Tackling the Weight of the Nation Through Outdoor Play

 

The powerful documentary, The Weight of the Nation, has the country and even the world talking — and rightfully so.

That said, so often people’s response to childhood obesity in particular focus on nutrition and exercise. And not that those things aren’t important, but they are not enough, and they leave out play, which should be the cornerstone of childhood.

Now, you all know how I feel about unstructured play and time outdoors. I’ve been writing about it since day one of this blog, and promoting it for twenty years. Today I want to let you tune in to a powerful, passionate, and respected voice in the play and education movements — Joan Almon.

Click on the link to listen to an interview with Joan Almon about the benefits of outdoor play in the fight against obesity and beyond. Joan is one of the co-founders and the Executive Director for the Alliance for Childhood. She is champion of play, and longtime childhood advocate, and a personal friend and hero of mine.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the interview and how you see the role of outdoor play not only  in the fight against childhood obesity, but in raising happy, healthy children.

See ya outside! ~ The Grass Stain Guru

photo by: cote

It’s kind of this simple…

See ya outside! ~ The Grass Stain Guru

Nature Play in the Schoolyard

I have been a proponent of nature play in and out of school time for twenty years.

But you all know this. I write about the benefits of nature, unstructured play, and reasonable risk for optimal child development all the time. In fact, it’s what The Grass Stain Guru blog is all about.

I stumbled on this lovely and powerful video that explores nature play in three schools in Scotland. It bares mentioning that the narrator states how the UK is far behind European schools embracing nature play. And let it said, the USA is far behind the UK in embracing nature play and reasonable risk for children.

Well, it’s time to play catch up!

Please watch this video for inspiration and ideas to bring nature to your school or center grounds.

 

See ya outside! ~ The Grass Stain Guru

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