Get Your Kids to Wild Nature

Weiss, Kahn, and Lam found that “Interaction with nature is vital for children’s physical and psychological development. . . . [we] tested our hypothesis that relatively wild areas of this environment would be positively associated with child-nature behaviors that were more relational – that is, behaviors demonstrating a bond with nature or respect, including the ability to cohabitate with other lifeforms, and to promote the well-being of nature. Results confirmed this hypothesis.”

Thea Weiss, Peter Kahn, and Ling-Wai Lam.  “Children’s Interactions with Relatively Wild Nature Associated with More Relational Behavior:  A Model of Child-Nature Interaction in a Forest Preschool.”  Journal of Environmental Psychology, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101941