Reconnecting with Nature

Summers once meant endless adventures until the streetlights came on, not your phone lighting up with notifications. Watching that shift unfold in my own home, I knew I had to act fast before their childhood faded into a blur of selfies and scrolling. 

As tech sped ahead, becoming smarter, faster, and increasingly aimed at teens without proper safeguards, I realized that our connection to the outdoors was not gone, it was just buried under algorithms and distractions. Reclaiming it would require intention. 

“The only force more powerful than the pull of the screen is the pull of nature.”

When my children were small, stepping outside felt like opening a treasure chest. My son, barely two, would toddle toward his favourite tree like an old friend. My daughter examined every pebble and leaf as if discovering a new world. Their wonder inspired me to write children’s books about nature and launch a children’s environmental charity. We planted trees across Canada, and even in Zambia and Kenya. Those early years grounded my belief that every child deserves meaningful outdoor experiences. 

As my kids grew older, screens and social media crept in, turning simple outings into negotiations. Devices engineered for instant gratification and hyper-personalized content made getting them outside harder than ever. Tools meant to cure boredom and loneliness often created both. While helping families reconnect with nature, I struggled to pull my own teens away from their screens. I kept hoping that if I could get them out the door, nature would do the rest. 

North American children now spend only four to seven minutes a day in unstructured outdoor play, a dramatic decline from previous generations. That number drops even further in the teen years. Early exposure to social media teaches children to value every other voice more than their own, turning identity into something crowdsourced rather than lived. 

Children are also losing boredom, and boredom is where imagination, resilience, and identity grow. This is both heartbreaking and urgent. By delaying social media, limiting screen time, and replacing it with outdoor experiences when children are younger, we can begin to restore what has been lost. 

BRINGING NATURE TO YOU

Childhood used to happen outdoors. It still can, but it requires meeting kids where they are. Get out there. Reconnecting with nature means building new paths forward together by keeping activities age-appropriate, fun, and not too long. The magic is not in the activity; it’s in the connection.

ENGAGING YOUR SENSES 

Try sensory-rich, age-appropriate, fun activities like: 

• A picnic on the lawn 

• Fly-fishing lessons 

• Exploring a forest trail by hiking or biking 

• Joining a stream cleanup 

• Creating leaf art 

• Planting a tree together 

“Let’s give children opportunities to fall in love with nature, because you protect what you love.”—Andrea Koehle Jones, Founder, The ChariTree Foundation 

WELLNESS BENEFITS 

Research shows that children thrive physically, mentally, emotionally, and academically when they spend time outdoors. Nature lowers stress and anxiety while boosting creativity, resilience, confidence, and physical health. Simply put, kids do best outside. 

Outdoor experiences also help young people become capable climate leaders. Hands-on activities like tree planting build agency at a time when more than one billion children worldwide face extreme climate risks.

THE REWILD NATURE SCREENSAVER CHALLENGE 

If kids resist leaving their phones behind, start small. Use phones only to capture a favourite nature moment along the way. 

The moment you take the photo, your breathing slows, and your body relaxes. Set the image as your screensaver as a nudge toward the next adventure.