• Building tree houses;
• Catching frogs and      fireflies;   
• Splashing in creeks;        
• Daydreaming in a special       hiding place; or
• Digging holes “to China.” 

    These activities are all nature play:  unstructured childhood play in “wild” areas, whether it’s the vacant lot next door, the local neighborhood park, or the “back forty” of your farm.  

    At its very best, nature play isn’t scheduled, planned, or led by adults, nor is it confined by grown-ups’ rules.  Instead, it’s open-ended, free-time exploration and recreation, without close adult supervision.  For many of us, this sort of nature play virtually defined our childhoods.
 

Why Is Nature Play Important?

    There is a growing body of research data about the multiple positive impacts of nature play on children’s social, emotional, intellectual, and physical well-being.  Richard Louv has done a great job of reviewing these benefits in his best-selling book, Last Child in the Woods:  Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder.

        However, for Green Hearts' 
    mission the most valuable
    impact of nature play is on
    conservation.  Multiple studies
    in several countries, over more
    than 25 years, have found
    that frequent, unstructured
    childhood play in natural
    spaces is the most common
    influence on the development
    of life-long conservation values
    and conservation behaviors.  

        Thus, for the task of
    building greater future societal
    support for conservation, 
    frequent nature play is more
    powerful than formal  
    education, participation in
    youth groups, or even the influence of parents and other mentors.  Nature play is strong stuff!  

The Challenges to Nature Play

    Unfortunately, many factors are converging to make nature play increasingly rare in American childhoods, including:

     The unhappy result is that most American children no longer enjoy regular nature play.  In fact, one study found that our children now spend an average of just 30 minutes per week in unstructured outdoor play.