Local News
Health
EcoHearth – January 17, 2010
EcoHearth: How to Enjoy Nature with Your Kids
By Kim Ridley
Journalist Kim Ridley has compiled a list of tips to help families connect with nature. Her article also includes pointers to online resources such as the National Audubon Society's guide to creating a healthy yard for attracting wildlife.
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Education
New York Times – November 29, 2009
New York Times Draws Attention to Forest Kindergarten
By Liz Leyden
Schools around the country have been planting gardens and planning ever more elaborate field trips in hopes of reconnecting children with nature. The forest kindergarten at the Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs is one of a handful in the United States that are taking that concept to another level: its 23 pupils spend three hours each day outside regardless of the weather.
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Education
Hurlburt Field – November 19, 2009
Outdoor Classroom Sets New Standard for Military
By Joe McFadden
The outdoor classroom of Florida's Hurlburt Field Youth Center recently became the first certified Nature Explore classroom in the Air Force. The Nature Explore Classroom Certification Program is a national initiative that recognizes schools and other organizations that have made a commitment to providing outdoor classrooms and comprehensive programming to help children use the natural world as an integral part of learning.
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Access
(Boulder County) Daily Camera – August 03, 2009
Housing Complex Bans Unsupervised Outdoor Play
By Amy Bounds
Families in the Eagle Place Townhomes affordable housing complex in suburban Colorado are upset about a new policy that they say prohibits kids 15 and younger from playing outside without adult supervision. “Before, kids would all play together and have fun,” one resident told a local reporter. “Now it looks like a ghost town.”
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Campaign/Initiative
Capital Times (Madison) – July 01, 2009
Getting Kids Back to Nature in Madison
By Mary Ellen Gabriel
Like an increasing number of cities across the country, Madison, Wisconsin, is home to a variety of local initiatives aiming to reconnect children and nature. One of the biggest challenges, according to Sam Dennis of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is not so much finding open spaces but identifying areas where kids can climb trees, build forts, and so on. Another challenge? Convincing parents that this kind of play is important.
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Access | Leadership
C&NN BOD member Brother Yusuf is Honored by Albany’s Commission on Human Rights
Children & Nature Network board member, Brother Yusuf Burgess, was presented with the award for his work in supporting diversity, tolerance and understanding in the Albany community. Yusuf was honored by the City of Albany's Commission on Human Rights at their first annual celebration held February 4 at City Hall. Brother Yusuf's Camps Diversity Program provides outdoor and natural resource experiences to youth, especially from urban areas, who would not otherwise have such opportunities. Through a comprehensive program of pre-camp activities, one week at DEC summer residential camp, and post-camp activities, the expectation is that some who attend will one day seek higher education and careers in environmental fields.
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Built Environment
Big Think – December 30, 2009
New York Playground Designed to Combat Nature-Deficit Disorder
By Tobin Hack
The principal landscape architect of a new $3.8 million playground in New York City is being congratulated for consulting experts in cognitive development before deciding where to plant trees in the new state-of-the-art park. The experts noted that kids respond more creatively to natural environments than to excessively groomed ones, so the architect responded with a more complex layout to foster imaginative play.
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Education | Campaign/Initiative
Buffalo News – October 02, 2009
Learning Gardens Connect Urban Kids with Natural World
By Jane Kwiatkowski
Learning gardens are springing up at schools across the country to promote science, fitness, geography, geology, and literature—along with practice in teamwork and responsibility. Buffalo is one of many cities where educators are providing their students with safe places to experience the outdoors.
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Health | Campaign/Initiative
Hudson Valley Council, BSA – August 01, 2009
Scouts’ Recruitment Theme: No Child Is Left Inside
By Ethan Klapper
The Hudson Valley Council of the Boy Scouts, inspired by Last Child in the Woods, is combating nature-deficit disorder by encouraging others to spend more time outside and to stay active. Their recruitment theme this year: No Child Is Left Inside.
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Health | Campaign/Initiative
Mpls.St.Paul Magazine – July 05, 2009
Nature Club Makes for Happier Families in Twin Cities
By Laura Billings
The idea for the Happy Trails Nature Club, a loose-knit group of families who gather at parks and nature preserves around the Twin Cities for “planned spontaneity,” came to local mother Jodi Hiland after reading Last Child in the Woods. “I just want to show other parents what we’ve learned,” she explains, “which is when you go out in nature, you teach kids how to shift from one gear to another—and that’s a really important skill to have.”
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Media & Culture | Campaign/Initiative
The Saratogian – February 16, 2009
Saratoga Springs Group Launches New Website
By Ann Marie French
Children and Nature Saratoga has launched a website to provide the Saratoga Springs, New York, area with a resource dedicated to encouraging “continuous nature-centered outdoor experiences that enrich the lives of children.” Parents and children will be able to use the site to access a calendar of outdoor activities in the Saratoga region and Adirondack Park, as well as find recommended reading lists and related links.
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Built Environment
San Francisco Chronicle – October 09, 2008
New Museum Exhibit Encourages Free Play
By Paul Kilduff
A new interactive installation at the Bay Area Discovery Museum is designed to make children think differently about how they use their free time. The museum’s director hopes kids will come away motivated to choose leisure-time physical activities that are self-directed—that is, not done with parents and coaches scrutinizing their every move. “Everything we do here is child-centered play. No one’s telling them what to do, how to do it.”
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As part of our ongoing efforts to build the movement, the Children & Nature Network has published two new resources for leaders, organizers, and participants at the local, national, and international levels:
