Outdoors is where a child's imagination and self-discovery collide in the most spectacular fashion. Helping children find a passion for the outdoors is important. Why?

To achieve optimum emotional, physical and spiritual health for our children we need to turf them outside to play and learn in an unstructured way on a regular basis.

Spending time outdoors does SIX critical things for our children:

1. It combats obesity - even just one or two hours a week will help.
2. It's a great destresser. Little children can get just as stressed as us. Down time is as important to them as it is to us. Periods of quiet reflection outdoors recharges little bodies and minds making them more capable and focussed during times of formal learning, be it at home, pre-school or primary school. And sometimes we need to get them out of our hair! Mother Nature can be a good circuit breaker when tempers get frayed.
3. Develops fine and gross motor skills - (jumping, climbing, skipping, picking flowers etc) and provides lessons on the senses and various concepts such as literacy and numeracy, time and the cycle and web of life.
4. Helps imagination and creativity - Imaginative play is essential for brain development and has been linked to improving IQ. Spending time outdoors grows smarter children.
5. Provides unstructured play which encourages resilience, independence and self-confidence - it lessens the likelihood of learned helplessness. That is, if we do everything for our children and over-structure their play it can result in an over-reliance on others to provide their entertainment and this diminishes their capacity to independently learn. The child who suffers from learned helplessness will always rely on others, or turn to others, for solutions which can result in poor social skills and low self-esteem. They will not become future leaders nor will they manage the school yard as effectively as they could. They could become more prone to bullying or become bullies themselves.
6. Gives them an early understanding of the environment and their place within it. This helps with understanding complex environmental issues and teaches them about food, medicinal and shelter sources. This is critical given they are the environmental policymakers of the future.

“Nature does nothing uselessly“. Aristotle

Discovery / Imagination / Outdoor Fun

Nature as a ‘device’

by Caro&Co on Jan 31, 2012 • 7 Comments

I have long admired the work of Australian cartoonist & artist Michael Leunig.  This cartoon?  One of his best ever.  Please encourage your children to do as he suggests and make sure you join them, often.   Thank you to the wonderful people over at The Nature Nurture project for sharing this originally. LOVE. x  ...

Animals / Discovery / Family Life / Garden / Imagination / Kitchen / Outdoor Fun

Departing childhood – will your child pack the important stuff?

by Caro&Co on Jan 13, 2012 • 10 Comments

I recently had the misfortune of watching an advertorial about a product that promised to have your child reading fluently by the age of 1. Whilst I adore reading and would always encourage children to do so, the advertorial implied that young children should spend every waking moment engaged in some form of structured learning....

Discovery / Family Life / Garden / Imagination / Outdoor Fun

Tick, tock goes the clock. Children and time….

by Caro&Co on Oct 11, 2011 • 7 Comments

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” ~Albert Einstein My daughter has become quite the clock-watcher of late as she has been learning about “time” at school.  She is particularly fascinated by clocks with roman numerals and was spellbound when I managed to produce an old Mickey Mouse alarm...

Discovery / Family Life / Garden / Imagination / Outdoor Fun

Simple pleasures…

by Caro&Co on Sep 9, 2011 • 9 Comments

“Life can be rich without riches.  And it can be full without a cupboard overflowing with toys or a drawer stuffed with computer games.” Next week marks 10 years since I became a mother.  Whilst I was overjoyed at having a healthy baby boy, (followed closely by a beautiful little girl just 16 months later),...

Discovery / Family Life / Garden / Imagination / Outdoor Fun

Gardening and plants … through a child’s eyes

by Caro&Co on Aug 4, 2011 • 7 Comments

Gardening and plants have long been a passion of mine.  I’ve spoken before about how my obsession began and my desire to instill a love of the natural world in my children.  I spend much time explaining to them that plants are integral to our emotional, spiritual and physical health. And whilst I’m not a...

Family Life / Garden / Imagination / Kitchen / Outdoor Fun

1000 things to do with green tomatoes before you die…

by Caro&Co on Apr 28, 2011 • 1 Comment

GREEN TOMATO RELISH FOR DUMMIES With a glut of green tomatoes at our farm and the first frost threatening to turn them all to slush, we recently harvested the last of our heirloom tomatoes.  As is the way when you have a productive veggie patch and no real skill on managing your harvests, we got...

Discovery / Family Life / Garden / Imagination / Outdoor Fun / Uncategorized

Plants you can play with #4 – the magic of grasses

by Caro&Co on Apr 19, 2011 • 7 Comments

I love grasses.  There are over 600 genera and some 10,000 species of grass around the world.  It’s my view that they are amongst the most important family of plants on the planet.  They have a multitude of uses and functions ranging from purely ornamental to agricultural. They form our staple food grains and cereal...

Discovery / Family Life / Garden / Imagination / Outdoor Fun

Sowing the seeds of future passions…

by Caro&Co on Apr 8, 2011 • 13 Comments

“The love of gardening is a seed that once sown never dies.” - Gertrude Jekyll When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time with my Grandfather.  He was a professional gardener and would quite often take me to his place of work, which I adored. I would help him pull out weeds and...