The scene wasn’t exactly the picturesque nature shot you’d find on a postcard. I was a mile into a muddy portage with a wood-canvas canoe balanced on my barely 16-year-old shoulders. Just as I felt like I couldn’t take another step, the breeze that had been keeping the mosquitoes at bay suddenly disappeared—leaving my ears fair game for the swarming clouds. Welcome to a challenging, though not uncommon, portage in the Canadian wilderness.

“Why do you do that?” some of my friends would ask. And yet, every adolescent summer, I found myself drawn out of my Minneapolis home and back into the wild. While scenes like the one above were far from stress-free, one of the main reasons I picked up a paddle each summer was, inexplicably, the overwhelming sense of calm, curiosity, and confidence the experience gave me.

Of course, that calm may also have been fueled by a crystal-clear lake swim after a muddy portage, or the sense of wonder I felt gazing up at millions of stars each night. But no matter which moment you focus on, my anxious, turbulent, and restless adolescent brain seemed to thrive in the wilderness.

The science behind our affinity to nature

You don’t need to be a mile into a portage or travel to remote wilderness areas to experience the benefits of exploring nature. Indeed, brief trips are not nearly as influential as daily exposure to nature and green spaces. Cornell University psychologist Nancy Wells found that children who increased green space near their homes after moving improved their cognitive functioning more than those who moved to areas with fewer natural areas nearby. In another study Wells found that nearby nature bolsters children’s resilience, particularly among those who experience high levels of stress.

Stanford University researchers recently found that people who walked briefly through green natural areas reported feeling more attentive and happier than those who walked through high traffic areas for the same amount of time. Curious about the neurological underpinnings of these results, the same team then took a deeper look at the impact of nature on the brain. In a follow up study, they found that people who walked for an hour and a half through natural areas showed decreased activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain associated with ruminating on negative thoughts and feelings. Those who had walked in high traffic areas for the same amount of time showed no change in their “broodiness” score and blood flow to the subgenual cortex remained high.

Exploring nature with children seems to be quite soothing for their minds. These studies join a growing body of evidence demonstrating that access to nature is good for mood, social-emotional development, motor coordination, and attention among other cognitive functions.

A reciprocal relationship

Exploring nature with children isn’t just good for humans, it is good for nature too. Frequent and positive experiences with the natural world during childhood influence the development of a lifetime of environmental concern, affiliation, and protection.

Unfortunately there are more and more factors pushing children inside. Among the biggest drivers are increased structured and programmed activities, increased screen time, and parental fears about crime and safety. Finally, race and class shape children’s access to green spaces and their experiences outdoors, placing park and natural resource development squarely within the focus of racial equity  and anti-racism work in cities across the U.S.

Explore nature with children this summer:

• Ask your child’s summer care providers questions about outside time – How much? Where? What kinds of activities? Every day?
• Carve out time for unstructured play outside. Try a forest instead of a swing set. Researchers have observed that children’s play in natural settings is more imaginative and creative than in other settings.
• Don’t save time in natural areas for big trips to far away places. Remember, frequent positive experiences matter. Find natural areas as close to home as possible and visit them whenever you can.
• In that spirit, notice your backyard, boulevard, or trees adjacent to your home. What lives there? What kind of bark and leaves do the trees have?
• Sit still. Watch what birds fly or bugs crawl by you.
• Plant a garden or find a community or schoolyard garden close to you. Plant seeds.
• Take advantage of local parks. Many have free resources you can check out for geocaching, bug finding, and animal identification.
• Don’t immediately respond to “I’m bored!” by structuring an activity outside. See what happens when you wait a bit.
• Use kids’ love for technology to document nature – take pictures of different bird nests, plants, or local animals.
• Consider walking and biking instead of driving. Your child’s brain will thank you.
• Advocate for more green space, equitable parks planning, safe bike/walk routes to school, and anti-racism work in the outdoor industry.