Excerpts
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We already know that access to the outdoors is important for children and their development. But this study goes one step further. It is part of a growing body of research linking two layers of biodiversity. There is the outer layer – the more familiar vision of biodiversity, made up of soil, water, plants, animals and microbial life, that lives in the forest, playground (or any other environment). And then there is the inner layer: the biodiversity that lives within and upon the human body, including the gut, skin and airways.
Increasingly, scientists are learning that our health is intimately linked to our surroundings, and to the ecological health of the world around us. The first 1,000 days of human life – when the brain and body are most rapidly developing – are considered particularly crucial.
Putting the children in charge
This kindergarten has been exploring that relationship through a novel experiment – including digging up a piece of the forest floor, and seeing how exposure to it changes children’s health. In autumn, the daycare centre – which has 180 children and 50 staff – looks much like an allotment run by children.
The compost is fed with old leaves and weeds, and then used to grow beetroots, carrots, cucumbers and potatoes, courgettes and chillies. Now parsley is the only thing left – winter is drawing in and everything else has been eaten. The children, however, remain outside.
The plants, dead wood and soil in the daycare centre have all been specially selected for their rich micro-biodiversity. They have also dug up and imported a giant live carpet of forest floor, 20-40cm deep and 10 metres square. It has blueberries, lingonberries and moss growing on it, to encourage the children to forage, find bugs and learn about nature.
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Moving the inside out
The interest in bringing dirt and nature into nurseries is spreading. In Helsinki, Poutapilvi-Puimuri daycare centre is being redesigned with the help of a €30,000 (£25,000) government grant. It currently looks like a building site with a couple of diggers at work, but soon there will be trees, flowers, rocks, planters, sandpits and a grass area for games. “We told the architects we want nature in it,” says Marjo Välimäki-Saari, the centre’s director.
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