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Wildrock Lures Kids Away From Screens to Healthy Outdoor Play

Wildrock

The Kaiser Family Foundation says on average kids between the ages of 8 and 18 spend more than seven hours a day staring at a screen. That’s often at the expense of playing outside. 

Here in Virginia, one group hopes to lure children back to the fields, woods and streams.

On a sunny weekday morning, dozens of kids from Mary Greer Elementary are out on a trail behind the school – stopping at a series of activity stations.  The first is a woodmakers’ workshop, littered with blocks and twigs and simple tools.

"They get to just build and be very creative with it," says  Wendy Eckerle, the assistant principal at Greer. 

“They have built little slides and boats and cars and you can just see the smiles and the excitement.”

The next stop features large metal bowls, wooden spoons, acorns and other forest foods along with a collection of stuffed animals.

“This is Nature’s Kitchen," says psychologist Carolyn Schuyler as she welcomes kids to a clearing  in the woods.  "You may notice there are many, many hungry little animals.  They’re very friendly and would love your help to have a meal.  Do you think you could make them some meals?" she asks.

Credit Wildrock

"Yeah!" shout a group of five-year-olds.

" Wonderful!" Schuyler replies.  "Find a bowl, and let’s stir some food up!”

The tour of backyard terrain was organized by Wildrock – a non-profit founded by  Schuyler.

“We just often forget that it’s these simple things in free play that enriches childhood, " she explains. "We don’t always have to do expensive programs or go to expensive places.”

She says playing outside relieves stress and fatigue while promoting creativity and healthy brain development. 

Credit Wildrock

“I have been a psychotherapist for most of my career, and I have noticed that nature provides  restorative benefits for mental health, and I’ve been really concerned about this generation not getting the healthy experiences in nature that’s foundational for healthy child development,” Schuyler says.

So Wildrock bought land in the foothills of the Blue Ridge and invited schools to make field trips to the site 21 miles northwest of Charlottesville.  It’s is divided into twelve play zones with a hobbit house, a cozy cottage, stage, tunnel, labyrinth, wading stream, walking trail and angler’s pier.

“Children usually come for two and a half hours, so they have a chance to really allow themselves to get into an imaginative world -- to be able to roam and discover for themselves what it’s like to stand in a mountain stream, what it’s like to stand on a big boulder and get a mountain view," Schuyler continues.  "We want children that are spending a lot of time on screens and that don’t have many experiences in nature to find out that nature is for them and it does provide a lot of joy and it does make us feel better.”

And they created an outreach program for city schools – organizing two-day workshops at places like Greer to help children overcome their fears of outdoor play. 

“Just yesterday we had some children that were hanging back, didn’t really want to walk into the play areas, because they were afraid," Schuyler recalls.  "That’s really a learning opportunity, because we have a chance to be with that child and ask what it is that they are afraid of.”

Some fear getting dirty or encountering bugs, bears or snakes, and the program does take real threats seriously.

“Ticks are everywhere, even in urban settings, so we use the opportunity to tell people about the importance of tick checks, and there are some really good protections that are out now, so if you use them you can feel pretty confident going out into the woods.”

Community Outreach Director Paige Lindblom tells the kids that snakes and bears are more afraid of people than we are of them, and other forest creatures need our protection.

“If you find a small frog or lizard, can you tell Miss Paige, because we’ve been finding frogs and lizards all morning, and I need to make sure they stay safe.  Can you help me make sure they stay safe?  Yeah!  Okay, are you ready to go?  Yeah!

The program has been running for more than two years – providing outdoor opportunities to more than 17,000 kids, and it hopes to become a model for outdoor education nationwide.  In addition to school groups, it’s often open to the public.  

Sandy Hausman is Radio IQ's Charlottesville Bureau Chief