Social-Emotional Learning: Relationship Skills

Connection to nature is an important part of learning the social-emotional skills we all need. 

Recent research emphasizes the impact of nature on people's health. We need fresh air and water. Kids love to play with water and sand.

Here is an interesting article from "Project Learning Tree"

Mother Nature is a great teacher and getting kids outside to learn and play is good for their brains and their bodies. 

Contact with nature is more essential today given that children are spending nearly 8 hours a day using entertainment media and only 6 percent of children ages 9-13 play outside on their own. We are at risk of losing an entire generation’s appreciation for how nature works and what it needs to remain healthy and productive.

Here you can listen about  Trauma-informed Design 

And here is recent research about nature connection:

Lanza, K., Alcazar, M., Chen, B., & Kohl III, H. W. (2023). Connection to nature is associated with social-emotional learning of children. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 4, 100083.