Forest Kids

Forest Kids
Dr. John Ratey, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School
and a top researcher into the link between exercise and the brain.
The bonuses are even bigger when children are engrossed in
free play and moving their bodies, he adds.
Parents of the kids in Nature Kindergarten have noticed changes.
Megan Wilson says her son Alex used to bounce from one thing
to the next. Now the 6-year-old is more focused. He’s also lost his
earlier aversion to getting dirty and isn’t nearly so quick to give up
when he encounters an obstacle.
“The change I’ve seen in him is hard to put into words.”
The benefits can extend to children with special needs. Raechelle
Wuolle says the program is ideal for her son Rylan, 6, who has
autism and “comes alive in the outdoors.” Spending his mornings
in an outdoor environment that accommodates his learning style
and behaviour has boosted his confidence and built a foundation,
says his mother. “He looks forward to going to school every day.”
Anecdotally, teachers often observe that children who have
trouble paying attention or sitting still in a classroom tend to do
much better outside, where they have room to move and can usually
find something that fascinates. Now there are studies to back
that up.
Physicians have been exploring how exercise can be used to
treat children with attention disorders. Ming (Frances) Kuo’s research
at the University of Illinois suggests exercise outside is even
better.
In several studies over the past decade, Kuo, an expert in cognitive
and environmental psychology, has found that exposure to
green space can reduce symptoms for children with ADHD. Her
2011 paper, published in the journal Applied Psychology: Health
and Well-Being, tracked more than 400 children and found those
who played regularly in nature had milder ADHD symptoms than
those who played inside or in built environments without green
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