**Young Children\'s Relationship with Nature:\
Its Importance to Children\'s Development & the Earth\'s Future**

**By Randy White**

© 2004 White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group

Almost 150 years ago, nineteenth century psychologist Herbert Spencer
published his book, *Principals of Psychology*, in which he espoused the
\"surplus energy theory,\" explaining that the main reason for
children\'s play is to get rid of surplus energy. Although researchers
and developmental theorists have rejected his theory, it has had an
unfortunate and lasting influence on the design of children\'s outdoor
play environments (Malone 2003). As a result of Spencer\'s theory,
playgrounds are seen as areas for physical play during recess, where
children \'burn off steam,\' and not for the other domains of
development or for learning. In child care settings, playgrounds
typically have manufactured climbing equipment, and other than
sometimes-manicured grass, are void of nature and vegetation. The
playgrounds for multitudes of children are not green, but gray (Moore &
Wong 1997), many analogous to a parking lot (Worth 2003).

Early childhood learning facility designers\' and directors\'
point-of-view that playgrounds should be designed for surveillance of
children, ease of maintenance and to have a break from children, rather
than stimulate the children themselves, has also contributed to the
barren design of outdoor childcare environments where there is neither
shade, shelter nor opportunities to interact with nature (McKendrick,
Bradford & Fielder 2000, Cheskey 2001, Malone 2003). Playground design
also reflects a lack of understanding of how quality outdoor play
environments can provide children rich educational opportunities,
particularly in the area of social skills and environmental learning
(Evan 1997). Roger Hart, a noted developmental psychologist, attributes
much of the problem to an underestimation of the importance of play to
children; that it is considered discretionary rather than essential to
child development, and that this misguided concept of play has trickled
down into the play areas we create for children, resulting in lackluster
environments with little value (Shell 1994).

Human nature itself has also helped perpetuate this design paradigm,
simply because we are creatures of our experience, and our common
experiences usually shape the conventional wisdom, or paradigms, by
which we operate. When most adults were children, playgrounds were
asphalt areas with manufactured, fixed playground equipment such as
swings, jungle gyms and slides, where they went for recess. Therefore,
most adults see this as the appropriate model for a playground.

**Children\'s History of Contact with Nature**

Modern humans (*homo sapiens*) evolved and have lived in intimate
contact with nature, in the savannahs and forests, for almost their
entire 120,000±-year history. The cultivation of plants and the
domestication of animals allowed our ancestors to dwell in permanent
settlements, to expand their population more rapidly, thus beginning a
long, sad divorce from nature (Manning 2004). It wasn\'t until recent
history that most people lived in cities. But even until very recent
history, children still grew up with intimate contact with nature.

Throughout most of history, when children were free to play, their first
choice was often to flee to the nearest wild place - whether it was big
tree or brushy area in the yard or a watercourse or woodland nearby
(Pyle 2002). Two hundred years ago, most children spent their days
surrounded by fields, farms or in the wild nature at its edges. By the
late twentieth century, many children\'s environments had become
urbanized (Chawla 1994). But even then, as recently as 1970, children
had access to nature and the world at large. They spent the bulk of
their recreation time outdoors, using the sidewalks, streets,
playgrounds, parks, greenways, vacant lots and other spaces \"left
over\" during the urbanization process or the fields, forests, streams
and yards of suburbia (Moore 2004, White & Stoecklin 1998). Children had
the freedom to play, explore and interact with the natural world with
little or no restriction or supervision.

**Children\'s Extinction of Experience**

The lives of children today are much different. Children today have few
opportunities for outdoor free play and regular contact with the natural
world. Their physical boundaries have shrunk due to a number of factors
(Francis 1991, Kyttä 2004). A \'culture of fear\' has parents afraid for
their children\'s safety. A 2004 study found that 82% of mothers with
children between the ages of 3 and 12 identified crime and safety
concerns as one of the primary reasons they don\'t allow their children
to play outdoors (Clements 2004). Due to \'stranger danger,\' many
children are no longer free to roam their neighborhoods or even their
own yards unless accompanied by adults (Pyle 2002, Herrington &
Studtmann 1998, Moore & Wong 1997). Fears of ultraviolet rays,
insect-born diseases and various forms of pollution are also leading
adults to keep children indoors (Wilson 2000). Furthermore, children\'s
lives have become structured and scheduled by adults, who hold the
mistaken belief that this sport or that lesson will make their young
children more successful as adults (Moore & Wong 1997, White & Stoecklin
1998). Brooks (2004) says that a childhood of unsupervised loitering,
wandering and exploring has been replaced by a childhood of adult
supervised and scheduled improvements.

The culture of childhood that played outside is gone and children\'s
everyday life has shifted to the indoors (Hart 1999, Moore 2004). As a
result, children\'s opportunity for direct and spontaneous contact with
nature is a vanishing experience of childhood (Chawla 1994, Kellert
2002, Kuo 2003, Malone 2004, Pyle 2002, Rivkin 1990, Wilson 1996). One
researcher has gone so far as to refer to this sudden shift in
children\'s lives and their loss of free play in the outdoors as a
\'childhood of imprisonment\' (Francis 1991). Childhood and regular
unsupervised play in the outdoor natural world is no longer synonymous
(Wilson 2000). Pyle (1993) calls this the \'extinction of experience,\'
which breeds apathy towards environmental concerns. Kellert (2002) says
society today has become \"so estranged from its natural origins, it has
failed to recognize our species\' basic dependence on nature as a
condition of growth and development.\"

Not only have children\'s play environments dramatically changed in the
last few decades, but also the time children have to play has decreased.
Between 1981 and 1997, the amount of time children ages 6 to 8 in the
U.S. played decreased 25%, by almost four hours per week, from 15 hours
a week to 11 hours and 10 minutes. During the same period, the time they
spent in school increased by almost 5 hours (Hofferth & Sandberg 2000).
A recent study surveyed mothers and found that 70% of mothers in the
U.S. played outdoors everyday when they were children, compared with
only 31% of their children, and that when the mothers played outdoors,
56% remained outside for three or more hours compared to only 22% of
their children (Clements 2004).

**Mediated Experience**

Today, with children\'s lives disconnected from the natural world, their
experiences are predominately mediated in media, written language and
visual images (Chawla 1994). The virtual is replacing the real (Pyle
2002). TV, nature documentaries, National Geographic and other nature TV
channels and environmental fundraising appeals are conditioning children
to think that nature is exotic, awe-inspiring and in far, far away,
places they will never experience (Chipeniuk 1995). Children are losing
the understanding that nature exists in their own backyards and
neighborhoods, which further disconnects them from knowledge and
appreciation of the natural world.

**Loss of Contact with Nature is Nature\'s Loss**

Not only does the loss of children\'s outdoor play and contact with the
natural world negatively impact the growth and development of the whole
child and their acquisition of knowledge, it also sets the stage for a
continuing loss of the natural environment. The alternative to future
generations who value nature is the continued exploitation and
destruction of nature. Research is clearly substantiating that an
affinity to and love of nature, along with a positive environmental
ethic, grow out of children\'s regular contact with and play in the
natural world (Bunting 1985; Chawla 1988; Wilson 1993; Pyle 1993;
Chipeniuk 1994; Sobel 1996, 2002 & 2004; Hart 1997; Moore & Wong 1997;
Kals et al. 1999; Moore & Cosco 2000; Lianne 2001; Kellert 2002; Bixler
et al. 2002; Kals & Ittner 2003; Phenice & Griffore 2003; Schultz et al.
2004).

**Schoolgrounds Offer Hope**

With children\'s access to the outdoors and the natural world becoming
increasingly limited or nonexistent, child care, kindergarten and
schools, where children spend 40 to 50 hours per week, may be mankind\'s
last opportunity to reconnect children with the natural world and create
a future generation that values and preserves nature (Herrington &
Studtmann 1998, Malone & Tranter 2003). Many authorities believe the
window of opportunity for the formation of bonding with and positive
attitudes towards the natural environment develops sometime during early
and middle childhood and requires regular interaction with nearby nature
(Cohen & Horm-Wingerg 1993; Kellert 2002; Phenice & Griffore 2003; Sobel
1990, 1996 & 2004; Wilson 1993). Some authorities believe that if
children don\'t develop a sense of respect and caring for the natural
environment during their first few years, they are at risk for never
developing such attitudes (Sobel 1996, Wilson 1996).

**Premature Abstraction Breeds Biophobia**

The problem with much environmental education is that it approaches
education from an adult\'s, rather than a child\'s perspective.
Children\'s curiosity with the natural world and unique way of knowing
requires discovery and exploratory learning, rather than a didactic
approach. One of the main problems with most environmental education is
premature abstraction, teaching children too abstractly. One result of
trying to teach children at too early of an age about abstract concepts
like rainforest destruction, acid rain, ozone holes and whale hunting
can be dissociation. When we ask children to deal with problems beyond
their cognitive abilities, understanding and control, they can become
anxious, tune out and develop a phobia to the issues. In the case of
environmental issues, biophobia - a fear of the natural world and
ecological problems - a fear of just being outside - can develop.
Studying about the loss of rainforests and endangered species may be age
appropriate for middle school children, but is developmentally
inappropriate for pre-school and elementary school students (Cohen &
Horn-Wingerg 1993, Coffey 2001, Kellert 2002, Sobel 1996, Wilson 1997).

John Burroughs cautioned that, \"Knowledge without love will not stick.
But if love comes first, knowledge is sure to follow.\" The problem with
most environmental education programs for young children is that they
try to impart knowledge and responsibility before children have been
allowed to develop a loving relationship with the earth (Sobel 1996,
Wilson 1997). Children\'s emotional and affective values of nature
develop earlier than their abstract, logical and rational perspectives
(Kellert 2002). We need to allow children to develop their biophilia,
their love for the Earth, before we ask them to save it. Rather then
books and lectures, nature itself is children\'s best teacher (Coffey
2001). Young children tend to develop emotional attachments to what is
familiar and comfortable for them (Wilson 1996). The more personal
children\'s experience with nature, the more environmentally concerned
and active children are likely to become (Bunting & Cousins 1985, Harvey
1989).

**Discovering Children\'s Ecopsychological Self**

During the preschool years, it is important to help children discover
what has been termed as their ecopsychological self - the child\'s
natural sense of self in relation to the natural world (Phenice &
Griffore 2003). Many authorities believe that due to humans\' evolution
in the natural world, we possess nature-based genetic coding and
instincts, that children are born with a natural sense of relatedness to
nature and this innate and developmental tendency towards empathy,
biophilia or affiliation with nature needs to be nurtured starting in
their earliest years (Barrows 1995, Lewis 1996, Nelson 1993, Sobel 1996,
Tilbury 1996, Wilson 1993 & 1997). Children\'s instinctive feelings of
continuity with nature are demonstrated by the attraction fairy tales
set in nature and populated by animal characters have to children
(Barrows 1995).

The extent to which an individual believes s/he is a part of nature,
their connectiveness to nature, has been shown to be correlated with
positive environmental attitudes (Shultz, et al. 2004). Research has
also demonstrated that children\'s positive encounters with nature can
lead to development of an environmental ethic (Chawla 1998, Nabhan &
Trimble 1994, Palmberg & Kuru 2000, Wilson 1997). Young children\'s
sense of self-needs to develop in connection with and as a part of
nature. Research indicates that children\'s understanding of the
relationship of humans to nature is both partially complete and under
construction during early childhood (Phenice & Griffore 2003).

Children\'s development with little or no regular contact with the
natural world is seen as a process of socialization by which children
come to see themselves as separate and not a part of the natural world
(Phenice & Griffore 2003, Sobel 1996). If children\'s developing sense
of self becomes disconnected from the natural world, then nature comes
to be seen as something to be controlled and dominated rather than loved
and preserved. The child develops biophobia that can range from
discomfort and fear in natural places to a prejudice against nature and
disgust for whatever is not manmade, managed or air-conditioned (Cohen
1993, Bixler, et al. 1994, Orr 1993).

Sobel (1996) believes that developing children\'s empathy with the
natural world should be the main objective for children ages four
through seven. Children\'s experiences during early childhood should
nurture the conception of the child as a part of nature. It is during
early childhood when children\'s experiences give form to the values,
attitudes, and basic orientation toward the world that they will carry
with them throughout their lives (Wilson 1994 & 1996). Regular positive
interactions within nature help children develop respect and a caring
attitude for the environment. Not only are regular experiences in nature
important, but also adults, both parents and teachers, need to model
enjoyment of, comfort with, and respect for nature (Cohen 1992 & Phenice
& Griffore 2003, Wilson 1996).

Sobel (1996) advocates that in addition to regular contact with nature,
one of the best ways to foster empathy during early childhood is to
cultivate children\'s relationships with animals. Young children feel a
natural kinship with, and are implicitly drawn to animals and especially
baby animals (Rosen 2004, Sobel 1996). Animals are an endless source of
wonder for children, fostering a caring attitude and sense of
responsibility towards living things. Children interact instinctively
and naturally with animals, talk to them, and invest in them emotionally
(Sobel 1996). A little-known fact about children and animals is that
studies of the dreams of children younger than age 6 reveal that as many
as 80% of their dreams are about animals (Acuff 1997, Patterson 2000).
Addition significance of animals\' symbolic importance to children is
that animals constitute more than 90% of the characters employed in
language acquisition and counting in children\'s preschool books
(Kellert 1983).

**The Naturalization of Playgrounds**

Fortunately, there is a growing movement in North America to transform
the paradigm for playground design in preschool and kindergarten
settings from barren areas of grass, asphalt, and wood chips with
manufactured equipment into naturalized environments for children\'s
play, exploration and discovery. The *Natural Learning Initiative*,
headed by Robin Moore at North Carolina State University, *Rusty
Keeler\'s Planet Earth Playscapes* and the *White Hutchinson Leisure &
Learning Group\'s* discovery play gardens are examples of early
childhood playground designers\' initiatives to help children reclaim
the magic that is their birthright - the ability to play and learn
outdoors through exploration, discovery and the power of their
imaginations in intimate contact with nature (White & Stoecklin 1998).
These new naturalized play environments do not depend on manufactured
equipment. Rather than being built, they are planted - they use the
landscape and its vegetation and materials as both the play setting and
the play materials. Rather than designed like a well manicure adult
environment, naturalized playgrounds are designed from a child\'s
perspective as informal, even as wild, and as a place that responds to
children\'s development tasks and their sense of place, time and need to
interact with the nature. They are designed to stimulate children\'s
natural curiosity, imagination, wonder and discovery learning as well as
nurture children\'s connectiveness with nature (White & Stoecklin 1998).

Basic components of a naturalized play environments for young children
include (White & Stoecklin 1998):

-   Water

-   Plentiful indigenous vegetation, including trees, bushes, flowers
    and long grasses that children can explore and interact with

-   Animals, creatures in ponds, butterflies, bugs

-   Sand, and best if it can be mixed with water

-   Diversity of color, textures and materials

-   Ways to experience the changing seasons, wind, light, sounds and
    weather

-   Natural places to sit in, on, under, lean against, climb and provide
    shelter and shade

-   Different levels and nooks and crannies, places that offer
    socialization, privacy and views

-   Structures, equipment and materials that can be changed, actually,
    or in their imaginations, including plentiful loose parts

    **Benefits of Naturalized Playgrounds**

Research on natural playgrounds is demonstrating the broad benefits this
paradigm shift in playground design and environmental learning has to
children by offering them play and learning in naturalized environments.
Children learn by constructing their own knowledge about the world, not
by memorizing facts (Piaget 1962). Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner
says that scholastic knowledge \"seems strictly bound to school
settings,\" while outdoor education fosters \"connected knowing,\" where
education is part of, rather than separate from life (Gardner 1991).
Fjortoft (2001) found that when children\'s daily outdoor play
environments were heavily naturalized, there was a considerable increase
in children\'s interest in and knowledge of nature. Sobel (2004)
reviewed the research on naturalized playgrounds and found that they
have a positive impact on children\'s development of environmental
stewardship values, and the greater the diversity of the natural
landscapes, the greater children\'s appreciation of nature and
experiences in it. Malone and Tranter (2003) found that the playgrounds
most conductive to environmental learning were unstructured, e.g.,
forest areas, not specifically designed for children\'s play. The
combination of both formal learning and informal, positive experiences
in the naturalized environments where found most associated with the
development of children\'s environmentally responsible behaviors (Fisman
2001).

In addition to the opportunities for children to develop an
environmental ethnic through regular contact with nature, natural
environments offer children many additional benefits. A growing body of
literature shows that the natural environment has positive effects on
the well-being of adults, including better psychological well-being,
superior cognitive functioning, fewer physical ailments and speedier
recovery from illness. Research is providing convincing evidence of the
more profound benefits of experiences in nature for children due to
their greater plasticity and vulnerability (Wells & Evans 2003). The
findings indicate that:

-   Children with symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
    (ADHD) are better able to concentrate after contact with nature
    (Faber Taylor et al. 2001).

-   Children with views of and contact with nature score higher on tests
    of concentration and self-discipline. The greener, the better the
    scores (Faber Taylor et al. 2002, Wells 2000).

-   Children who play regularly in natural environments show more
    advanced motor fitness, including coordination, balance and agility,
    and they are sick less often (Fjortoft 2001, Grahn et al. 1997).

-   When children play in natural environments, their play is more
    diverse with imaginative and creative play that fosters language and
    collaborative skills (Faber Taylor et al. 1998, Fjortoft 2000, Moore
    & Wong 1997).

-   Exposure to natural environments improves children\'s cognitive
    development by improving their awareness, reasoning and
    observational skills (Pyle 2002).

-   Nature buffers the impact of life stress on children and helps them
    deal with adversity. The greater the amount of nature exposure, the
    greater the benefits (Wells 2003).

-   Play in a diverse natural environment reduces or eliminates
    anti-social behavior such as violence, bullying, vandalism and
    littering, as well reduces absenteeism (Coffey 2001, Malone &
    Tranter 2003, Moore & Cosco 2000).

-   Nature helps children develop powers of observation and creativity
    and instills a sense of peace and being at one with the world (Crain
    2001).

-   Early experiences with the natural world have been positively linked
    with the development of imagination and the sense of wonder (Cobb
    1977, Louv 1991). Wonder is an important motivator for life long
    learning (Wilson 1997).

-   Children who play in nature have more positive feelings about each
    other (Moore 1996).

-   A decrease in children\'s time spent outdoors is contributing to an
    increase of children\'s myopia (Nowak 2004).

-   Natural environments stimulate social interaction between children
    (Moore 1986, Bixler, Floyd & Hammutt 2002).

-   Outdoor environments are important to children\'s development of
    independence and autonomy (Bartlett 1996).

    **Conclusion**

Children and society as a whole can benefit significantly by maximizing
the informal play and learning opportunities that natural outdoor play
environments offer young children. Naturalized outdoor early childhood
environments are places where children can reclaim the magic that is
their birthright, the ability to grow and learn to their fullest in
their unique experiential way through the joy of exploration and
discovery in the natural world. But perhaps even more important,
naturalized playgrounds offer the hope that children will develop the
environmental values to become the future stewards of the Earth who will
preserve the diversity and wonder of Nature.

*Randy White is the CEO of the White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning
Group, a Kansas City, MO-based firm that specializes in the design of
children\'s learning, play and leisure environments. Randy can be
reached at 816.931-1040 or
\<[[randy@whitehutchinson.com]{.underline}](mailto:randy@whitehutchinson.com)\>.*

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