Is Childhood Outdoors a Lost Art?

How nature-based OTs and outdoor educators are bringing it back

Do you think this a public health crisis?

Kids are spending far less time outside than previous generations. Unstructured outdoor play that includes the messy, risky, creative, dirt-under-the-fingernails kind of play has been steadily eroded by screens, structured schedules, safety worries, and shrinking access to natural spaces. The result? Fewer tree climbs, fewer scraped knees, and fewer afternoons spent inventing games in the backyard.

The scale of the change is striking. Recent reviews and reports estimate that children today may get only 4–7 minutes per day of unstructured outdoor play. This is far lower than past generations. Multiple analyses show large declines (roughly 35–50% less free outdoor play compared to earlier generations). NRPAAg & Natural Resources College

Why this matters: what the research shows

Science is increasingly clear that time in nature helps children’s brains and bodies in measurable ways:

• Attention and cognitive function. Short walks or time spent in green, natural settings improve directed attention and working memory in both typical children and children with ADHD. Studies show cognitive gains after nature exposure compared with urban settings. PubMed+1

• Mental health and behavior. Greater access to green spaces and outdoor play is associated with reduced stress, fewer depressive symptoms, and better overall emotional wellbeing in children and adolescents. Systematic reviews link green space exposure to healthier behavior and mental outcomes. PMCScienceDirect

• Physical activity and motor development. Outdoor play naturally promotes gross motor skills, balance, spatial awareness, and cardiovascular activity. These are essentials for healthy development that structured indoor play and screens rarely deliver. (See summarized public health and park associations for prevalence and associations.) NRPA

Put simply: nature is not just “nice to have.” It’s a therapeutic environment that supports attention, regulation, social play, physical development, and emotional resilience.

Is outdoor childhood a “lost art”? Some of the reasons it’s faded

Several cultural and environmental shifts explain the decline:

• Rising screen time and sedentary entertainment options.

• Increased parental safety concerns and decreased independent neighborhood play.

• Urbanization and loss of nearby natural play spaces.

More structured, adult-led activities replacing free play.

These forces combined have changed what childhood looks like for many families. The good news is that they are not irreversible.

How nature-based occupational therapists and outdoor educators are aligned to bring it back

Nature-based OTs, outdoor educators, forest school teachers, and community nature programs share a common mission: to return the child to an embodied, exploratory, and developmentally rich relationship with the outdoors. Here’s how we can contribute and how we work together effectively:

1. Therapeutic framing of play. OTs use purposeful, skill-targeted play to improve sensory processing, motor coordination, executive function, and self-regulation, all of which map beautifully onto natural activities like climbing, carrying, digging, and balancing.

2. Education for caregivers and schools. Nature educators provide curriculum, evidence, and practical strategies so families and schools feel confident letting kids play outside safely and intentionally.

3. Designing “just-right” outdoor challenges. OTs can scaffold risk and challenge in ways that grow confidence and competence while keeping safety in mind from managed tree-climbing to loose-part play and sensory trails.

4. Co-learning and interdisciplinary programs. Joint programs that pair an OT’s developmental goals with an outdoor educator’s play-based pedagogy create powerful, transferable gains (e.g., improved attention, communication, and self-regulation in real-world settings).

5. Advocacy and community-building. Both groups can push for school recess, outdoor classrooms, greener urban planning, and community nature-preservation, systems-level changes that make outdoor childhood possible for more kids.

Practical ways to revive outdoor childhood (for therapists, teachers, and families)

Here are evidence-aligned, actionable ideas you can use or share today:

• Start small, daily, and unstructured. Aim for short daily doses of free outdoor play. Even 20 minutes of unstructured outdoor play is better than none. (Make it easy: shoes by the door, a bucket of props, a “nature play” basket.) NRPA

• Use nature for targeted goals. Turn therapeutic goals into outdoor occupations: carrying buckets to build endurance; balancing on logs for vestibular input; foraging or sorting for fine-motor and cognitive practice.

• Partner across disciplines. OTs and outdoor educators can co-design sessions, OT sets the goals, educator curates the environment, both coach caregivers.

• Advocate for school-based outdoor time. Support school recess, outdoor learning initiatives, and nature-based field trips. Evidence shows outdoor learning supports engagement and outcomes. Verywell Mind

• Teach “managed risk.” Help caregivers distinguish between healthy risk that builds competence and hazardous situations to avoid. Encouraging controlled challenge is central to resilient development. I call this creating environments that are safe as they have to be versus as safe as they can be.

• Measure and share wins. Track improvements in attention, sleep, mood, and motor skills to demonstrate outcomes to families and funders.

A role for every setting

Whether you run a nature-based private practice, teach in a forest school, lead summer camps, or are a classroom teacher, you have a role to play. Re-introducing children to nature is not about reverting to the past — it’s about blending modern safety and inclusivity with the evolutionary benefits of outdoor, unstructured play.

Closing: a practical, hopeful path forward

Childhood outdoors isn’t irretrievably lost — it’s simply been deprioritized. With a growing evidence base showing cognitive, emotional, and physical benefits of nature exposure, there’s a strong case for bringing outdoor childhood back into everyday life. Nature-based OTs and outdoor educators are uniquely positioned to lead this revival by translating research into playful, accessible opportunities for children and their caregivers.

Curious:

Are there any OT practitioners partnering with forest schools, outdoor or environmental education organizations? I would love to partner with a forest school or nature based educational organization to support community based inclusion of all children. I have even thought how cool it could be to offer OT services to a forest school!

Thanks again for reading this blog!

See you down the road,

Lisa 🌲