9 Key Benefits Of Spending Time In Nature With Kids
July 3, 2020
As kids grow, they need more outdoor activities in nature, which is essential for child development.
However, kids today spend half as much time indoors than their parents did. While the amount of time kids spend outdoors is on a decline, the benefits of spending time in nature with kids are increasing.
It might look like your kid is simply snoozing through the outdoor surrounding, but their tiny minds are absorbing everything and setting them up for a lifetime of curiosity and learning. While parents might be tempted to take their kids to grand and elaborate vacations, the best moments are spent when they are unplugged and sent to nature.
This is not to say that nature should replace the time kids spent on their gadgets. However, if you neglect nature entirely, your kids will be missing out on incredible opportunities.
Why is nature important in child development?
No matter what situation you find yourself, you owe it to your kids to provide them with the baseline components of higher-level development. Before iPods, iPads, and smartphones came to existence, kids had the opportunity to create fun for themselves.
When kids go out in nature, they are lost in a world of imagination and wonder. That explains why telling your kids to ‘go and play outside’ comes naturally and instinctively. That’s because parents know how important nature is for children's development.
Spending time in nature has a lot of benefits that kids and adults can enjoy. The environment enables rapid development for kids. One of the reasons why nature is important to our child is due to the rich sensory environment that nature provides. However, the ‘ouch’ moments build the critical thinking skills of the child.
The benefits of spending time in nature for kids
When you drill into the reasons why nature is essential in child development, it is easy to see why a day of physical play outdoors is vital. There are benefits to the mind of a child as they spend time in nature. They include:
1. Learning foundation
Most of the things we do in nature is an experiment. For kids, it is as simple as wondering what it feels like to hold one of those green stuff they see. In their case, the result is usually incredibly significant. Besides, spending time with your kid in nature, answering all their questions and pointing them to things that might interest them, will give you a leg up in science and reading skills.
2. Encourages independence
Every mom and dad want their kids to have a nice future. So what can you do as a parent to ensure that your kid can become confident and independent in the future? Depending on the age of your child, you kids can be able to handle some chores such as watering the plants in your back yard, which can encourage independence in the child. You can also teach your child how to care for the plants and encourage them to spend time in nature even when you are not around.
3. Building confidence
Kids learn to do things regardless of the consequences because of their curiosity. It is important to give your child positive feedback when they ask questions or do good deeds in nature. If your child is met with a setback in the outdoors, use the hurdle to reach resilience rather than dwell in the disappointments.
4. Promoting creativity and imagination
Children, especially those who are under the age of three, are so receptive to what people are doing and can affect their daily lives. Naturally, kids are powerful innovators. Spend time in nature with your kids by letting them sit on a ride on horse toy. This allows you to expose them to the world where they can use all their senses to imagine what outdoor natures might look and feel like.
5. Teaches responsibility
One way to teach responsibility to kids is to develop their potential at an early stage in their lives. When you are in nature with your kids, give them something to do, and explain the task in simple terms. If the tasks in a little too complicated for the kid, then you can make him/her part of the job. 6. Provides cognitive stimulation
Research shows that nature provides endless benefits to a child’s cognitive, emotional, and physical development. It might seem like nature does not provide the kind of stimulation offered in video games, but it activates more senses. Nature allows kids to develop knowledge, disposition, and problem-solving.
7. Gets them moving
Allowing your kids to be active is very important. Spending time in nature with your kids allows them to stay active, which promotes physical activity and overall health. It lowers body fat and strengthens the bones and muscles of your child. Besides, staying on the move has a positive effect on their brain.
8. Makes them think
Gaining knowledge and increasing curiosity is an essential and natural part of a child's growth. Nature offers your child the opportunity to think and test how things work to develop critical thinking skills. Generating a response to the questions is critical and beneficial.
9. Reduces stress and fatigue
One of the benefits of spending time in nature with your kids is the restorative effect green space has on the mental health of children. The fresh air provides a much needed calming effect that reduces fatigue and stress. In the long run, spending time in nature prevents psychiatric disorders from developing.
Your turn
In the good old days, playing meant riding a bike with your friends at the park or jumping on a trampoline in the back yard. While screen time is fast becoming the preferred pass-time for kids, setting aside time for the outdoors is vital to your child’s intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual, and physical development.
So it would be best if you introduced your child to the big, wide world to enjoy the limitless benefits of spending time in nature with kids while they are still itty-bitty.
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