How ditching the classroom boosts children’s mental health

Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

The WWF sponsored a green schools series in the Guardian Newspaper Online. Written by Matthew Jenkin this lovely article outlines how “Getting outdoors can pay dividends in academic performance – but it also improves pupils’ concentration and confidence.” An Excerpt of the article is posted below…. Three years ago teacher Simon Poote spotted a disused strip … Read more

Children Need Unbounded Outdoor Play

(Annie Spratt/Unsplash)

Cognoscenti contributor John Less argues his reasons for advocating why children need to play and explore outdoors. For children, the difference between observing creatures in a zoo or aquarium and catching a tadpole or a turtle in a pond is geometric. Feeling a live and wild animal wriggle in one’s palm is a different experience from … Read more