BRING BACK THE NATURE TABLE CAMPAIGN

The “Bring Back the Nature Table” campaign and promotion, was conceptualized and implemented by Country Living (UK) magazine and major partner, (Jordan’s Food) in 2008. Run over a period of months, the campaign relied on the input of the magazine’s readers to lead a grass roots campaign throughout the UK, calling for a return of nature tables to UK primary schools. Its secondary aim was to foster a greater love of being outdoors.

The campaign began with a readership survey to determine just how much time people were spending outdoors, what they did there, what outdoors meant to them and whether nature tables were still commonplace.

The survey revealed some interesting and worrying trends. In a nutshell, people were spending far less time outside with their children. Of primary concern was that children appeared to be “disconnecting” from nature. For example, they could recall up to a 1000 commercial brands, but struggled to name a common plant in their back yard. As a result of the survey, Country Living devised a campaign that;

• Encouraged readers to spend more time outside with their children;
• Encouraged readers to call for the installation of nature tables in their children’s classrooms;
• Instigated a design competition for “best nature table” and “best nature journal”.

An Australian campaign

Caro & Co is committed to working with parents, carers, educators, environmental organisations, social and traditional media and corporate Australia to help to bring nature tables back to the classrooms of Australia and New Zealand.  Stay tuned for more information on how you can be involved or contact Caro Webster on 0414 956 107.  In the meantime …

Why encourage outdoor exploration or nature tables?

Simply put, outdoors grows healthy children, engaged learners, critical thinkers and tomorrow’s leaders.

Less than 30 years ago the Nature Table was commonplace throughout Australian classrooms. Remember the jars of seeds, sticky buds, funky leaves and branches sitting alongside hand-written labels on a rickety old Formica table? Remember actively looking for something to contribute to the table and how thrilled you were to find a discarded bird’s nest, the skeleton of a leaf or, even better, a dead insect?  How proud you were to then rush into school to talk proudly about your discovery in front of the class. Nature Tables inspired children to actively engage with their immediate environment.   It stimulated imagination, creativity and resilience by encouraging exploration and independent discovery.  Some teachers included the nature table into their curricula, others chose to let the nature tables simply act as a way of building oratory skills in their children.  Either way, there is little doubt that they are beneficial on many levels.

In returning Nature Tables to Australia’s classrooms we will assist in improving the mental, physical, spiritual and emotional health of our children – and in many cases, boost academic performance in the classroom.  And by bringing things in for the nature table, children can play a role in their own learning.  An increasing number of today’s children are missing out on the benefits of outdoor exploration and play. Nature Tables are now only sporadically found throughout Australia’s primary schools. This reduction in “bringing the outdoors into classrooms” has and will continue to impact negatively on children.

• A study found that young people could identify 1000 corporate logos but fewer than 10 plants or animals native to their backyards (US study)
• Children who learned in outdoor classrooms increased science scores by 27% (California Department of Education 2005 study)
• Children as young as five showed a decrease in ADD symptoms when they were engaged with nature. (US study)
• Children ages 6 – 11 spend 30 hours a week looking at a TV or computer monitor (US study)
• There has been a 400% increase in childhood obesity since the 1960’s (US Study)

According to the reader survey commissioned by Country Living UK, less than half of parents, grandparents and carers take their children out for a regular walk, with fewer still stopping to look at what is around them.  Anecdotally, we feel the same can be said of Australians.

“Getting out into green spaces is absolutely vital for children,” says GP and strategic health advisor for Natural England, Dr William Bird.

“We have an innate connection with the natural environment and this means that nature has the ability to recharge us. Studies have shown that green spaces can boost a child’s concentration and calm them down – it may even improve academic ability in school.”

But there’s a catch – children need to be playing in natural environments while they’re still young, or they’ll never reap the rewards. “Children under 11 will make a connection with nature and this will stay with them for life. If you ask most adults to think of a time when they felt most secure and happy, it’s nearly always when they were a child playing in a natural place, such as a cubby house in the woods or a nearby park,” Dr Bird explains. “But if they are not exposed by the age of 12, they will never make that link. A walk through the countryside will mean nothing to them – in fact, they may even perceive it as something to be feared.” Clearly, this has implications for children’s wellbeing as they grow up, but it’s also potentially disastrous for the future of the planet. “These children are the environmental policy makers of tomorrow. If green spaces have no value for them, then why should they protect them?” Dr Bird says.

But the responsibility for reconnecting children with nature isn’t just the responsibility of teachers – it must start at home. Many people assume that children want to spend all day in front of a computer/tv screen but, according to the Children’s Play Council UK, an organisation that promotes the benefits of play, 86% prefer getting muddy and building dens to computer games, and nearly three in four would like to get outdoors more. Our own fear of perceived risks means we want our children where we can see them – the past few decades have seen the roaming limit of children (from their home) drop from kilometres to just metres.

The nature table campaign is an initiative that challenges everyone…

• to develop a greater understanding in our society about the physical and mental benefits of connecting with nature and the outdoors
• to promote the many non-structured opportunities that children and families have to reconnect with nature
• to work with all levels of government to maintain natural places that are accessible to children
• to work with all levels of education to maintain adequate environmental education in Australia’s education syllabi.
• to encourage all organizations and institutions engaged with children and nature to participate in making our environment and our society one that encourages the healthy development of children through free and imaginative play in natural environments.
• to support organizations that promote childhood health initiatives

For more information on any aspect of the Nature Table campaign or to get involved, please contact Caro Webster at caro@caroandco.com.au or 0414 956 107