Generation Wild, a movement from Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) that works to connect kids with the outdoors, today launched ‘Take Your Brain Out,’ an initiative aimed at offsetting the effects caused by screens on kids’ brains. In a screen-saturated world – the average child spends more than seven hours a day on a screen and less than 10 minutes outdoors per day – Generation Wild wants Colorado parents to know that time outside is not only beneficial but essential to supporting the development of a child’s brain. Generation Wild has partnered with top health experts to help Colorado parents understand the science behind these benefits.
“Parents today worry about screens co-opting their kids’ focus, attention, and joy, but here’s a game-changer: just carve out time for outdoor play, and nature will help reset those developing brains,” said GOCO Executive Director Jackie Miller. "Take Your Brain Out is a fun reminder of the great things that happen when we spend time outdoors, and Generation Wild provides plenty of tips and inspiration to make more time outside fun and easy.”
For a decade, Generation Wild has provided ideas for parents to get their kids outdoors, as seen with Say Hi with a Snowman, Wilderflowers®, World's Longest Hopscotch, and its popular 100 Things to Do List. This year Generation Wild has partnered with health experts Dr. Pooja Tandon, a pediatrician, mom, and the Health Director at Trust for Public Land, and Dr. Joel Stoddard, a father, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Children’s Hospital Colorado, to educate Colorado’s parents on why it's essential to carve out time for outdoor play.
“Time spent in nature is restorative for the brain, helps with emotional regulation, improves mental and physical health, reduces symptoms of ADHD, and can have benefits for sleep and memory,” said Dr. Tandon. “As a pediatrician and a mom, I like to prescribe green time as a strategy to decrease screen time. Because when kids and families spend time outdoors, we see real gains in physical health, mental well-being, and overall happiness.”
According to Dr. Tandon, spending time outdoors as a family also builds relational health. She encourages families to look for simple, flexible ways to incorporate outdoor time into daily routines. Family activity ideas from Generation Wild’s 100 Things to Do List include going on a picnic, sleeping under the stars, dancing in the rain, and exploring a state park.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and May 7 is Children’s Mental Health Day, making the mission of ‘Take Your Brain Out’’ especially relevant. Spending a lot of time on screens has been linked to challenges with emotion regulation and social interaction in kids, leading to poor mental health. Outdoor physical activity can support communication, cooperation, and peer bonding, and just 20 minutes in nature has been shown to lower stress hormones and calm brain activity.
Through his work at Children’s Hospital Colorado, Dr. Stoddard sees first-hand the emotional effects screens directly have on kids. The concern is not only the addictiveness and emotional regulation, but also that screentime takes away from important developmental activities such as relationship building, learning social cues and facing tough situations. When kids spend time outdoors, they are able to engage with their peers, strengthen bonds, and practice cooperation and communication skills.
Dr. Stoddard recognizes that when parents are under significant stress from work and busy schedules, screens sometimes become a default. Colorado is a place that invests in creating public outdoor spaces, and Generation Wild has outlined several ways for parents to get their kids off the couch and out the back door.
"The wonderful thing about kids being resilient is that there are lots of positive activities that kids can engage in and adopt, including spending time outdoors," said Dr. Stoddard. "If parents can find a community, find an activity, or simply find the energy to make small steps to get their kids outside, I believe that they will be on the right track."
Several other studies conducted have found direct benefits from spending time outdoors:
- Natural daylight supports circadian rhythms (the body’s internal 24-hour clock), helping regulate sleep timing and improve sleep quality
- The outdoors protects developing eyes; natural environments help restore directed attention and improve memory performance
- A simple 20-minute walk in a park can improve attention in children with ADHD and help all brains gain focus
A full list of facts, findings and figures on the benefits of spending time in nature can be found on GenerationWild.com.
Generation Wild’s ‘Take Your Brain Out’ effort is being promoted through its 15 Generation Wild Communities across the state. These GOCO-funded communities are home to coalitions of organizations that create locally-designed outdoor programs for kids and families.
Upcoming Wilder Sightings
The Generation Wild team and their part-goat, part-yeti, all-friend mascot, Wilder, will pop up at several community events across Colorado this summer including:
- Bring on Summer in Montrose | May 30
- Poudre River Trail celebration in Timnath | June 13
- SCARF in Pueblo | June 27
- Joy Park Free Night in Denver | July 17
ABOUT GENERATION WILD
Generation Wild was created by Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) to connect Colorado kids to the outdoors by increasing the amount of time they spend outside. The program is made up of a statewide communications campaign designed to inspire Colorado families using tools like a list of 100 Things To Do Before You’re 12, and a network of 15 Generation Wild communities engaging more than 360,000 youth participants with outdoor programs, activities and career-pathways in the outdoors. Generation Wild has become a leader in the outdoor movement by executing several statewide initiatives such as Say Hi with a Snowman, Wilderflowers®, World's Longest Hopscotch, and Wilder, the film.
Connect with Generation Wild on Facebook, Instagram, or on their press page.
