THE EVIDENCE

• Click here to see what educational authorities have to say about nature-based, or environment-based, education.
• Click here for examples of how nature-based activities develop academic skills.

WHO else cares
Individuals and organizations writing about, researching, or working to enhance the connection between kids and nature.

Richard Louv
This San Diego-based journalist, author and child advocate has brought the growing crisis of children’s disconnection from nature into the public eye with his acclaimed 2005 book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder (Algonquin Books).

The Children and Nature Network
This non-profit organization is chaired by Richard Louv, and is working to bring together a wide range of organizations interested in bringing children and nature together. “The vision and mission of the Children & Nature Network is to give every child in every community a wide range of opportunities to experience nature directly, reconnecting our children with nature’s joys and lessons, its profound physical and mental bounty.”

The Coalition for Education in the Outdoors
Based at the State University of New York at Cortland, this is a “non-profit network of environmental education centers, conservation and recreation organizations, schools, fish and wildlife agencies, and businesses to support outdoor education.”

White Hutchinson Learning & Leisure Group
This is a small commercial company specializing in the design of educational outdoor play areas for children. They have written extensively about this topic, including this article about the importance of young children forming a relationship with nature.

Landscape and Human Health Laboratory
This research group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, led by Dr. Frances Kuo, studies the “connection between greenery and human health” and has published many studies demonstrating the power of natural features in the environment to improve psychological health and quality of life, primarily in inner-city settings.

Mary S. Rivkin, Ph.D.
Coordinator of the Early Childhood Education program at the University of Maryland, Dr. Rivkin has written extensively about the importance of nature and outdoor play for children’s education.

Natural Learning Initiative
This research and extension program of the College of Design at North Carolina State University, led by Dr. Robin Moore, conducts research on the importance of outdoor activity in early childhood.

State Education and Environmental Roundtable (SEER)
This collaboration between 16 state Departments of Education works to promote the “EIC Model” (using the environment as an integrating context for learning) in K-12 education.

North American Association for Environmental Education
NAAEE is an association of environmental education professionals, developing standards for environmental education, hosting conferences on the topic, and providing resources and certification.

National Environmental Education and Training Foundation
NEETF is a non-profit organization “dedicated to advancing environmental education in its many forms,” which it does through numerous educational programs for schools and the general public.

Center for Ecoliteracy
Dedicated to “education for sustainable living,” this San Francisco Bay area foundation makes grants to educational organizations and school communities, focusing primarily on the use of school lunches as a tool for experiential learning.

Sierra Club – Building Bridges to the Outdoors
Through this project, the Sierra Club’s goal is to “give every child in America an outdoor experience.”

Trust for Public Land
TPL is “a national, nonprofit, land conservation organization that conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, community gardens, historic sites, rural lands, and other natural places, ensuring livable communities for generations to come.” They have published reports on the access (or lack thereof) people have to natural parklands, and the importance of such access to health and quality of life.

Outdoor Classroom Project
Hosted by the Child Educational Center serving Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), and funded by First 5 LA, this project seeks to “increase the quantity, quality, and benefit of outdoor experiences for children aged 0 - 5 in LA County child care centers.”

Education and the Environment Initiative (CA)
This effort, led by the California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Integrated Waste Management Board, seeks to develop a strategy to “bring education about the environment into California’s primary and secondary schools.”

The importance of connecting children and nature

USA Today
CBS
PBS
NPR
Minnesota Public Radio
The Christian Science Monitor
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

CNI in the News

Children's Nature Institute, Apr 3 , 2009
From North Valley Community News : There are thousands of underprivileged and special needs children living throughout the San Fernando Valley. Many of them have never experienced nature. Some have never seen the ocean, and some have never even been to a park. The Children’s Nature Institute (CNI) is here to help and address these concerns.

A Great Volunteer Opportunity: Lead Nature Hikes with Inner City Kids, Mar 16, 2009
From laist: "It's something that's really amazing for the kids because they never ever get out here because they don't have things like this near where they live," explained Melanie Bowerman, a Nature Walk Leader and Environmental Educator with CNI. "Sometimes it's the first time that any of these kids have come to a place like this, have walked on the dirt or have seen the animals."

keeping LA kids green, Mar 12, 2009
From kids LA magazine: LAKids can go green not just on Earth Day, but every day by doing what they love to do: Playing with worms, making art, planting a garden, exploring on foot, basking in rainbows, splashing in fountains, playing games, or learning about trash.

Enhancing education through nature, Nov 23, 2008
From Los Angeles Times: The Children's Nature Institute's directors are anticipating a difficult year because of decreased funding from major donors who have been affected by the economic crisis.

Tykes on Trails and Family Nature Walks, Oct 1, 2008
From The Savvy Source: Ever want to take your little one hiking but don't know where to start? I know I don't. Good thing The Children's Nature Institute's "Tykes on Trails" program can help us out.

Urban Nature Week with the Children’s Nature Institute, Sept 30, 2008
where do the children play l.a. talks about the exciting and important events going on during Urban Nature Week.

Vital Connections: At-Risk Children and Nature, July 14, 2008
Max School Bus highlights CNI's role in linking children to nature and helping to green campuses that look more like prisons than learning environments.

NBC's "your LA" captures CNI at the Promenade on Earth Day, April 23, 2007
About halfway through the video clip you'll spot Christina from CNI showing off some of the animals from our Wonder Mobile program.

NBC's "your LA" features CNI, Feb 26, 2007
Watch the video clip as NBC's your LA gives an overview of CNI's mission and activities.

Los Angeles Times, May 31, 2001
Move over big brother and sister: Here's an event for crawlers, toddlers and droolers.
The 12th annual Kids' Nature Festival, held Saturday at Temescal Gateway Park in Pacific Palisades, is filled with outdoorsy, hands-on activities geared specifically toward infants to 8-year-olds. Think of it as a festival for the sandbox generation.

Toddlers can dig for dinosaurs, crawl through a mole tunnel, pat friendly reptiles and join in a sing-along concert. Read more...

The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, Feb. 02, 2001
Take a hike: The Children's Nature Institute (CNI), a nonprofit group founded by a nature-loving mom in 1985, has a long roster of family-friendly nature walks. CNI docents lead several educational walks every week, where they help children use all five senses to decipher their environment. The hikes are about two hours of leisurely walking along a trail, some of them stroller-friendly. For groups of about 20 people, CNI will arrange for private walks. Read more...

Los Angeles Times, Feb. 01, 2001
Into the Mist: Sometimes all it takes for a child to revel in the rain is a puddle to splash in and a working umbrella, accompanied, of course, by a parental lecture about how opening umbrella indoors causes bad luck. If you want to raise the bar, consider taking a hike at a park or canyon-as long as it's just misting.

"If it's really raining, people are putting themselves in danger, and we do not recommend going out," says Judy Burns, director of the Children's Nature Institute in Santa Monica. "But in heavy fog or a light mist, it can be magical. The leaves glisten. Read more...

Westside Weekly, Oct. 22, 2000
A horse dropping is hardly reason to get excited - unless you didn't see it in time.

But the fly-infested dung was a site to behold for 30 first-graders from Sunrise Elementary School in East Los Angeles, who rarely cross paths with horses.

Docents gathered children around to show them a deer print and how to make their own impressions of animal tracks. Their attention however, was quickly diverted to a hawk soaring high overhead. The children's eyes widened to the size of saucers and they were stirred with excitement as they saw the bird of prey. Read more...

Santa Monica Bay Week, May 18, 2000
What's got winged kids, live goats, rabbits, bearded dragons, hedgehogs and music? The 11th Annual Children's Nature Institute Kid's Festival, held last Saturday in Temescal Gateway Park in Pacific Palisades. With over 30 free interactive nature booths, mazes, face painting and an opportunity to buy elegant hand made bat wing, butterfly and other costumes, the fair offered a day of fun and education enjoyed by kids and adults alike. It may be the only festival in the country geared to kids from one to eight years old. Read more...

Our Times, Aug. 15, 1999
A group of children looked skeptically at the dried flowers placed in their wet hands. Their walk had taken them past Sycamores, a beehive, gopher holes and running creeks. A plastic bag of dried flowers just before lunch seemed a puzzling offering after the hour-and-a-half hike.

"Rub them together," encouraged Nancy Berk, their docent through Malibu Solstice Canyon. "Keep rubbing until it gets soapy." Read more...