Nature's Impact: Spotlight on Childhood Mental Health
“I didn’t actually know I liked nature this much.”
This is the self-reflection of a fifth grader in Gail Keech’s nature-based learning program—an epiphany reached after jumping into a pile of grass and exclaiming, “I feel so alive right now!”
Keech paid special attention to this boy because his disengagement at school had the other teachers worried. Keech says she has lots of students like him—curious, academically bright, but withdrawn from others and from nature.
Data shows that this disconnection from the joy of nature is a trend amongst children around the world. A 2022 review of the research underscored a global decline in outdoor recreation in children ages 2 to 11. In the UK, children are spending half the time playing outside than their parents did. In the US, 65% of parents surveyed said they played outside every day in childhood, but only 30% of their children do the same.
Experts behind these studies point to a clear causal relationship between this disconnection from nature and a well-documented rise in psychological disorders among children. A 2019 Danish study found that children nation-wide who experienced the lowest level of green space were 55% more likely to develop a psychiatric disorder.
Those in the field like Keech are observing the impact first-hand. Over her nearly 40-year teaching career, including 20 years as an upper primary classroom teacher and the remainder teaching physical and outdoor education, Keech has observed an overall decline in her students’ mental health. She says her students today “seem to be incredibly unhappy with themselves and critical of themselves, and yet they don’t stop looking and thinking about themselves. I haven’t come across a kid who’s just happy about where they are right there and then.”
What is causing children to disconnect from nature, and more importantly, what solutions can be put on the table to reverse the trend? Here are three possible drivers, along with recommendations for how to address them:
Sensory-deprived environments
Traditional school buildings are often stark environments. Think desks in rows, white walls, limited natural elements, and concrete playgrounds.
But what if these spaces were reimagined? Picture classrooms bathed in natural light, with live plants in every corner, and walls in calming earth tones. Desks and floors could be made from natural materials like wood, giving students a tactile connection to nature. Instead of staring at blank walls, students could have views of greenery just outside their windows.
This is the essence of biophilic design—using nature to create healthier, more engaging learning environments for children.
It’s an approach which supports the tenets of Attention Restoration Theory (ART), a framework proposed by researchers Rachel and Stephen Kaplan. The theory posits that the directed attention needed to perform specific tasks, such as spelling tests and math problems, is prone to attentional fatigue. In turn, attentional fatigue lowers concentration, increases irritability, and depletes the ability to retain new information.
However, situations that do not require directed attention, such as natural environments which capture attention without a high cognitive demand, promote attention restoration. This cognitive rebalancing is particularly important for children, whose developing brains need extra support.
In a 2018 study at two Italian primary schools, 10-year-olds who took recess in natural, rather than built, environments performed better on standardized tests. Researchers concluded that more natural play spaces can help students recover their attention resources.
Other studies show that access to natural spaces can be also be an important preventative measure for psychological disorders. A 2021 study of 634 fourth grade students in Germany concluded that more natural school surroundings can help to reduce stress in students.
Fueled by a growing body of research in this area, outdoor schools are becoming more popular. According to the North American Association for Environmental Education, the number of nature-based preschools in the United States has doubled to 585, with one found in every state.
However, with 45,000 total preschools across the country, that still only makes up 1.3% of schools.
It’s a similar story in Europe—though nature-based school programs are on the rise, they still serve a fraction of the total population. Until they become normalized, and accessible to all children, there is still much work to be done.
Screens
Another major trend driving a wedge between children and nature is digital technology.
Andrea Faber Taylor, children’s environments and behavior researcher at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, specializes in the effects of natural environments on children. She says the experiences of today’s children are more and more screen-based, instead of real-world based—and this is having a real impact on their mental wellness.
Her 2002 study showed that children, particularly girls, with green space immediately outside the home had better self-discipline in the areas of concentration, impulse inhibition, and delay of gratification.
“Nature experiences and outdoor play allow you to learn about yourself, test yourself with low-level risk,” she says. “Nature provides graduated risks, even a tree with its varying branch heights offers graduated risks as a child grows taller.
Keech agrees that screen-free experiences in nature can provide children with rich opportunities to develop healthy risk-taking—opportunities that simply don’t exist in the same way in the digital world.
The pilot program that she developed for the International School of Luxembourg, called Nature-Based Learning (NBL), focuses on self-regulation, decision-making, and self-guided challenges to build confidence.
“In our NBL program, everything that happens is a natural consequence, not a punishment. So we do a lot of benefit-risk analysis. If they decide to walk through the stream, it’s a natural consequence that they have wet feet for the day. Within ten minutes they’re alright again,” she says. “With time in nature, they realize just how capable they are.”
Her research paper about the pilot program details the outcomes of her students based on observation, discussion, and self-report questionnaire. “We observed a wide-range of benefits: Joy, well-being, confidence, risk-taking, hands-on learning, curiosity, calm, and learning engagement were all enhanced.”
According to both Keech and Faber Taylor, these nature experiences don’t have to be formal. In fact, unstructured free play offers the best opportunities for healthy risk-taking and building confidence.
Parental Fear
Adult fear of outdoor play is the third main disconnection point. Well-meaning parents, guardians, and teachers wanting to protect children may inadvertently be limiting developmental opportunities, such as those found in nature.
In the late 1970s, environmental and developmental psychologist Roger Hart conducted an in-depth study of children in rural Vermont. He documented their range and type of play. Thirty years later, he went back to the same town and studied children again, some of whom were the children of the previous cohort. Their range of play was remarkably reduced, greatly impacting their sense of independence and self-confidence.
When he asked the parents the reason for reducing the range of their child’s play, they reasoned that the world was more dangerous than when they were children. The criminal data that Hart sourced indicated the environment was no more dangerous than in the 1970s.
The conclusion for Hart is that communities should take children’s outdoor play spaces into account during urban planning. Design that encourages safe outdoor play is essential for the developmental and physical well-being of children.
Faber Taylor underscores the value of free play in nature for young children. “People tend to think little ones can’t go out, but there is research showing how valuable it is. They need to build that affinity for nature really young, and that happens by allowing them to explore and find nature on their own terms,” she says.
Conclusion
One of the key take-aways from Faber Taylor’s research is the foundational aspect of early year experiences in nature.
Not only does the evidence show that childhood exposure to nature lays the groundwork for lifelong mental health, but it also ensures a lifelong relationship with nature that can continue to provide benefits in every stage of life. These are the kinds of postiive feedback loops that excite researchers like Faber Taylor.
“After age 11, children start to lose interest and focus on nature because they become more peer-oriented. So, it’s more challenging to help them connect to nature. If they haven’t done anything with nature prior to age 11, it’s not going to be appealing to them,” she says.
With mounting evidence showing nature’s ability to buffer developing brains from stress, improve concentration, and boost confidence, it’s clear that increasing access to natural spaces can be an important tool for improving the mental health of children—now and well into their future.
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Johanna Sorrentino is a writer and content strategist specializing in health, science, and education. You can read more of her work and connect with her on LinkedIn.