The need of Children and Nature Interactions in Bharatham

07/11/2016.
       839.
                All Members,
         Respected family members of this great holy Nation.

Sub :  The need of Children and Nature Interactions in Bharatham

Ref :  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 a big tree or brushy area in the yard or a watercourse or woodland nearby. 

Part-1.

A. Basic components of a naturalized play environments for young children include :

1. Water;

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

3. Animals, creatures in ponds, butterflies, bugs;

4. Sand, and best if it can be mixed with water;

5. Diversity of color, textures and materials;

6. Ways to experience the changing seasons, wind, light, sounds and weather;

7. Natural places to sit in, on, under, lean against, climb and provide shelter and shade;

8. Different levels and nooks and crannies, places that offer socialization, privacy and views;

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


Part-2.

B. Benefits of Naturalized Playgrounds :

1. 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.

2. Children learn by constructing their own knowledge about the world, not by memorizing facts.

3. It is said 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.

4. It is 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.

5. Our elders 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.

6. The combination of both formal learning and informal, positive experiences in the naturalized environments were found most associated with the development of children’s environmentally responsible behaviors .

7. In addition to the opportunities for children to develop an environmental ethic through regular contact with nature, natural environments offer children many additional benefits.


Part-3.

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 provides convincing evidence of the more profound benefits of experiences in nature for children due to their greater plasticity and vulnerability . 


C. The findings indicate that: 

1. Children with symptoms of Attention Deficit  are better able to concentrate after contact with nature.

2. Children with views of and contact with nature score higher on tests of concentration and self-discipline. The greener, the better the scores.

3. Children who play regularly in natural environments show more advanced motor fitness, including coordination, balance and agility, and they are sick less often.

4. When children play in natural environments, their play is more diverse with imaginative and creative play that fosters language and collaborative skills.

5. Exposure to natural environments improves children’s cognitive development by improving their awareness, reasoning and observational skills.

6. 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 .

7. Play in a diverse natural environment reduces or eliminates anti-social behavior such as violence, bullying, vandalism and littering, as well reduces absenteeism.

8. Nature helps children develop powers of observation and creativity and instills a sense of peace and being at one with the world.

9. Early experiences with the natural world have been positively linked with the development of imagination and the sense of wonder. Wonder is an important motivator for life long learning .

10. Children who play in nature have more positive feelings about each other.

11. A decrease in children’s time spent outdoors is contributing to an increase of children’s myopia.

12. Natural environments stimulate social interaction between children.

13. Outdoor environments are important to children’s development of independence and autonomy.


Part-4.

D. Children’s Extinction of Experience

1. Two hundred years ago, most children spent their days surrounded by fields, farms or in the wild nature at its edges.

2. By the late twentieth century, many children’s environments had become urbanized.

3. But even then, as recently as 1970, children had access to nature and the world at large.

4. 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.

5. Children had the freedom to play, explore and interact with the natural world with little or no restriction or supervision.

Part-5.

E.  A ‘culture of fear’ has parents afraid for their children's safety :

1. The lives of children today are much different.

2. Children today have few opportunities for outdoor free play and regular contact with the natural world.

3. Their physical boundaries have shrunk due to a number of factors.

4. A ‘culture of fear’ has parents afraid for their children's safety.

5. It is 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.

6. Due to ‘stranger danger,’ many children are no longer free to roam their neighborhoods or even their own yards unless accompanied by adults.

7. Fears of ultraviolet rays, insect-born diseases and various forms of pollution are also leading adults to keep children indoors.

8. 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.

9. It is said that a childhood of unsupervised loitering, wandering and exploring has been replaced by a childhood of adult supervised and scheduled improvements.

Concluded.

Thank you for reading
           JAIHIND.
  To be continued..