nature play: the link to conservation

In Nature Play: Nurturing Children and Strengthening Conservation Through Connections to the Land, a 2014 publication of the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association, Ken Finch and Andrew M. Loza explain how nature play by children connects to the desire later in life to preserve the natural world.

"The essence of this understanding is a simple formula: the heart comes first, and the head follows. The crucial first step towards embracing conservation is to fall in love with nature—which kids often do when they play in it, day after day."

In the first part of Nature Play, Finch and Loza provide a primer on how unstructured nature play positively affects children's cognitive, creative, social and emotional, physical, and spiritual development. They also address the decline in the amount of time children spend engaged in outdoor play today. They warn that "the single greatest influence on conservation values, nature play, is disappearing from childhood." And, they note that "conservationists now face an interesting conundrum: we need to identify structured ways to recreate frequent, unstructured nature play for children." Students will benefit from structured Forest Fridays experiences in the Garrison School Forest that contain blocks of unstructured time for nature play. "Children need the stimulation, adventure, and wonder of nature to foster their healthy, holistic development. And nature needs children to fall in love with it, and thus start down the path towards becoming the future stewards of the natural world," note Finch and Loza.

The second part of Nature Play presents activities, plans, and resources to help schools and communities provide environments for children that encourage child-centered, multi-sensory nature play.

Finch, Ken, and Andrew M. Loza. Nature Play: Nurturing Children and Strengthening Conservation Through Connections to the Land. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Land Trust Association, 2014. Copyright 2014 Pennsylvania Land Trust Association.