Jeanne Panek
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  • Engaging Kids With Nature
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Has your kid had their dose of Vitamin N today?

Kids need time in Nature to develop into healthy and happy people, but today's kids are increasingly indoors. Fewer swing from branches, catch butterflies, or splash in streams. Richard Louv first coined the phrase "Nature Deficit Disorder" or a lack of "Vitamin N". Now, overwhelming evidence shows that not just kids, but all humans benefit from time in Nature.

As an ecologist and wilderness explorer, I know that the future of our wilderness areas depends on connecting kids with Nature. Children who value Nature will make decisions to protect wild lands when they're tomorrow's leaders.

Talk about a win-win! Kids need Nature and Nature needs kids, creating a synergy in bringing kids and Nature together. This is why I write. And this is why I develop nature field programs for under-served urban kids.

The global initiative to connect kids with nature: some links...

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Media attention


Living near forests leads to healthier brains - Max Planck Inst.

Why You Need More Dirt in Your Life

Forest Bathing: a Retreat to Nature Can Boost Immunity and Mood

Seven Cities Activate Strategies to Connect Kids with Nature

Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier and More Creative

REI's Force of Nature wants to change the game for girls outdoors


The #OptOutside Sales Pitch: Go Outdoors on Black Friday
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Actions and Initiatives


Youth in Yosemite Program

Take a Child Outside Week


Every Kid Outdoors Act: Bipartisan Federal Legislation Giving Fourth Graders Free Entrance to National Parks

#OptOutside

Seven Cities Initiative to Connect Kids with Nature: CCCN


REI's Force of Nature


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Websites


Richard Louv: Children and Nature Movement

 Florence Williams: The Nature Fix 

Children and Nature Network

Yosemite Conservancy - Youth Programs

Outdoor Alliance for Kids


REI Force of Nature

National Wildlife Federation Kids and Family

National Geographic for Kids

Kids Healthy Outdoor Challenge - East Bay Regional Parks

Kids are Powerful Changemakers


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Richard Louv. 2005, 2008. 
Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from Nature-deficit disorder. Algonquin Books.






Florence Williams. 2017.
The Nature Fix. Why Nature makes us healthier, happier and more creative. WW Norton.
“A beautifully written, thoroughly enjoyable exposition of a major principle of human life now supported by evidence in biology, psychology, and medicine.” —Edward O. Wilson

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