Family nature clubs toolkit

The purpose of this Family Nature Clubs Tool Kit is to provide inspiration, information, tips and resources for those who are – or who might be – interested in creating a Family Nature Club. In creating the tool kit, we’ve drawn on what many other families have done and learned. We also encourage you to develop and use your own ideas.

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Families are discovering that having fun outdoors doesn’t require waiting for a special event or program. Instead, they are taking the initiative and creating their own Family Nature Clubs. These groups go by different names and take slightly different forms, but they all offer accessible, easy, low (or no) cost fun, family-orientated activities outdoors.

Why get families outdoors?

Quite simply, nature is good for us. Evidence shows that it is important, healthy and fun for children to have frequent and varied opportunities for play outdoors – and especially outdoors with natural vegetation – as a part of their everyday lives.

When they do, they are happier, healthier and smarter. They are more self-disciplined and focused. They are more self-confident, creative and cooperative. They are better problem solvers, more optimistic and more physically fit. Family ties are strengthened, a sense of community is nourished and a sense of place is cultivated.

The natural environment provides not just a restorative and relaxing setting but gives children, in particular, a boundless reservoir to explore, discover and imagine and to stimulate all their senses. Children appreciate unmanicured places and the adventure and mystery of hiding places, which are found in abundance in natural areas, and playing in a natural environment results in a greater awareness of the world around them. Exposure to nature may also reduce the symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and improve children’s cognitive abilities and resistance to potentially harmful stressors and depression (Louv 2005).

Nature is good for children and their friends and family too!

Family Nature Clubs are a great way to get started, get involved and get the benefits of time in nature. Nature is all around us. It abounds in rural settings and bushland, but it’s even available where we may least expect to find it – from backyards, city neighbourhoods and rooftop gardens, to suburban parks and walking trails.

The good news is that there are lots of ways to connect with nature – and to create lifestyles in which frequent experience in the natural world is a fundamental part of children’s lives. The Family Nature Clubs Tool Kit has been developed by Nature Play WA, the Department of Sport and Recreation (DSR) and the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) using the best available research, common sense and parents’ direct experiences. We hope it inspires you to get your own family and friends outdoors for many happy, healthy adventures together.

What is a Family Nature Club?

A Family Nature Club is a group of people with an interest in connecting children with nature. Each Family Nature Club is unique.
Some meet weekly at the same local park – playing, building friendships and singing with pre-schoolers and their parents. Some take homeschooling families on lengthy walks for focused nature study. Some take the form of boisterous bush walks that combine kid-driven play with spontaneous nature observation.

Whatever their form, all share these basic goals: Get outside in nature on a frequent basis; gather families to share outdoor adventures; and experience the benefits of time spent together outside.

A few key benefits:

• Recent scientific evidence indicates direct exposure to nature is essential for physical and emotional health as well as normal child development.
• Family Nature Clubs for families can be created in any neighbourhood, whether inner city, suburban or rural.           
  The Family Nature Clubs approach can break down key barriers, including fear of strangers, since there is safety in numbers.
• Motivation factor – it’s much more likely you and your family are going to show up at a park on Saturday morning if you know that there’s another family waiting for you.
• Shared knowledge – many parents want to give their kids the gift of nature, but they don’t feel they know enough about nature to do so.
• And, importantly, there is no need to wait for funding. Families can do this themselves and do it now.