Why Outdoors?
Here at WPNS, aka Rainbow School, we know outdoor play is the optimal learning environment for young children. According to Teacher Tom in his course, Creating a Natural Habitat for Learning, on average U.S. children spend 4 to 7 minutes a day outdoors and 7 hours a day on screens and are suffering from a nature deficit. It’s recommended children spend 4 or more hours a day outdoors. Children who play outdoors are on average:
- Happier
- Less anxious
- More attentive
- More focused
- More confident
- More creative
- Healthier with stronger immune systems and less exposed to indoor germs
- Exposed to more Vitamin D which regulates mental and emotional health and calcium absorption
- More physically fit and more apt to maintain an active lifestyle as adults
- More resilent, flexible, and able to face physical and cognitive challenges
- More able than same age peers in gross motor skills
- Healthier eaters and sleepers
- Less stressed and fatigued
They also are:
- Unique in their sense of wonder
- Immersed in an enhanced sensory experience
- Thinkers
- Cognitively benefitted
- Caretakers
- More in tune with the cycles of life and death
- More connected with the earth and all its inhabitants
Join us in outdoor play advocacy for all children of all ages.