RECREATING DREAMS http://www.dentonrc.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20150212-recreating-dreams2.ece Kids and adults work on envisioning new place to play This week Denton kids helped the grown-ups design a new playground for South Lakes Park. They brainstormed in small groups and drew pictures. They offered classic suggestions for playground play, such as swings and monkey bars. Their ideas showed they understood the…

I love this article. And its headline. That technology we’ve been waiting for, that’s going to save the world? It’s here! But wait, it’s TREES. To read it on Bloomberg, click here… or just scroll to stay and read it here by Louise Downing (Bloomberg) — Oxford University scientists, after a year of research, have determined the best technology to suck…

Click here to read the article on wildearth.org By Andrew McMartin, Executive Director at the p.i.n.e. project in Toronto, ON “It seems like an obvious statement, so why don’t kids play outside in challenging weather nearly as much as they used to? Why are schools keeping kids inside at recess when the temperature gets too…

So these two articles really got me thinking. 1. Because stickers are awesome. And this art project, Yayoi Kusama’s “Obliteration Room,” an installation at the Queensland Museum of Modern Art, just goes to show you what a bunch of kids with a BUNCH of stickers can do to add color to a white room! 2. Colorful graphics make this…

Read the original article @ NPR by ERIC WESTERVELT Courtesy of Bing Nursery School “Our “Tools of the Trade” series is taking a look at some of the iconic objects that form a vital part of our educational lives. For an upcoming piece, I’m reporting on how young children learn through that most basic of preschool education tools:…

Parents investigated for neglect after letting kids walk home alone By Donna St. George January 14, 2015 It was a one-mile walk home from a Silver Spring park on Georgia Avenue on a Saturday afternoon. But what the parents saw as a moment of independence for their 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter, they say authorities…

The Richland, WA, school district is phasing out swings on its playgrounds. As the district’s spokesman recently told KEPR TV: “It’s just really a safety issue. Swings have been determined to be the most unsafe of all the playground equipment on a playground.” Ah yes, those dangling doom machines. All they sow is death and…

EDUCATION Program takes school gardening to new level: entrepreneurship I Jill Tucker

Read the original post from NYC’s Center for Active Design here. http://centerforactivedesign.org/parksandequity How Parks Support More Active and Equitable Communities “The concept of biophilia suggests that humans have an innate, instinctive bond with the natural world, such as trees, wildlife, parks, and gardens. Recent studies reinforce this notion, showing that natural environments are making direct contributions…

View SCAPE’s video of the project here Impact Design Hub’s Press Release: 2014 Fuller Challenge Winner Announced The Buckminster Fuller Institute has announced SCAPE‘s climate change adaptation and community development project ‘Living Breakwaters‘ as the winner of the 2014 Fuller Challenge. Living up to Fuller’s work as a ‘comprehensive anticipatory design scientist,’ the winning project aims…

Brains at Play “This week at NPR Ed, our series Playing To Learn will explore questions about why people play and how play relates to learning. Why do we humans like to play so much? Play sports, play tag, play the stock market, play duck, duck, goose? We love it all. And we’re not the…

“If you walk past Daniel Radcliffe’s Harry Potter robe, ride the elevator up four floors, above the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz and a family of four visiting from Cincinnati, Ohio, you’ll find yourself in a long hallway that vaguely resembles a hospital walkway. The fourth floor of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of…

Warning signs When a college freshman received a C- on her first test, she literally had a meltdown in class. Sobbing, she texted her mother who called back, demanding to talk to the professor immediately (he, of course, declined). Another mother accompanied her child on a job interview, then wondered why he didn’t get the…

“We are trying to figure out precisely what types of nature provide the most health benefits,” said William Sullivan, ASLA, a landscape architecture professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, at the Environmental Design Research Assocation (EDRA) conference in New Orleans. The eventual goal is to be able to prescribe doses of nature, or specific…

“Nature Play and Learning Places Creating and managing places where children engage with nature National Guidelines to bring nature play and learning to every community. For those who create, manage, or promote the development of nature in the everyday environments of children, youth, and families, especially in urban/suburban communities. Release date: September 9, 2014 Download…

Scientists analyzing data from a map of connections inside the human brain have gained new insights into the development of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Past images of brain structures showed that the brains of people with ADHD mature later than those of people without the condition. Now researchers making use of data collected as part…

Visit the conference homepage here. About the Conference “From Stockholm’s Piano Staircase to Bogota’s traffic mimes, a global movement of unusual city interventions is taking shape, using playfulness to connect people to each other and the places they live and work. We call it Playable City. On 10 and 11 September 2014, we are bringing together…

“During the past year in Bristol you could have plunged down a 300ft water slide on one of the city’s main shopping streets, had a text messageconversation with a lamppost, let your children play outside during a temporary street closure, or played a zombie chase game around the city centre. All good fun, you might…

“The Maker Movement has inspired progressive educators to bring more hands-on learning and tinkering into classrooms, and educator Gary Stager would like to see formal schooling be influenced by the Maker Movement, which has inspired young learners to tinker, to learn by doing, and take agency for their learning. One way teachers can incorporate the…

“One of the best ways for frustrated parents, students and teachers to convince school leaders that it’s time for a reboot is with amazing student work. An unconventional learning community of “makers” — people who like to figure out and fix problems with their hands — stands ready to demonstrate a hands-on learning style in which…

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It’s time we gave our children permission to get outside and get dirty People who spend more time outdoors as kids are the ones who have a stronger interest in protecting the planet

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/07/14/327338918/to-make-children-healthier-a-doctor-prescribes-a-trip-to-the-park?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20140714

  Above all, do not lose your desire to walk; every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it… but by sitting still, and the…