Natural England. Evidence Sheet 1: Health benefits, Natural Environment for Children: September 2007

Benefits of Green Space for Children.

HEADLINES

  • Children have less contact with nature now than at any time in the past
  • Contact with nature improves children’s concentration and self discipline.
  • Playing in a natural environment improves children’s social, mental and physical development with some evidence of less bullying.
  • The behaviour symptoms of children with attention deficit disorder are reduced when children play in a natural environment.
  • Children use the natural environment to recover from stress and this helps to reduce mental health disorders.

PROBLEMS

  • Obesity levels for children aged 6 have doubled in the last 10 years and have trebled in 15 year olds. It is estimated that by 2020 half of all children could be obese.
  • 1 in 10 boys and 1 in 18 girls aged 5-10yrs have a diagnosed mental health disorder. Those children aged 11-17yrs have higher levels with 1 in 8 boys and 1 in 10 girls.

BENEFITS OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

  1. Children who spend time in Green Space as a child are more likely to continue visiting green space as an adult and more likely to value these places for restoration and helping to cope with stress.1.
  1. The confidence for young adults to walk in woodland, appears to be the degree to which they had been able to experience unstructured play in woodland areas with little or limited adult supervision.2
  1. Children’s self discipline can be improved by 20% by simply having views of trees and vegetation outside their homes. This mainly affects girls and is related to better concentration even when adjusted for all other factors.3
  1. Children who walk in green space are able to concentrate more on subsequent work than those who take a similar walk but in a built up area.4
  1. School playgrounds are still based on asphalt and man made structures. A natural play environment at school helps reduce bullying, increases creative play, improves concentration and a feeling of self worth in children. 5,6,7
  1. Academic performance has significantly improved across the curriculum in schools when natural environments are integrated into their education.8
  1. Children with attention deficit disorder have significant improvement of symptoms if they play in natural areas or even have views of trees and grass outside their home.9
  1. Contact with nature can significantly reduce the psychological problems caused by stress, particularly in children with the greatest number of stressful events.10
  1. There is good evidence that being outdoors is the most powerful correlate of physical activity, particularly in pre-school children.11
  1. Children’s physical activity levels are also associated with the number of play spaces near their homes and the amount of time children use those play spaces.12

REFERENCES

  1. Bell S, Thompson CW, Travlou P. Contested views of freedom and control: Children, Teenagers and urban fringe woodlands in central Scotland. Urban Forestry And Urban Greening, Vol 2, Number 2 Sep 2003 pp 87-100
  2. Bingley A, Milligan C, Climbing Trees and Building Dens Report for the Forestry Commission July 2004.
  3. Taylor AF, Kuo FE, Sullivan WC Views of nature and self-discipline: evidence from inner city children JEVP (2001) 21 Supp}
  4. Hartig T, Mang M and Evans GW. (1991). Restorative effects of natural environment experiences. Environment and Behaviour, 23, 3-26.
  5. Fjortoft I, Sageie J (2000),The natural environment as a Playground for children: Landscape Description and Analyses of a natural Landscape. Landscape and Urban Planning 48 ½ 83-97}.
  6. Herrington S, Studtmann K, (1998). “Landscape Interventions New Directions for the Design of Children’s Outdoor Play Environments: Landscape and Urban Planning 42(2-4): 191-205.
  7. Malone K, Tranter Paul, Children’s Environmental Learning and the use, design and management of school grounds Children Youth and Environments 13(2), 2003.)
  8. Environment – based Education: Creating High Performance Schools and Students. Washington, DC: The National Environmental Education and Training Foundation 2000
  9. Kuo,FE; Faber Taylor,A: A potential Natural Treatment for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity disorder: Evidence from a national study American J Public Health 2004 94 9 p1580-1586.
  10. Wells NM, Evans GW; Nearby Nature; A buffer of life stress among Rural Children. Environment and Behaviour, vol.35, No 3 311-330 2003.
  11. Baranowski T, Thompson WO, DuRant RH, et al. (1993) Observations on physical activity in physical locations: age, gender, ethnicity, and month effects. Res Q Exerc Sport; 64:127-33.
  12. Sallis JF, Nadir PR, Broyles SL, et al.(1995) Correlates of physical activity at home in Mexican-American and Anglo-American preschool children. Health Psychology: 12:390-8.