Nature as a playground: benefits and tips for thriving kids

Naturally, I wanted my children to experience the same thing. A few years ago, my husband and I built, with the help of my father and other family members, a lovely little log cabin with no running water or electricity on the banks of the Ouareau River. We did it the hard way! We peeled every one of the trees that make up its walls and put the whole thing up ourselves. The children learned that early in the summer, spruce and fir are full of sap between the tree and the bark, so the bark comes off easily, a bit like peeling a banana. Now that the construction is finished, we truly enjoy spending a good part of our weekends and holidays there.

Over time, I noticed that my children are easier to live with there than at home. My oldest, Louis, for one, is a boy full of energy, a bit hot-tempered, who runs on sports and physical activity. When he's bored and doesn't channel that energy, he tends to bug everything that moves in the house. Surprisingly, when we're at the cabin, it's a whole different story. He's so busy playing in the forest, discovering and exploring, that he doesn't bother anyone. I also observed a lot more cooperative play, getting along, great projects and evenings cut short by extreme tiredness. When we're at the cabin, I suddenly have more time for myself since the children keep themselves busy playing freely. So I started taking an interest in this relationship between children and nature. I read a few books, including Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv and François Cardinal's French-language “Perdus sans la nature” (for English-speaking families, try Balanced and Barefoot by Angela J. Hanscom, which also looks at outdoor play and children's behaviour), to name just a few, and I became aware of a lot of things. In fact, every parent should read François Cardinal's book. Easy to read, it brings a wonderful awareness of a host of things.

Our children need to channel their energy and their stress because, as Sonia Lupien, director of the Centre for Studies on Human Stress and scientific director of the Fernand-Seguin Research Centre affiliated with Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital, so aptly puts it, children's stress builds up like a kind of “energy in the belly.” Without realizing it, our children go through small or bigger stresses every day, whether it's a squabble with a friend, a bad grade, an argument with their parents or even a divorce. If the child “doesn't get rid of this energy, it will end up in the brain, with negative effects on their ability to learn, to memorize, and on their emotional regulation.”

Connecting with nature is therefore ultra-important, because nature is where children are best placed to play freely and channel this energy, like my big boy Louis, who feels so good in the forest and has less need to bug others to get rid of his big ball of stress and energy. A study published in 2008 in the Journal of Attention Disorders found that a 20-minute walk in a green space allowed children with ADHD to regain a capacity for concentration very close to that of children with no disorder. Andrea Faber Taylor, a co-author of the study and a professor at the University of Illinois, says she “found that the effect of a dose of nature was as pronounced as, if not more than, a dose of medication.”

Do you live in the suburbs and find nature hard to get to?

Without our noticing, nature is gradually disappearing from our children's lives. Unfortunately, this disappearance is not without consequences. Their mental and physical health are affected, and in a major way. The rise in obesity and in ADHD cases are excellent examples. Know that you don't need to isolate yourself deep in the woods with no electricity or running water, as we do, to reconnect with nature. In fact, nature is your backyard or the park around the corner. But if you can afford it, use your vacations to lose yourself in it a little farther away or a little longer:

• Rent a cottage

There are many cottage rental sites, from Cottages Rental to Airbnb. It's very easy to find a place to escape to where your children can play freely, without structure or too much parental supervision: inventing a world, building a hideout with fir branches, in short, giving free rein to their creativity.

• Head to a nature park

Take advantage of the weekend to go on a hike or have a picnic on a mountain, and take the time to touch, smell and feel nature! And why not use our Nature Treasure Hunt printable as a springboard for exploring? Visit Sépaq to find a spot near you.

• Visit the Zoo Ecomuseum

I discovered this extraordinary place during spring break. It's the ideal spot to discover Quebec's animal species and it's only 30 minutes from Montreal. As François Cardinal so aptly says in his book, “studies show that children can call Bakugan and Pokémon by their first names but are unable to name trees, birds and plants.” I fully intend to visit this place several times a year so that my children can see for themselves how much animals change with the seasons, and even that some sleep right through the winter. The place is easy to get to, and the animals, living in a natural environment, seem well treated and healthy.

• Plant a garden

It's a very good way to build your child's knowledge, both about nature's contribution to our food and about food itself. A little garden plot, or even a few pots on your apartment balcony, will do. Our My Vegetable Garden printable will certainly help you create the garden you want!

Want to be the first to see everything published in the Magazine each month, and get access to our Toolbox, which includes, among other things, free downloads that are as practical as they are fun? Subscribe to Belles Combines Magazine today!