Blog 6: THE EXTINCTION OF EXPERIENCE - Why Nature Connection Matters

How disconnection from nature threatens children and the planet

Seventy per cent of mothers in Australia played outdoors daily as children. Only 31 per cent of their children do (AIFS, 2024). Children's free play time decreased 25 per cent between 1981 and 1997 (Hofferth & Sandberg, 2000).

This isn't nostalgia. It's a profound shift with serious consequences.

The Extinction of Experience

Robert Pyle coined "extinction of experience" to describe what happens as children spend less time in nature. They lose opportunities to develop direct, personal connections with the living world. This experiential poverty breeds apathy towards environmental concerns. Without direct experience, people care little about nature's loss (Pyle, 2002).

For most of human history, childhood and outdoor play were synonymous. Sometime in the late 20th century, childhood moved indoors. Multiple factors drove this: heightened fears, structured schedules, urbanisation, screen entertainment, supervision norms, academic pressures.

What's Being Lost

Young children learn through their senses. Nature provides unparalleled sensory richness that cannot be replicated indoors or virtually. The texture of bark, the smell of eucalyptus, the sound of wind, the sight of lizards. These direct experiences are irreplaceable.

Nature is the ultimate loose parts playground. Sticks, stones, leaves, water, sand, and mud invite open-ended, creative play. Outdoor play in natural settings is longer, more varied, more physically active, more socially complex, and more imaginative than indoor play.

In nature, children encounter living systems and experience themselves as part of, not separate from, the natural world. This understanding cannot be taught through abstraction.

From Biophilia to Biophobia

Children are born loving nature. The biophilia hypothesis suggests humans possess an innate affinity for the natural world (Wilson, 1984). Watch a toddler's delight at butterflies, a young child's fascination with insects.

But this affinity requires nurturing through regular positive experiences. Without them, biophilia can become biophobia, a fear or aversion to natural elements. Children learn to see nature as dirty, dangerous, something to control rather than value.

If children grow up uncomfortable in nature, they're unlikely to develop motivation to protect it as adults.

The Critical Window

Early and middle childhood is the critical period for developing nature connection. If children don't develop respect for nature in their first few years, there is a risk they may not develop such attitudes (Sobel, Wilson, 1996).

Childhood nature experiences are among the strongest predictors of adult environmental attitudes and behaviours. Adults connected to nature almost invariably spent significant time in nature as children (Ardoin & Bowers, 2020).

If current generations experience unprecedented disconnection during this critical window, we're creating future generations who lack motivation to protect natural systems.

ECEC as Last Opportunity

With 40-50 hours per week in ECEC and outdoor play increasingly rare at home, ECEC may be "mankind's last opportunity to reconnect children with the natural world" (White, 2004).

For many children, ECEC nature experiences may be their only regular contact with the natural world. Your comfort with insects, your enthusiasm for weather, your willingness to let children get dirty—these shape whether children develop biophilia or biophobia.

You work within the critical window. Every opportunity you provide for children to experience themselves as part of nature plants seeds for sustainable futures.

What You Can Do

You don't need bushland. Bring natural materials inside. Create opportunities to care for plants and animals. Notice and name natural elements. Allow unstructured outdoor play. Let children experience weather, not just be protected from it.

Model comfort and enthusiasm. Your delight in weather, your willingness to get muddy, your curiosity about insects. These shape children's relationship with nature.

Every experience matters. Every moment of connection contributes to whether that child develops love or fear of the natural world.

The extinction of experience can be reversed. But only if we act within the critical window. You work during that window.

References:

Ardoin, N. M., & Bowers, A. W. (2020). Early childhood environmental education: A systematic review of the research literature. Educational Review, 72(3), 250-272.

Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS). (2024). Nature play and child wellbeing: A rapid evidence review (Alla, K. & Truong, M.).

Hofferth, S. L., & Sandberg, J. F. (2000). Changes in American children's time, 1981-1997. University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.

Kellert, S. R. (2002). Experiencing nature: Affective, cognitive, and evaluative development in children. In P. H. Kahn Jr. & S. R. Kellert (Eds.), Children and nature. MIT Press.

Pyle, R. M. (2002). Eden in a vacant lot. In P. H. Kahn Jr. & S. R. Kellert (Eds.), Children and nature. MIT Press.

Sobel, D. (1996). Beyond ecophobia: Reclaiming the heart in nature education. Orion Society.

White, R. (2004). Young children's relationship with nature: Its importance to children's development & the Earth's future. White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group.

Wilson, E. O. (1984). Biophilia. Harvard University Press.