healthy kids
Nature to the Rescue Kids Come Alive Outdoors by Ronica O’Hara
40
Greater Ann Arbor
HealthyLivingMichigan.com
A
s Angela Hanscom of Barrington, New Hampshire, watched her preschool daughters at play, she realized that a surprising number of their friends had problems with balance, coordination and muscle weakness, conditions she was attuned to as a pediatric occupational therapist. Teachers told her that compared to past years, young children were falling out of chairs and bumping into each other and walls more often—all evidence of poor proprioceptive skills, the “sixth sense” ability to feel and position the body in space. Hanscom also realized that almost none of the children played outdoors, which “fascinated and scared” her. Nationwide, even before the lockdowns and online schooling brought on by the pandemic, the average child spent seven hours per day looking at screens and only seven minutes per day playing freely outdoors. Recent studies show that today’s children have poorer hand grip strength, slower running speeds and lower cardiovascular fitness levels than previous generations. Meanwhile, a growing body of research finds that spending time in nature makes kids happier, healthier and more functional. Hanscom’s solution was to establish TimberNook, camps in which children from 18 months to 14 years of age are encouraged to explore natural settings in imaginative, largely unstructured, mini-
