Lets Get Kids Outside

 
 

Nature Walks, Parks, Camping Trips and Outdoor Science Trips

When is the last time you took a walk in the outdoors?
This is not an accusatory question, but one I do not think we ask ourselves enough.
I was an assistant director at a nature focused camp, and even then I did not spend much time being present in nature.

I have spent the past ten years, as an outdoor/experiential educator and working with youth all over Southern California, and often after a day at a local park they tell me this is one of the first times they were present in nature.

Nature is not a cure all for the ills facing the world, it’s not a sole solution for childhood obesity or adhd, no one is fixed by a single walk in nature. What time outdoors does do for youth and adults alike is give a space, away from the noise of the contemporary world, assuming we put our phones and screens down and engage in the present.


What is time in nature and what can it do?

“Last Child in the Woods” by Richard Louv gives a detailed account of the benefits of youth spending time in nature. Taking his premise of time in nature as beneficial, and adding in trained and informed instructors, the results can be transformative.