Nature Play for Children

There is good evidence indicating that children are not spending enough time outdoors. There has been a dramatic shift over the past 30 years, affecting children in particular and “green places” have been replaced with “screen spaces.” The move indoors with a sharp increase in screen time is having a significant impact on children’s physical and mental health. Most of the children we see in clinic with problems like ADHD and Anxiety are spending too much time sitting indoors on screens and when they are just encouraged to simply get outside often start to feel better.

Photo by Toia Montes de Oca on Unsplash — Photo by Toia Montes de Oca on Unsplash

Organisations like www.natureplaywa.org.au provide great free resources to help encourage children to get outside, move around and interact with nature. There’s even a fantastic app called the Nature Passport App which children will love to do. So, encourage your children to get off their screens and get outside - they will be happier, healthier and do better at school, and you’ll have fun too !