Kids and Ponds go together like peanut butter and jelly.  It’s a wondrous thing how the wild calms a child. During a time, when our children are facing so many unknowns, constant connection and media outlets plaguing their impressionable minds, perhaps the best way we can calm all the noise, is with nature. Children deserve to grow and learn in a place alongside a force that is as wild and alive as they are.

The Predicament

Social media, video games, smart phones, tech toys, and constantly being “connected” is a systematic problem that has trickled down from adults to our children. With recently adding in the “virtual learning” procedures due to school closures, children today have even less opportunity to explore the outdoors, socialize with friends or engage in outdoor sports.

Research from the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) shows that kids are spending less and less time in the great outdoors. On average, children only spend four to seven minutes of the day in unstructured outdoor play. Compare that to the seven and half hours, on average, that they spend in front of electronic media.  Just the simple lack of physical activity put children in a higher risk for future chronic diseases, including obesity. Only 7 percent of children ages 6-11 were obese in 1980, in 2010 that number climbed to 18 percent. Can you imagine what that percentage will be in 2030 if we don’t actively pursue change?

Fortunately, there are ways to turn this trend around – and now is the time to get moving!  We recommend reconnecting with nature and having access to a water feature, and open air in general, which affords great ways to get kids back outside. Start moving those bodies and brains with curiosity and adventures.

Kids and Ponds: We Need More Mother Nature!

Let’s face it, television is easy. But kids don’t remember their best day of television. The adventures, the messes, the memories, those things happen with Mother Nature. Those things they do remember.

Just simply being in an outdoor setting benefits developing minds and bodies, especially when contact with their friends is limited.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, outdoor play allows children to use all of their senses, which in turn helps them build skills such as spatial awareness and balance.  Studies also confirm that children who spend more time outdoors have decreased aggression, enhanced imaginations and attention spans and overall better classroom performance.

A policy statement from the American Public Health Association noted that people of all ages and abilities enjoy greater health and well-being when they have nearby nature in parks, gardens, greenways, schoolyards, and playgrounds as well as natural landscaping around homes and workplaces.

If we want our children to move mountains, we first have to get them out of their chairs.  The benefits of playing and spending time outdoors is more than just letting them “burn off” energy. It’s helping to mold them into becoming better versions of themselves.

Studies have shown that children who often play and learn outdoors, experience:

• A confidence Playing outside is a lot less structured than playing indoors, giving kids their power to control their own actions and adventures.
• Creativity and imagination. The great outdoors allows kids to think more freely, design their own activities, and approach the world in new and creative ways.
• Responsibility. Children who are tasked with caring for a living thing, such as a plant or fish, learn what happens if it’s neglected or not cared for properly.
• Unique stimulation. While nature seems less flashy and high energy than a video game, it does an amazing job of stimulating the senses. Kids can see, hear, smell, and touch outdoor environments.