First, the issue:
Experts in child development warn us about children spending less and less time outdoors. They are mostly sat down in front of screens, whether it’s TV, laptop, tablet or phone. There is lots of evidence about spontaneous outdoor play being crucial to a child’s development. Playing freely outside fosters early development and increases overall happiness, and nature provides an ideal place for bonding with their parents. Furthermore, studies show that children who grow up spending time in nature are more aware or their surroundings and more interested in preserving and protecting the environment, and are also less likely to develop various psychiatric disorders as adults.
The time spent in nature is therefore the best counterweight to the pitfalls of a modern lifestyle, and simultaneously, an excellent assistant to the child’s health and immune system, emotional and social development, and is overall beneficial to their quality of life and childhood.
Then, the solution:
Habit changing creative research packs!
The package contains a story leading the child to the world of spontaneous play through imagination, and accessories provide both guided and free play that can last for hours. By equipping them with it, I would supply the parents with a product/service greatly benefiting their child.
Creative research pack content: interesting, informative and playfully designed.
Materials environmentally friendly. Widgets for continuous use. All to motivate children to happily go out into nature, and to provide outdoor activity ideas for parents that are, among previously mentioned, designed to help reduce the risk of obesity, anxiety disorders and reduced concentration in children, and to improve the child’s social skills, focus and attention span.
Activities in the Creative research pack: designed for families to spend quality time together.
Children will have fun, learn, get to know the local environment, plants and wildlife, and become aware of how important it is to take care of nature. In kindergartens and schools, the pack can be used to induce the sense of importance of sustainability. It’s an innovative approach to learning through play, specifically adapted to children’s needs and, most importantly, their interests and abilities.
Meta Vodnjov, Mali pustolovci says: To sum up, my product aims to promote:
Sustainability and environmental awareness
The entire package and its contents are sustainable: all materials carefully selected – cardboard packaging, accessories mostly made of wood, plastic materials greatly avoided. High-quality materials allow the product not only to be non-toxic but to last longer, too!
Healthy physical, emotional and social development
High-quality materials don’t mean much without high-quality content. The positive influences on the child’s development can be detected long-term as them being more social, healthy, environmentally friendly, locally oriented, outgoing and outdoorsy.
Raising awareness in the local community
A charitable action to educate on this social challenge: next Children’s Day, I will hold workshops/events for local families teaching them the importance of spending quality and educational time in nature with our high-quality sustainable accessories being the key.
Possible change in policies and regulations
Schools in Slovenia follow a relatively rigid and outdated curriculum that does not allow for much time to be spent outdoors and/or for the school day to be modified based on children’s needs and interests. One of my goals is to, at least, influence the primary stage of our school system to follow a more nature-oriented, playfully organized and less restrictive curriculums. Lots of countries have already taken the first steps towards it, and the results are great!
Author: Kovačnica
