Stress Busters: Experiencing Nature

Experiencing nature and stress management: Overview

Scientists have found that nature helps calm our bodies down when we are feeling stressed. It can also help you sleep better and get along with friends and family more easily. The power of nature is strong, so let’s take a deeper dive into learning about its benefits.

The benefits of nature

Research has found many benefits to experiencing nature, it can:

• Calm you down. 
• Help you get along with friends and family. 
• Help you focus better in school. 
• Make you feel happier and more confident.   
• Help you sleep better.  
• Help you solve problems.
• Make you more creative.
• Expand your imagination. 

Ways to experience nature

You don’t have to travel too far to experience the power of nature. Here are some quick and easy ways to do so: 

• Taking care of indoor plants. 
• Playing at local parks and playgrounds. 
• Tending to community gardens. 
• Engaging in outdoor advocacy and protection programs like marine mammal centers or wildlife conservation organizations. 
• Visiting State and National Parks.  
• Walking around green spaces around work or school environments. 

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Nature activities for kids

Everyone deserves to enjoy the outdoors, but some people might face barriers to accessing green spaces due to distance, safety concerns, or limited park availability around them. If this is the case, consider smaller ways to incorporate nature into your daily life, such as keeping potted plants indoors or engaging your child in nature activities that don’t require too much work, courtesy of the Children and Nature Network:

Animal Trackers

Ages: 2 to 6 years 

Instructions: Even if you don’t see animals every time you go outside, you can find lots of signs of them. Search for some of these items below. Don’t collect them, but instead, take or draw a picture of the item you found.  

• Bird feathers 
• A leaf with bite marks 
• Animal tracks 
• A hole in a tree 
• A hole in the ground 
• A bird’s nest 
• Flattened grass  
• Insects with wings

Bug Scavenger Hunt

Ages: 2 to 6 years

Instructions:  

• Find an ant and follow it on its journey. Try to find an anthill or another ant home.  
• Look for a ladybug and let it crawl on you. 
• Find a spider web and see if you can find any hint of what the spider has trapped for prey or if you can find the spider itself! 
• Carefully flip over a rock or branch to see what bugs are crawling underneath. Be sure to carefully return it to its original place once you’re done looking!    

Cloud Guessing Game

Ages: 7 to 11 years

Instructions: Find a great cloud-watching spot with friends or family. Spread out a blanket and lie down to look up at the sky. Take turns picking out shapes in the clouds. It’s almost like “I Spy” for clouds. “I spy a dinosaur in the clouds!”  

Create a Bug Home

Ages: 2 to 6 years

Instructions: Go outdoors and gather up sticks, twigs, fallen leaves and other loose objects in nature. You should be able to find items on the ground. Once you have the items, find a safe area where you can pile them all up, maybe under a shrub or in a grouping of trees. Now, wait for the bugs to arrive. Visit your bug home every once in awhile and try not to disturb the bugs inside. Don’t forget to take fun pictures! 

Find Signs of Birds

Ages: 7 to 11 years  

Instructions: Look up, down and all around, and you’ll eventually see a bird or a sign of a bird. Be a bird detective and try to find these specific signs:

• Find a bird’s nest. 
• Look for a woodpecker hole. 
• Look for bird feathers. 
• Look for bird poop. 

Make a Pinecone Bird Feeder

Ages: 2 to 6 years

Instructions: Search for a pinecone and attach a piece of string or wire to your pinecone. Next, smear peanut butter all over the pinecone. Scatter birdseed on a plate or a piece of wax paper. Roll the pinecone in the birdseed. Now hang it up in a tree and wait for the birds to come along to find their treat. 

Star Power

Ages: 7 to 11 years 

Instructions: Spend some time stargazing. Which constellations do you know? Which constellations can other people with you point out? Try to make up a constellation of your own by incorporating a set of stars you see!

Taking Care of the Trails

Ages: 7 to 11 years 

Instructions: When you’re camping or on a hike, you might find trash and debris. Here are ways to keep the trails clean.  

• Clear sticks that are in the way of a path or that could be a trip hazard. Remember to have a grown-up help you with this.  
• Look for garbage along the trails and pick it up. Use a trash bag and gloves. 

Tapping Into Your Senses

Ages: 3 to 6 years

Instructions: Go outside and stand in one spot. Now tap into your five senses!  

• What are five things you can see around you? (For example, the grass underneath me, the big tree in front of me, the bird flying above my head). 
• What are four things you can feel? (For example, the breeze that just went by, the grass tickling my feet). 
• What are three things you can hear? (For example, the birds singing, the dog barking). 
• What are two things you can smell? (For example, the smell of freshly cut grass). 
• What is one thing you can taste? (For example, my lunch that I just ate). 

If you can’t do this outside, no problem! Try standing by a window and observing what you see outside or try standing by an indoor plant and observing the pretty green leaves! 

Tips for parents and caregivers: How to connect children with nature

For some parents and caregivers, most of your childhood was spent playing outside. It was only when the streetlights turned on and it was time for dinner that you would head back inside!

But these days, that is not the case for kids. Instead, there may be more focus on planned activities and screen time. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has found that kids spend about seven hours a day just watching TV, playing video games or using their phones and tablets. Here are some ways to help reduce screen time and connect your child with nature:

• Summertime magic: It might be challenging to find extended periods of time where you can spend outdoors with your child during the school year, but what about non-school times, such as summer or school breaks? Many places offer classes, camps, and special events that focus on nature and incorporate opportunities for outdoor play. Look at your city’s community activities for ideas.  
• Build it into routines: Find times when you can build nature time into your family routine. For example, an evening stroll around the neighborhood before or after dinner or planning a park or beach day once a month. Having a built-in reminder to go outside and get fresh air can make the biggest difference! 
• Outdoor celebrations: Sometimes a small celebratory sprinkle of nature can help change things up. For example, are there holiday gatherings or birthday parties that can be spent at a park? 
• Rain or shine: A little bit of rain or snow shouldn’t stop you from having fun outside! Of course, when the weather is scary or dangerous, it’s best to stay indoors, but when the weather isn’t too bad, then you and your child can put on your boots and splash in puddles or build snow people.   

To read more about tools and resources for connecting with nature as a family, please visit this website. 

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Connecting patients and families to nature: Tips for clinicians

As a trusted medical professional, you’re able to provide guidance to your patients and inspire a change in their behaviors to promote a healthy lifestyle. Yet your time with them is limited, so it is important to rely on resources to help you connect your patients and families to the tools they need, such as ways to spend time outdoors. Here are some resources for you:   

• Park RX: A website that focuses on programs or interventions for encouraging your patients to spend time in nature. This toolkit provides resources such as posters to hang in your clinic and graphics that provide a summary of the health benefits of nature.
• Goal-setting: You can set goals related to nature and tie them to how they help lower stress levels. Examples of goals include:   
  • Taking a family walk around the block (if they feel safe to do so) 
  • Drawing hopscotch or an obstacle course on the pavement with chalk 
  • Going to a local park or playground after school  
  • Checking out their county or local community center  
  • For other resources:  
    • Call 2-1-1 or go to 211.org 
    • Visit: CHOC FindHelp  

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