Outdoor Spaces That Support Thinking

01/22/2021

Outdoor Spaces That Support Thinking

It is the marriage of the soul with Nature that makes the intellect fruitful, and gives birth to imagination.
Henry David Thoreau

The latest Exchange Reflections, co-branded with Nature Explore, invites readers to explore how outdoor spaces can be created or adapted to support children’s thinking and positive behavior.

Landscape architect Jim Wike, whose article forms the basis of the Reflections, writes: "I hope educators and designers alike are looking at both indoor and outdoor spaces as equally valuable learning laboratories…as fertile ground for children’s imaginations, wonderings, ponderings, and experimentation – as places for them to explore their own inborn brilliance."

Wike makes the point that "often adults become seduced by the look of a space and forget to ask what benefits it provides for children." The Exchange Reflections, which also includes a supplemental article by John Rosenow, encourages educators to use some of Wike’s provocative questions to consider how changes in outdoor space could positively affect both children’s behavior and their creative thinking and whole-child development.

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