We can do this!

It is probably fair to say that none of us have been in a situation as weird as this. Schools are about to close, we are told we cannot see friends and family, many of us are working from home or have just lost their work. Anxiety levels for all of us have been high this last week.

For us here at Into Nature, the antidote to stress is getting outside. There has been oodles of research to prove that being outdoors is great for our physical health (e.g. lowered blood pressure, increased Vitamin D which is vital for our immune system, increased physical activity) but also for our mental wellbeing (e.g. increased confidence and self-esteem, better mood, focus and creativity, reduction of stress-inducing cortisol).

For children, being outdoors gives a plethora of learning opportunities that no indoor environment could ever replicate – from walking on uneven ground and climbing on trees to finding little creatures and building dens. In short – if you are looking to do something good for yourself as well as your children in these next coming weeks (and beyond!), now is the time to head outside and enjoy everything that Mother Nature has in store for us.

We plan to bring you daily snippets about nature connection activities, games, information on the plants and animals you might encounter at this time of year, foraging ideas as well as projects you can do in your own garden. We aim for this to be a collaboration with other local Forest School practitioners and experts in other fields in order to tap into our communal treasure chest of ideas. If you have any tried and tested ideas you would like to share, please let us know!

Equally, if you have done any of the activities, we would love to see it! Please do connect with us by leaving comments here and/or on our Facebook or Instagram pages. Let this be a virtual community where we support each other!

We start off with an activity for all ages: finding colours in nature in the next post.

Lots of love, Carrie and Britta