Nature deficit disorder
Chuck Hall outlines Nature Deficit Disorder in his most recent column, The Culture Artist, citing Richard Louv's book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder. According to Louv, children who are plugged into TV and video games for ever-increasing amounts of time lose their connection to the natural world and do not get a chance to exercise all of their senses, which he claims is necessary to develop properly.
Hall cautions that you don't have to trek to Yosemite to benefit from nature. A park or even your own backyard can more than suffice. Hall speaks about an Ecotherapy exercise that he does with his children in therapy, called 'A Closer Look.' He marks a six-foot diameter circle on the ground and has the children sit in it with a notebook and record what they see for fifteen minutes.
Might be a fun exercise to try, you never know what you'll see!
For more about the benefits of getting kids outside and other ideas to encourage that, please see Dalene's article here.
[Via Children and Nature]
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