Education and Human Sciences, College of (CEHS)
Date of this Version
Fall 9-2021
Abstract
Progressing urbanization is having an impact on people’s lifestyles. Increasing indoor time results in the deprivation of human’s proximity to nature. Richard Louv (2008) coined the term “nature deficit disorder”, conceptualized the increasing phenomenon of children suffering from anxiety, ADHD, and obesity due to spending less time in nature and more time indoor. There is a growing body of literature focusing on the benefits of nature experience, nature exposure on young children’s physiological and psychological well-beings, such as physical health, attention, executive function, and behavioral regulation etc. This review focuses on the research articles that investigated the influence of nature contact on preschool-aged children.
This review’s overarching question is: what benefits does nature exposure have on preschool-age children?