Silver Oaks children are among the lucky few these days who have access to their own small wilderness, and plenty of time to explore it. While teachers and parents supervise from a discrete distance, kids can enjoy interacting with each other, and with the natural world, free from the constraints of adult life.
“In 2011, UNICEF asked children what they needed to be happy and the top things were time (particularly with families), friendships and, yearningly, ‘outdoors.’ Studies show that when children are allowed unstructured play in nature, their sense of freedom, independence, and inner strength all thrive, and children surrounded by nature are not only less stressed but also bounce back from stressful events more readily. But there has been a steady reduction in available open spaces for children to play. In the USA, the home turf of children shrank by ninety per cent beween 1970 and 1990.”
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Woodland Playground
The Nearby Creek
“Outdoors, we could do what we liked. Throwing sticky seeds at each other, gurgling water or chucking it all over someone. Outdoors was a commons of space and a commons of time, the undivided hours until dark. Outdoors could comprehend all our moods: thoughtful, playful, withdrawn or rampaging. Outdoors was the place for voices other than human.”
A New Friend