Making Mud Pies

Those outdoor experiences nourish the brain and body -- and nurture a love of nature.

By Judsen Culbreth

From Reader's Digest

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Take Your Family Outdoors

At the tender age of two, Teddy Mirenda of East Dorset, Vermont, appreciates nature in a way that would have pleased his namesake, rugged outdoorsman Teddy Roosevelt. "Give him a pile of dirt and rocks, and he's happy," says Jim, the toddler's dad. "He's fascinated with the world outside -- and because he's closer to the ground, he notices much more than adults do."

Scientists, philosophers, poets and parents have long believed in the beauty and benefits of the outdoors. Never before, however, has the notion of playing outside seemed so in danger of losing its appeal. Kids today spend less time outdoors than did previous generations. In 1981, according to surveys conducted by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, children ages 6 to 17 spent an average of 100 minutes outdoors in unstructured play each week. By 2002, that time was halved to a mere 50 minutes.

That loss may turn out to be profound. New findings point to the extraordinary gains from playing outdoors, romping and stomping and connecting with nature. As Richard Louv, author of the book Last Child in the Woods, puts it, "Outdoor experience isn't just something nice for kids to have. They have to have it." Here's some compelling new research that will encourage your family to get outside this season and beyond.

Coming to Our Senses
Notice how blue skies and bright suns often dominate the drawings of youngsters? That's not just by chance. Kids see the world differently than we do. Up to age 20 or so, the lenses of their eyes allow more blue light to reach the retina. Says George Brainard, professor of neurology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, "They see more blue, violet and indigo" -- colors featured so prominently in their artwork.

That blue light, the blue of the sky, turns out to be a potent regulator of the body's circadian system. It's the human clock that not only tells night from day, but manages the whole neuroendocrine rhythm of the body and every organ within it. Other studies have demonstrated that exposure to light affects mood and performance. George Brainard's work is the first to pinpoint the special significance of the blue spectrum for humans.

Visual awareness is also heightened outside, where the eyes are exercised by motion. Gazing at a tree in the distance, or at a monarch butterfly fluttering nearby, children employ all their powers of sight -- including peripheral vision -- in three dimensions, as opposed to the sharp central vision used to read, watch TV or track video games. They actually see better and more, in truer colors, shapes, contrast and detail. And that's just one sensory advantage.

"Learning first comes in through the senses," says neurophysiologist Carla Hannaford in her book Smart Moves. Our initial sensory patterns, she says, "are laid down on elaborate nerve networks" and become the reference points that give us the context for thought and creativity.

Experts in early childhood development and the neurosciences agree that the natural world is the primary source of unfailing stimulation, the place that demands full use of the senses. As a child becomes immersed in touching, hearing, seeing, smelling, and even tasting, the bonanza of senses creates a complex architecture in the brain. Throughout their lives, children will continually extend, remodel, and draw upon this architecture.