced time spent playing outdoors is influenced by parental and societal concerns. A growing body of research suggests that excessive restrictions on children’s outdoor risky play negatively effects their development. This study explores the relationship between child development, free play, and perceptions of risk with the aim of supporting child injury prevention. This study suggests that keeping children safe means letting them take and manage risks and that new approaches are evolving which seek effective strategies for keeping children “as safe as necessary,” not “as safe as possible.” The researchers outline the importance of play as a crucial ingredient for healthy child development and review the evidence for arguments supporting the need for risky play outdoors.
Subject Area: Risk
This thesis from Landscape Architect Ashley Parsons, explains why designers of children’s playscapes should recognise the importance of play, nature experiences and the benefits that outdoor play have on children’s health and development. The author points out that play is a pivotal part of a child’s life and that children’s direct social and individual experiences in nature between the ages of three and twelve (the ‘developmental window of opportunity’) help shape their environmental identity and guide their environmental actions. It also provides children with experiences in naturalistic landscapes which could potentially influence morality, value development and future action.
Developmental psychologist and researcher, Professor Marti Erickson, Co-Founder and Past Chair of the Children and Nature Network; and founder of Weekly Parenting Podcast ‘Mom Enough’, chats with host Tania Maloney about the growing body of research advocating for children’s reconnection with nature. Professor Erickson explains how unstructured time outdoors helps children feel a sense of connection, competence and contribution, the 3 keys for growing into healthy, happy adults. She also shares insight into child/parent attachment and family connections, shared nature experiences, nurturing strong family bonds and the restorative effect of ‘getting the wild out’.
Length: 57m : 48s
Host Clare Crew outlines the key elements of risky play and their importance to children’s development: height, speed, tools, fire, water, rough & tumble and being out of sight. She discusses fostering resilience, time constraints and other challenges.
Length: 25m : 48s