International News
Media & Culture
(London) Daily Mail – October 27, 2008
UK Parents: Our Children Are Overscheduled
A parenting survey of more than 2,000 British families has found that children’s play there is too structured and that children don’t have enough time to play by themselves. The survey, conducted by Persil’s Free Play Initiative, revealed that 71 per cent of respondents admitted that they always plan their children’s play and entertainment activities, rather than letting their children make up games such as “climbing trees, making mud pies, or simply having an imaginary friend.” [+]
Event
Royal Roads University – November 23, 2008
Children and Nature Forum Coming to British Columbia
The Children & Nature Network is co-sponsoring Get Outside! It’s in Our Nature, an international conference on children, families, and nature taking place next March in British Columbia. The forum will offer an opportunity for academics, educators, researchers, and youth to learn, share, and contribute to developing a strategy and action plan for British Columbia and its people. [+] [PDF]
Access | Campaign/Initiative
International Mountain Biking Association – October 29, 2008
Bike Group Introduces Gateway Trails
The International Mountain Biking Association is launching a new initiative to build what it calls "gateway trails" to broaden the recreational options available to families in urban and suburban communities. The IMBA hopes the new trail systems will “inspire kids to explore the natural world and lead to positive associations with exercise.” [+]
Health
Calgary Herald – October 01, 2008
Canadian Report Sounds Alarm on Kids
By Rachel Naud
The nonprofit Active Healthy Kids Canada estimates that 90 percent of Canadian children are not meeting the current physical activity guidelines set for them. Even more surprising to some observers, the nonprofit says that a major reason children are not active is that they have forgotten how to play—that parents, and society in general, don’t encourage free play.
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Media & Culture | Campaign/Initiative
Canwest News Service – August 10, 2008
Canada Launches “Get Out” TV Campaign
By Misty Harris
In an effort to combat nature-deficit disorder in children, Canada’s popular Hinterland Who’s Who television spots will soon feature a new message for kids and their parents. “The message is just to get out and see wildlife. It’s all around us,” says the Hinterland Who’s Who program manager. “We’re trying to get people to understand that it’s not that complicated.”
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Media & Culture | Campaign/Initiative
Persil – July 18, 2008
Persil Promotes Free Play in UK Campaign
Persil, a well-known maker of laundry detergents in the UK, is touting the benefits of unstructured outdoor play in a new national campaign aimed at parents. The company surveyed mothers, a majority of whom agreed that society had lost sight of the importance of play in a child’s learning process. The “every child has the right” campaign includes a television commercial in which a robot becomes a boy when it ventures outdoors and a website with tips to help families make free play a priority once again.
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Media & Culture
(Glasgow) Herald – July 21, 2008
A UK Perspective on Computers and Outdoor Play
By Ron Ferguson
Concerns that children today lack sufficient opportunities to play freely outdoors are not limited to the United States. In the UK, more than half of parents surveyed believe that children now are being deprived of childhood. And as Scottish journalist Ron Ferguson argues, thinking that these children are safer indoors on the their computers than outdoors playing amongst themselves may be a mistake.
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C&NN has designated April "Children & Nature Awareness Month." As part of this effort, we invited network members (like you) to list their April programs and share their strategies for building public awareness. Find out what's happening in your community on the C&NN Movement Map.
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:
An annotated bibliography of 20 premier studies focusing on the children and nature connection.
