Children Are Eager to Learn About Nature

In today’s world, screens abound and many parents find themselves fighting to tear their children away from their technological devices and get them outside. Parents are concerned with good reason—as children engage in more screen-based activities such as video game play and television viewing, other activities such as creative free play, achievement-related activities like reading and studying, and physical activities decline (Hofferth, 2009). Higher levels of screen time are associated with higher rates of obesity, eating a less healthy diet, a lower quality of life, depression (Stiglic & Viner, 2019; Richtel, 2021; Woods & Scott, 2016), anxiety and aggression (Richtel, 2021; Woods & Scott, 2016), poorer sleep quality and lower self-esteem (Hale & Guan, 2015; Woods & Scott, 2016), and lower levels of compliance (Hinkley, 2018).

Playing outside, on the other hand, is associated with multiple benefits. To name a few, children who play outside more show improvements in overall behavior (Hinkley et al. 2018) and social skills (Hinkley et al., 2017). Outdoor play also leads to increases in physical activity, which in turn leads to fewer health complaints (Keane et al., 2017).

Source: Nature at Heart School, used with permission

Encouraging children to appreciate their time outdoors may be made easier for parents if their children take part in outdoor education classes. One program in central NJ, known as the Nature at Heart School, prides itself on teaching children to “inspire, reflect, and explore.” Their core values include igniting an appreciation for nature in their students, and encouraging self-reliance, curiosity, connection, and acceptance.

This spring semester, two of my student research assistants observed 5 out of 6 winter session classes for children ages 5-8 at the Nature at Heart School. They recorded instances of children’s behaviors demonstrating characteristics in each of five core areas. These included self-reliance (e.g., playing and walking on hikes comfortably on their own, participating comfortably and confidently, and exploring on their own); self-regulation (e.g., separating smoothly from their parents at drop-off, following the rules of the class in circle time and on the nature walk, and completing the nature hike without help); curiosity and risk-taking (e.g., asking relevant questions, taking risks during the nature hike, taking risks during the exploration period); motor skills (e.g., walking confidently on the hike, balancing on fallen trees or rocks, crossing streams, and climbing trees or rocks); and appreciation of and connection to nature (e.g., pointing out things in nature, playing with natural materials they found during class, being comfortable with getting dirty or wet, and being content with the weather).

Source: Nature at Heart School, used with permission

We also asked the children questions after the last class session related to each of these areas. Children used a Likert Scale of faces ranging from sad/angry to very happy to respond. For example, questions to assess self-reliance included, “How much do you like playing alone?”, “How much do you like exploring by yourself?”, and “When you go somewhere for the first time, how does it make you feel?” For self-regulation, we asked questions such as, “How often do you follow the rules at… (home/ school -two different questions)?”, “How often do you get in trouble at….(home/ school)?”, “How do you feel when something important to you is taken away?”, and “How do you feel when you lose a game?” Examples of questions we asked to get at their curiosity and risk-taking included “How much do you like playing with/ talking to kids you don’t know?”, “When you are playing outside, how often do you ask your teachers or parents questions about things you find in nature?”, “How much do you like climbing trees?”, and “How much do you like playing close to lakes, rivers, or streams?” Motor skills questions included, “How good are you at climbing trees?”, “How good are you at walking on a tricky hike?”, “How good are you at running long distances (far)?”, and “How comfortable are you jumping from high places?” Finally, to assess appreciation/connection to the natural world, children were asked things like, “How much do you like playing in nature?”, “How much do you like playing in the dirt or mud?”, “How much do you like collecting objects in nature?”, and “How much do you like to play outside when it’s raining?”

In order to determine whether the behaviors observed and the responses provided by children were related to their time in the Nature at Heart classes, we also collected data from a comparison sample of children (from the same towns—very similar in age and demographics). Eleven children who have never attended any Nature at Heart classes were asked the same 50 questions as the children who attended the classes to assess their self-reliance, self-regulation, curiosity and risk-taking, motor skills, and appreciation/ connection to the natural world. Parents of children from both groups were also given questionnaires assessing these five categories. In the interest of space, this post will detail the results of the observations and the child interviews, and the next post will present the results of the parental surveys and comparisons across the three points of data.

Source: Nature at Heart School, used with permission

From the observations, it was clear that the children taking the Nature at Heart classes were demonstrating multiple behaviors indicating strengths in all five categories. For example, none of the children showed any difficulty separating from their parents or walking independently over to the class. They were all willing to explore on their own. They all showed multiple instances of acting appropriately, participating confidently, and following the rules. They demonstrated multiple risky behaviors while on the nature walk and while they had independent exploration time. For example, they climbed trees, crossed (and/ or jumped across) streams, ran on steep paths, stood close to the water’s edge, stood on river ice, threw rocks, balanced on rocks, swung from trees, and stood on ledges. Their connection to nature was clear as they frequently pointed out things in nature and played with natural materials (including rocks, sticks, fallen trees, water, dirt, leaves, and ice). They did not complain about the weather, even though it was cold and often wet.

Source: Nature at Heart School, used with permission

These observations aligned with the children’s self-reports of their typical behaviors in these areas, such as their willingness to explore by themselves, make new friends, climb trees, cross streams, and play outside in all types of weather. When compared to children who had never taken classes at the Nature at Heart School, those who had scored significantly higher in their total scores of self-reliance, curiosity and risk-taking, and appreciation of/connection to nature. Individual points of difference (with Nature at Heart children scoring higher in each category) included finding new places more fun than scary, how often they ask their teacher questions in school, how often they ask their teacher or parents questions about things they find in nature, how much they like learning about nature, how much they like climbing on rocks, how much they like playing close to lakes, rivers, or streams, how good they are at running far/long distances, how much they like playing in the dirt or mud, and how much they like collecting objects in nature.

Overall, it is clear that children who participate in the outdoor education classes at Nature at Heart School are developing strong self-reliance skills, demonstrating healthy, stronger-than-typical levels of curiosity and risk-taking, and exhibiting high levels of appreciation for and connection to nature. Given that the children in the comparison sample come from the same towns, same schooling systems, and have very similar economic backgrounds, it is highly likely that the differences between the groups are related to participation in these classes. Future studies will aim to assess children starting before they begin participation until after they complete a few sessions, to see if there is a measurable impact of participation on individuals. But the data here is promising, and certainly points to the benefits of taking part in classes that get children outside regardless of weather, and teach them the importance of spending time in the natural world.

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A special thank you to my research assistants Diamond Diaz and Cece Cream, to the Nature at Heart School, and to the children and parents who made this research possible.