NZ is 30 years ahead of North America in outdoor play, says global expert
Do you remember the sensation of your legs caked in cold mud? Or the thrill of hurtling downhill on a piece of
cardboard? Perhaps you had a secret hut at the end of the garden? However you remember your childhood, being outdoors
was probably a constant theme.
Award-winning Canadian playscape designer Adam Bienenstock will be in New Zealand to speak to New Zealand educators on the benefits of integrating nature and education at the fifth annual Natural Phenomena Conference near Whangarei this month.
He says the message he wants to give New Zealand is “do not use North America as your model”. This is the first generation in history that we as adults will have a longer lifespan than our kids.
Adam credits high rates of obesity, ADHD and other child health concerns as exponentially increasing as kids' connection
to nature and their ability to take risks decreases.
However, organisers of the conference say New Zealanders could improve the way we encourage our kids to interact with
the outdoors. And they fear increasing legislation and compliance around playground development and etiquette could
change our society for the worse.
The increasingly popular conference aims to enable educators with tools to promote outdoor play and offset the
increasing ‘mollycoddling’ of our children in a risk-averse society.
Several hundred teachers, policymakers, playground designers, parks managers and parents will gather in an outdoor
setting inland from the Tutukaka Coast to hear more than 20 speakers including:
• Best-selling author Richard Louv, who sparked an international movement when he coined the phrase ‘nature-deficit disorder’. Louv, author of The Last Child in The Woods and The Nature Principle, suggests the disconnection of children from nature correlates with increasing social, mental and physical health
problems.
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• International educationalist and author Dr Rangimarie Turuki Rose Pere
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• Multisport athlete and author Steve Gurney
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• Early childhood consultant David Spraggs
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But surely kiwi kids get plenty of time in nature?
One of the organisers Kate Broughton explains it’s often not the case:
“Its worth checking in with them. Their schedules are busier, activities more organised and any free time competes with
the ever-present lure of the screen.”
“Mucking around outside has in some part been curbed by greater parental concerns for safety and less opportunity to do
so.”
Conference organiser Dean Aplin explains true to its values The Natural Phenomena is held outdoors midst an ancient
stand of trees known to many as the Wild Woods.
“We hold the conference in the outdoors to emulate our ideals. I don’t believe you can fully talk about reconnecting
kids with nature while sitting inside a conference venue in downtown Auckland. Out here we’re adding experience to
theory.”
“What excites me is what happens here,” continues Dean, “There are sessions designed to nurture delegates as
individuals. Often conferences aren’t about that.”
Conference organiser Jane Young says:
“It’s reminding people what they were doing when they were four. A lot of us haven’t realised that the freedom we had as
children looks very different now and I like drawing people’s awareness to where we’re going as a society.”
You may arrive in socks and shoes but chances are you’ll leave in bare feet with your trousers rolled up.
The 5th Natural Phenomena Conference, Whangarei, 21–23 November, 2014.
ends