"Nature Deficit" And What We Can DO About It!

"Nature Deficit" and What We Can DO About It!

A Morning Workshop for Caregivers, Teachers, and Parents

Let’s talk about why watching insects outdoors is preferable to watching a documentary!

Relating current research about children’s lifestyles and development issues, we will examine "Nature Deficit" concepts as they relate to home, child care, and school life. We will compare children’s outdoor access and play over several recent decades and characterize some of the obstacles to connecting with nature that nearly everyone living in cities and towns face today.

In break out sessions using participants’ real-life scenarios, we will identify behaviors, health, and learning issues that may be connected to "Nature Deficit" and devise simple and do-able improvements in children’s schedules.

By the end of the workshop, all participants should be able to explain the major drawbacks of limiting children’s free play outdoors and illustrate steps that can move any child from "all day inside" to a schedule that includes time in nature. Everyone caring for children — no matter whether in a home-based or institutional setting, urban or suburban, academic or play-based — can be part of the "New Nature" movement!