Resources of Note

Abstract

Book and Film Reviews 139 Resources of Note Through an extensive process of literature searches and consultation with its Scientific Advisory Council, the Children and Nature Network created a set of six infographics that condense research findings related to benefits of nature contact for children. Two infographics provide an overview of benefits for “Health and WellBeing ” and “Academic Outcomes.” Four focus on benefits of green schoolyards: “Green Schoolyards and Academic Outcomes,” “Green Schoolyards and Beneficial Play,” “Green Schoolyards and Physical Activity,” and “Green Schoolyards and Mental Health Benefits.” Each infographic uses colorful illustrations and brief text to summarize research findings, with footnotes to the original studies. The infographics can be used to build support for nature programs for children, naturalizing yards and parks for children’s play, city greening, and schoolyard greening. To provide a quick overview of compelling reasons to increase children’s access to nature, they can be shared with parents, teachers, school administrators, school board members, pediatricians, staff in city planning and parks and recreation departments, and anyone else who may want to increase children’s opportunities to experience the natural world. For people writing grants for schools, nature centers and other places where nature can be woven into children’s lives, they provide a useful research base. Given the footnotes, they are also valuable for people in universities and research centers who want an overview of existing studies through mid-2016. They are designed to be printed as 8.5-by-11-inch handouts or as posters. The same website includes Children and Nature Network’s 28-page report on Green Schoolyards. The report reproduces the infographics, discusses components of the successful implementation of green schoolyards, and closes with recommendations for building a national green schoolyard movement. The infographics and Green Schoolyards report are found at: http://www.childrenandnature.org/learn/tools-resources/ For those who want more detail about research studies, Children and Nature Network’s Research Library provides citations and summaries of peer-reviewed articles that investigate connections between nature experiences and children’s academic achievement, creativity, play, physical activity, physical health, mental health, and environmental concern, among other topics. Readers can sign up for a monthly Research Digest that alerts them to articles curated in the Research Library in the past month. The Research Library and registration for the Research Digest are available at: http://www.childrenandnature.org/learn/research/ Resource note by Louise Chawla Louise Chawla is Professor Emerita, Program in Environmental Design, University of Colorado Boulder. ...