Do you remember wandering the woods looking for adventure as a child? Perhaps you built a fort with your friends. Or explored frogs and other finds along the edge of a pond. If you were lucky, maybe you came across a beaver dam or the nest of another woodland creature.
Nature provides a powerful learning experience. Just ask Brenda Richards.
Richards founded the Center for LifeSkills in Solon in 2002. Her goal was to provide Occupational and Speech-Language services to Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula county children. She continues to do so today.
However, she wanted to extend services to all children in an innovative way. Partnering her love of nature with her expertise, Richards opened a TimberNook franchise in 2014. Timbernook of Greater Cleveland, located in Rome, gets children into nature’s learning environment.
What is the Story Behind TimberNook?
Angela Hanscom, a pediatric occupational therapist, birthed the idea of TimberNook when she noticed her children’s friends lacking needed skills. Deficiencies existed in gross motor and problem-solving skills, the ability to sit in school, negotiation and compromising.
A growing problem across the country, if not the world.
Since its beginnings, TimberNook has grown into an international, award-winning nature program. It empowers and encourages children to be outside. Furthermore, it addresses the gaps in children’s development in innovate, fun ways.
Why the Focus on Nature?
Nature play proves beneficial for the body and the mind. (Not fully convinced? Check out this research study.) When children play outdoors their:
- Attention and focus improve
- Caring and kindness increase
- Social skills develop
- Stress decreases
- Depression is reduced
- Cognitive abilities take off
- Creativity blossoms
Unfortunately, video games, iPads, mobile phones and a busy life pace are occupying the time of our kids. Outdoor play is becoming an activity remembered in the “good old days”. This means the benefits are as well.
What Does TimberNook Do to Solve the Problem?
TimberNook of Greater Cleveland counters the sedentary, over-scheduled flow modern children face. The TImberNook programming encourages kids to explore nature, build, design, create and risk in both directed activities and free play. All within the safety of adult supervision.
Day, evening and week-long programs with a theme engage children’s minds. For instance, the Going Medieval camp frees kids to build catapults, take part in catapult painting and engage in the unstructured play and creativity of the outdoor classroom.
Who are the TimberNook Staff?
Richards, the licensed provider of TimberNook of Greater Cleveland, is a registered and licensed occupational therapist. Her experience in school and private practice settings blends well with her love of nature, and her work at TimberNook.
The rest of the Timbernook staff are child professionals as well. Speech therapists, occupational therapists, teachers and psychologists help children tap into the resource nature has already given us. A powerful combination to boost a child’s development.
The staff are trained to tune in and be aware of what’s going as the children engage with nature. However, they step back, letting the kids problem solve on their own. This means an idea may fail. But learning, creative innovation, problem-solving, self-esteem and other skills are developed.
The Value of TimberNook
TimberNook programs offer plenty of cognitive, social, emotional and physical development lessons for children. They also partner with parents in the overwhelming challenge of raising kids. Parents do not need to feel alone in supporting their kids and giving them the right resources.
For more information on the TimberNook of Greater Cleveland experience, visit their website. To get your children engaged with nature in this innovative way, start by signing up for one of the upcoming fall programs.
Evening TimberNook programs offer the perfect date night solution to childcare with the added benefits of nature play. Check out this option for the fall.
- October 21st, Wizards’ Night Out adds the creation of magic potions to the fun. Both programs welcome children, ages seven to 13.
Want to Win a Great Prize? (Who Doesn’t?)
Visit the Geauga News Facebook Live page and watch the TimberNook video. You can hear more from Director Brenda Richards about this amazing program.
Plus, you get a chance to enter to win a FREE book by TimberNook founder, Angela Hanscom (Balanced & Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children). Or a FREE registration to one of this fall’s TimberNook of Greater Cleveland programs.
Also, listen to one man’s childhood story of the valuable role nature played in his learning. It just might inspire your memories and remind you why programs like TimberNook are perfect for your child.
