Did you know it takes as little as four minutes in a natural environment to reduce stress, improve mood and steady the vital signs?This is just one of the findings Mission Australia’s National Director of Mission Australia’s Early Learning Services (MAELS) took home from last week’s World Forum on Early Care and Education.
With delegates representing 73 nations, the conference examined the natural world’s potential to reduce childhood obesity and have a positive impact on ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and learning.
Ms Howard said the conference reaffirmed Mission Australia’s plan to ‘naturalise’ the environment at its 29 MAELS centres through the addition of gardens, replacing plastic equipment with timber and using paint hues inspired by nature.
“We not planning to introduce natural environments into our centres because it’s ‘trendy’ or looks good, but because there is increasingly a real disconnect between children and nature,” she said.
“Today we have children growing up in developed countries who are afraid of wind, rain and snow. This is the generation we are handing society.”
Ms Howard said that initiatives such as vegetable gardens at MAELS Shell Cove (NSW) and Doveton (Victoria) centres were already making a difference to young lives:
“The children at those centres can’t wait to get outside when they arrive,” Ms Howards said. “It’s a small but important way we can start reconnecting children with nature.”
Further reading:
- Find out more about Education Week in Victoria
- ‘Families need adventure playgrounds and cities need families’
- Resources, photos, videos and more from the conference: will be shared at http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/current-work/upcoming-events/2011-world-forum
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