What is nature play?

In broad terms, nature play is interaction with natural landscape features, landforms, natural materials, and plants. Nature play encourages gross-motor, fine-motor, proprioceptive, and vestibular movement along with sensory-rich dramatic, creative, and cognitive engagement.

In recent years, a drive to reconnect people with nature through play has prompted the development of natural playgrounds, playscapes, nature play areas, and outdoor learning environments. Designed to put users in direct contact with nature, with a focus on the value of play, these spaces are gaining popularity among municipalities, school districts, and child-care centers across North America, and beyond.

Statistics and academic research show a number of benefits among children who spend time in nature-rich environments, including:

• Lower incidents of vandalism and bullying
  
• Higher test scores
  
• Greater attention spans
  
• Increased balance and agility scores
  

Why natural playgrounds?

Over the last few decades, playgrounds have become increasingly prefabricated and sterile. Plastic, steel, rubber and paving have become the predominant materials used in play spaces. Moreover, public consultation on playgrounds has waned, forcing communities to adopt prefabricated plastic-and-steel products over locally-sourced, natural materials and biodiverse play environments. The shift away from nature has occurred in the name of:

1. Reduced maintenance
   
2. Capital cost control
   
3. Concerns over risk and safety of children in an increasingly litigious society
   
4. An urban adult misconception that contact with dirt and nature is bad for health

Children, however, need access to nature the same way they need adequate sleep and good nutrition for healthy development. With the average rate a child spends outdoors dropping every year due to sedentary lifestyles centered around technology, parks and playgrounds are critical spaces where kids can get in contact with nature. The benefits of a nature-rich play environment include the following:

• A healthy immune system
  
• Enhanced cognitive function and physical acuity
  
• Increased engagement and imagination
  
• A better quality of life
  
• A greater aptitude for environmental stewardship as adults
  
• A reduction in incidents of injuries

What does a natural playground look like?

Nature play looks very different from a traditional park and playground setting consisting of large, colorful, centerpiece structures that cater to gross-motor development and cosseting parents. Nature play, by comparison, may look messy, with lesser visibility due to topographic changes, vegetation and multi-lobed activity and play areas. While a nature play area is a living and evolving system, below are steadfast characteristics of a nature play site:

• They encourage all types of play, including gross-motor, fine-motor, creative, dramatic, solitary, collaborative, unstructured, and imaginative play.
  
• They provide opportunities for all-season play with loose parts such as leaves, dirt, mulch, and water from rain, snow, or ice.
  
• They are designed to be fully engaging and immersive to foster multi-sensory experiences involving sight, sound, touch, smell, and even taste.
  
• They offer appropriate and stimulating activities and opportunities for users of all ages, abilities, and developmental stages.
  
• Their play features reflect the local landscape and are made using natural material, such as logs, boulders, plants, soil, and water.
  
• Their features encourage interactions with both flora and fauna, including aquatic fauna, insects, bugs, birds, and small animals.
  

What are the benefits of nature play/natural playgrounds?

Economic benefits

• Financing can be sourced from grants and organizations that are mandated to connect communities to nature.
  
• Aggressive behavior, such as vandalism, drops in direct proportion to the amount of nature a park user experiences. This saves costs associated with cleaning and mitigating vandalism.
  
• Ground-level elements, such as logs, wear and decompose over time, transforming opportunities for play into even more sensory-rich and investigative experiences. Moreover, replacement logs can be redirected from forestry waste at a fraction of the cost of traditional play equipment. Often, the trees slated for removal are growing nearby. Identifying these trees early in the design process can save removal and disposal fees, and reduce landfill.
  
• Real boulders, if well selected, are long lasting, and are fully compliant play features under American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards. Boulders can often be sourced as surplus material from internal city resources, such as road building.
  
• Properly designed outdoor furniture, retaining walls, public art, trails, and greenspaces can also provide play value while also serving their intended functions. The result is more play value and sensory input without the cost of additional features.
  
• Nature play provides the opportunity to collaborate internally with other departments, or with local trades and suppliers, for in-kind donations. This can yield ample materials and resources required for a project, while reducing costs and environmental impact.
  

Educational benefits

• Research shows spending time in nature can improve children’s attention spans and academic performance, and can reduce bullying and absenteeism.
  
• More time in nature has also been shown to improve Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) scores in students.
  
• Teachers report lower stress levels and better classroom dynamics when children spend more time outside in a nature-rich environment.
  
• Greater access to natural areas or natural playgrounds encourages educators to bring classes outside, and to incorporate more outdoor activities into the curriculum. It can also reduce the logistical time and expenses required for class trips to nature areas.
  

Health benefits

• Time spent in nature has a direct correlation with improved mental and physical health. Specifically, more time in a biodiverse, natural environment increases contact with macro- and microbiota, which has been directly linked to decreases in Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel disease, type 2 diabetes, stress, anxiety, and depressive disorders.
  
• Direct contact with nature, particularly with soil, improves health and diversity of gut flora, which is increasingly linked to mental health and autoimmune disorders.
  
• Increased time outdoors decreases sedentary behavior.
  
• Most children diagnosed with ADHD (72 per cent) found time in nature provided the same, or better results, as prescribed medication.
  
• A greater connection to nature will assist in a long-term reduction of per capita health expenditures.
  

Environmental benefits

• Greater biodiversity in plant material provides habitat and food sources for wildlife.
  
• Replacing asphalt and rubber surfacing with mulch, turf, plants, and gravel pathways improves water infiltration and reduces stormwater runoff.
  
• More shade helps mitigate urban heat island effect.
  
• A deeper connection to nature increases the likelihood that future generations will become stewards of wild and natural spaces.
  

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