Published on July 19, 2024
In an era where screens dominate much of our lives, finding ways for kids to connect with nature is more important than ever.
That’s because nature play isn’t just about fun and games; it’s a vital component in nurturing essential life skills. But how does this happen?
To learn more, we brought together a team of experts in children’s nature programming: Claire Christie, Camp Director, Evergreen; Sean Hume, Toronto Program Manager, Outward Bound Canada; and Andrew McMartin, Executive Director, The Pine Project.
These organizations are leading the charge in creating programs that foster leadership, enhance problem-solving abilities and more through meaningful outdoor experiences. We ask our panel about the profound impact of nature play on youth development and discover the real-world skills that are cultivated when children step outside and engage with the natural world.
Sean Hume: Outward Bound’s programs have, at their core, the development of teamwork. One that I particularly enjoy is our survival skills culminating challenge. The students are divided into teams, and each team will need to create a campsite that has a shelter, a water source, a cooking fire on which they must make a meal and a safe food storage area. They will need to choose only ten items from a cornucopia of over forty to help them achieve this. To be successful, they must communicate, negotiate, allow for situational leadership, divide labour and take on smaller tasks while keeping the overall community goal in mind.
Claire Christie: We see a lot of those skills develop in our loose parts play. Loose parts can be anything from logs to blocks, and we often engage in activities like shelter building. This requires children to collaborate on a shared vision, ensuring everyone feels included and valued. It’s amazing to watch them navigate these dynamics and develop essential collaboration and responsibility-sharing skills.
Andrew McMartin: “Problem solving.” I know that’s not a specific activity or program, but I think that’s the point. Real problems with real need promote teamwork. Contrived settings are far less effective, because kids are smart, and they can see through it if the need isn’t real. A storm is coming; what do we do? How do we get across this stream? The second part of this is implementing a mentoring strategy where the facilitator/guide/adult in the situation gets out of the way and lets the kids problem solve.
Andrew McMartin: Nature itself is unmatched in its design for promoting resilience. We, as western society, have gotten away from this in so many ways, which is likely why resilience promotion is such a talked about issue with respect to children today. Nature constantly provides challenges, which promotes the need for increased awareness and constant problem solving in individuals and groups. Resilience can be developed from any challenge a person faces, and we love the way in which nature presents these opportunities in ways that we can manage and take on in safe (but not always comfortable) ways.
Sean Hume: Children and young adults need connections to the natural world for a lot of good reasons; the development of leadership skills is certainly a central one. Outward Bound’s programs put individuals in nature with a community. We teach participants how to work effectively as part of a team. This includes communication, negotiation and the ability to delegate tasks based on individual strengths, all of which are crucial leadership skills. All of which are heightened in the novel environment of wilderness.
Claire Christie: Our motto is “as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible.” While our facilitators prioritize safety by identifying risks that children can’t assess independently, we also encourage age-appropriate challenges. This approach allows kids to make their own decisions about what feels comfortable, particularly evident in our bike programming, where they can test their comfort levels and expand their limits.
Andrew McMartin: We consciously review our programming, asking the question: what serves the participants long term health, happiness, growth and connection? Having kids engage with risk is critical for them to be able to build risk assessment and management as a skill or a muscle (like at the gym). Asking someone to risk assess when they’re older and able to make much riskier choices, with much riskier potential consequences, when they’ve never done it before is like asking someone to run a race when they’ve never run before. It’s silly to think they can do it!
Sean Hume: On all our courses there are a series of scaffolded activities that develop skills needed for the next stage of the journey. We teach how to tie a knot so we can teach how to tie into the climbing tower. Structured activities provide the skills and understanding to be able to tackle the risk of the journey. The journey itself is unstructured. The route up the tower is different for each climber. In giving them the skills they need to be able to make smart choices, we have fostered solid problem-solving skills that include how to recover if they make a mistake, how to get up and try again if they fall.
Claire Christie: We strike a balance by providing structured experiences while allowing for flexibility. For example, if a group spots a beaver or heron during a hike and gets excited, we focus on that interest rather than sticking rigidly to the next planned activity. Our counsellors actively involve kids in decision-making, giving them a voice in how they spend their week and what activities they engage in.
Andrew McMartin: It’s a balance. We like to have a strong plan for the entire day, but pay attention to emergent opportunities that are more inspiring, or meet group needs better than what we have planned might. Our staff then must be willing to throw out their hard work of planning for the more inspiring emergent option. It takes a bit to get good at letting go of the plan and adapting in the way nature often requires.
Sean Hume: We fully believe in the power of nature to help everyone see that they are capable of more than they think. The starting point is different for everyone. So, we work with our students to understand where their starting point is and adapt our process to accommodate that. That might be the need for a special climbing harness to allow a student in a wheelchair to ascend the tower or incorporating hand signals and visual information to allow a student with auditory differences to more fully be a part of the group on a hike. We listen to the participants and tailor the process to support their needs.
Andrew McMartin: Making our programs accessible and inclusive requires a strategy that crosses all aspects of our work. We have been looking at aspects from how we present and communicate our programs to how we post jobs and interview, to what kinds of programs we run in what spaces, all of it matters and more. We haven’t solved all of the issues, but we address more each year, continue to learn and grow, add training elements for our staff each year, and keep the long term goal in mind. But we continue to see progress each year toward being the organization we aim to be: one where everyone can feel a sense of belonging, at our programs, on our staff, and in the outdoors.
Claire Christie: We strive to create an environment where all campers can thrive. To support this, we offer one-on-one inclusion assistance at no extra cost, ensuring that children who need additional care can fully participate regardless of their financial situation. Recognizing that each child is unique, we continuously adapt our inclusion support to meet individual needs, ensuring every camper has a meaningful experience.
Claire Christie: It’s incredible to see the impact and the excitement. We often see children eagerly sharing their experiences with their loved ones and returning year after year with excitement about what they learned. Over a single summer, their confidence visibly grows as they tackle activities that once intimidated them. We’re also seeing many former campers return as counsellors, eager to recreate the environment they experienced for a new generation of kids.
Sean Hume: Coming out of the lockdowns, my wife and I had seen worrisome changes in our daughter. She had become very withdrawn, very socially anxious and unable to take positive steps to change her situation. That summer, she reluctantly agreed to spend three weeks on an Outward Bound course. She thought she’d be able to just keep her head down, not interact with others, keep to herself and earn high school credit. She told us that if it was too much, she’d quit. She did not quit. She bit by bit came out of her shell. She began to trust the other students and began to form friendships. Her confidence grew. She was able to add value to the group and saw that her leadership was appreciated. The credit became a secondary reason for her to get up each day.
Andrew McMartin: I can’t overstate the impact that the program has had on my kids. In these formative years, the pine project has cultivated their curiosity and creativity, and established a solid foundation for a life-long connection with nature. It is a transformative experience.