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Barely a week passes without another study declaring that being in and with nature is good for our well-being. Yet increases in mental health disorders, childhood obesity and cuts to children’s services seem to speak of an unwillingness to help children engage meaningfully with the natural world. Schools and settings are ideally placed to correct this imbalance – if, as a sector, we embrace a different approach to outdoor play and learning.
Providing natural elements can seem an insurmountable challenge in UK settings, where types of building vary and space is often tight. However, it is possible, and there is much that we can learn from Japanese provision.
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