Jul 5
Big idea comes to life at Hughes High School
Big ideas and big support can create big change for schools. Starting with the initial vision of a single teacher and bolstered by a donation from the YMCA, Hughes High School and the McMillan Community Garden have developed a successful outdoor learning center. The garden provides hands-on learning opportunities ranging from STEM offerings to sustainability and nutrition. Science classes, intercessions, Career Tech Pathways, after-school clubs and summer programs have all taken advantage of the space, which has grown continuously since its inception. It is currently outfitted with 21 community plots, 5 contour beds, over a dozen fruit trees, a compost…
Apr 20
Green Schoolyard Success Contest Winners
Last month, the Leave No Child Inside Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati held a contest to collect success stories about how local schools are using their outdoor environments as a teaching tool. Entries ranged from school gardens to field studies to playscapes, but all were amazing examples of the effective use of outdoor spaces. Using criteria such as student involvement, enthusiasm and variety of learning opportunities, we have selected two winners: the Academy of Multilingual Immersion Studies (AMIS), a Cincinnati Public Schools magnet school located near Roselawn, and Cincinnati Country Day School in Indian Hill. AMIS has embraced the garden beds…
Aug 14
About our new look!
You may have noticed that we have a new brand! Our new logo has a more sophisticated look to communicate the importance of our message. Although we loved the playfulness of the original logo, our mission is a serious one that affects the health and well-being of today's children. In addition to the physical benefits, we now know that spending time in nature is beneficial for children's mental health. With pediatricians reporting stress levels in children at shockingly high rates, it's important for everyone who influences the ability of children to access nature to know that spending time in nature…
Aug 7
Evanston gets new “nature in the neighborhood”!
Every child deserves to play, learn and grow with nature in their everyday lives, and now the children of Evanston will be able to do just that at the new naturescape at the Evanston Recreation Center (ERC). Conceived nearly three years ago when Leave No Child Inside partnered with the Evanston Community Council to request that the City of Cincinnati purchase a vacant lot adjacent to the ERC for a new natural play area, the idea was embraced by the Cincinnati Recreation Commission as an ideal way to honor the memory of Wayne Lurix, a…
Aug 7
Great news in the movement to reconnect children with nature
The Children & Nature Network (C&NN) just released its impressive 2016 Annual Report on the progress that has been made in its ten years of building a movement to reconnect children with nature. C&NN was founded in response to a call to action from Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Published in 2005, the book brought attention to the fact that today’s children spend less time in nature than any generation in human history, and it is having a negative impact on their physical, mental, emotional health. The book also…
Dec 14
Raise awareness at your school or office
The Children & Nature Network infographics are great tools to inform people about why it is so important for today's children experience the natural world in their everyday lives. Developed in partnership with the National League of Cities' Institute for Youth, Education & Families, the latest infographic "Nature Can Improve Health and Wellbeing" would make a great poster for your school or office. You can download it here - it's free!
Sep 20
New!!! Infographics Available
As more and more research emerges confirming the value of spending time outdoors, it’s become a challenge to share the multitude of benefits in the sound-bites that we 21st century humans expect. Newly published infographics do just that! The Children & Nature Network put together a team of nationally recognized experts to vet research on the topic for its new Green Schoolyards for Healthy Communities report and condensed that information in to a series of four infographics on Mental Health, Physical Activity, Value of Play and Academic Performance. These great communication pieces are also available for download in poster size. Wouldn’t…
Apr 15
Vitamin N!
Richard Louv's new book, Vitamin N, sheds even more light on just how important nature is for our health and well-being, and that of our communities. NPR's Diane Rehm recently interviewed Louv, along with Jonathan Jarvis, Director of the National Park Service, and Robert Zarr, MD. Together, they make a compelling case for spending more time in nature, and discuss what is being done nationally to create nearby nature in our increasingly urban world. Click on the link to tune in - it is well worth the time! But be forewarned - it may inspire you to pick up a copy of Vitamin…
Apr 14
Nature-Based Education Growing
Green schoolyards provide a sensory-rich environment for learning which is shown to help students focus their attention and increase their engagement, while providing a myriad of physical and mental health benefits. Two recent news stories highlight nature-based learning: The Cincinnati Enquirer reported on a Forest Kindergarten in Yellow Springs, Ohio and the CBS Morning Show featured author Richard Louv at the Chattahoochee Charter School, a nature-based school where test scores are exceeding both the national and regional averages. Leave No Child Inside is working with local schools to encourage outdoor learning and we look forward to announcing progress on that front in the coming months! In…
Jan 28
2014 Progress Report
We are proud to begin the year with a report on our progress in 2014. We invite you to read the full report to learn about our work, including: - Pathways to Health: Leave No Child Inside’s first pilot project, launched in partnership with the Evanston Community Council and Safe Routes to School. The project was inspired by the words of New Urbanist Gil Penalosa, who said “Children are an indicator species. If we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for all people”. This innovative project is designed to spark neighborhood-wide physical activity…
