The Critical Role of Natural Playgrounds

When we lecture about or discuss Natural Playgrounds, the one question we always get? "What about maintenance?" - asked in a challenging manner, and as though nothing else requires it....  ...and as though that question should stop us in our tra...

An earlier generation of kids may have spent all their free time playing in the woods, but in today’s world of helicopter parenting and stranger danger, letting their children do the same is unthinkable for many parents.Now, park designers and offici...

Physical fitness isn't just good for your health. It's also a good way to beef up your brain. New research shows being physically fit can improve the structure of brain matter that plays a role in learning!  Greater aerobic fitness generates mor...

At this time of year, Dawn Miller from the Charleston Gazette would rather be outside watching BB-sized tomatoes emerge on her West Virginia garden, so she used her smart phone to attend a Congressional hearing in Washington called “No Child Left Ins...

Mary Burnette for the National Wildlife Federation Remember how great it felt to buy that new box of crayons? Selecting new school supplies is always fun for kids, but parents may be surprised to learn “nature” is one more thing they should put ...

Recent research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, reports that children with ADHD have fewer symptoms after outdoor activities in natural environments. College students do better on cognitive tests when their dorm windows view n...

According to a recent University of Tennessee study, children who play on playgrounds incorporating natural elements like logs and flowers tend to be more active than those who play on traditional playgrounds with metal and brightly colored equipment...

A house surrounded by nature helps boost a child's attention capabilities, a recent study by a Cornell University researcher suggests.  "When children's cognitive functioning was compared before and after they moved from poor- to better-quality ...

We see children daily trying to beat the odds, trying to stay sane amidst insane circumstances, writes Karen Stephens for the Child Care Information Exchange. The stresses vary, but they typically fall under the umbrella of family dysfunction, includ...

Reserarch suggests that chronic sedentary behavior is compromising children's ability and achievement,' says a recent report in Health Day News.  When overweight, sedentary kids start to exercise regularly, their ability to think, plan, and even...

"When I was a kid, I’d be out the door first thing in the morning and back home when the sun set. I can’t even remember eating," Ron King told Playground Magazine during a recent interview. Not far from our home there was a foothill to the ...

Physical activity that makes a person process new information, such as navigating a tree with the hands and feet, can improve cognitive skills and working memory in children and adults.  Physical activities such as climbing a tree, running ...

Sissy Walker went hiking with a group of old pals – four couples, actually, who became fast friends more than two decades ago when all their children went to the same parent co-operative preschool in Alexandria, VA . There was something about that pr...

Educators in Britain, after decades spent in a collective effort to minimize risk, are now getting into the business of providing it. Note the boy about to send a pile of bricks flying at the risk-enhanced playground at the Richmond Avenue ...