Nature inspires our imagination by asking us to look, listen, and learn. It’s intriguing and piques our curiosity, makes us ask questions, and improves our mental wellbeing.
There’s a lot to be said for getting outdoors and watching as nature boosts our children's creativity in a huge way.
Sensory-Rich Environment
Nature offers us a space that is full, diverse and desperate to be explored. In all of its wildness and openness, we are given the chance to truly experience the world with all of our senses. This sensory-rich environment means we can touch and feel different textures from soft grasses to rough bark. We can smell the intense perfumes from flowers, trees, and rain. It opens up a world of creativity we can’t find indoors.
Freedom
With the freedom of nature, our kids can explore not only their creative talents but also their skills in decision making and problem-solving as they take risks and build their self-confidence. Nature is limitless and encourages us to develop and grow in ways that can’t be taught in a classroom.
Open-Ended Nature
The vast nature of the outdoors and the wilds of our forests, woodlands, and hills allows for so much open-ended exploration for our children. Their expressionism grows as their cognitive functions develop in nature and their imagination takes off along with their creativity.
How To Take Advantage Of Nature
It’s not always that easy to get our kids outside these days with technology, devices, and TV taking over our world as many of us still work from home or balance the workload of family life. And yet, when our kids take to the hills and run wild, they love it! So, how can we encourage them to live in nature?
Get Outside
First thing’s first - step outside. Find your way to the woods, to the meadows, to the beach, and let your kids explore. Give kids regular opportunities to get dirty, discover, and investigate the natural world around them. By getting outside regularly and making the outdoors a natural and expected part of their upbringing, our children will grow up to be adults who naturally take to nature.
Create
Make your outdoor spaces inviting by creating an environment that grabs their attention and encourages them to explore. It could be as simple as adding a mud kitchen or a sandpit to your decking.
Turn Off All Devices
It’s easy to keep the house calm with TV and devices, or so we expect. But setting aside time and turning off all devices can encourage not only ourselves but our kids to get outdoors and let nature boost our children's creativity.