Indiana Children and Nature Network

Take the pledge

Commit to playing outside
30 minutes everyday!

Indiana Children and Nature Network (ICAN) is a network of Indiana organizations, businesses, and individuals encouraging children to spend more time outdoors for their physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Our Initiatives

Resources

Nature Play Days

The Issue

Children don't spend much time outside.
Over the past 20 to 30 years, children's lifestyles have changed significantly. Children used to go out to play in the neighborhood, the back field or the nearby woods. By playing outdoors, children gained physical strength, social skills, and cognitive skills, while having a great time.

Today’s children spend less time outdoors than ever before. Demanding schedules, use of electronics, fear of strangers are among the reasons that children don’t play outside. Many children now spend their free time with a screen - in front of the television, computer or playing electronic games.

The average American child spends more than 50 hours/week using electronic media– that is more than 7 hours per day!

The Good News-- there are simple solutions!

Spending time outdoors has all sorts of benefits to our children.

Helping children find their way back to nature allows them to experience the benefits nature provides to their mental, emotional and spiritual development. Nature is restorative, affording children the freedom to create, imagine, share and enjoy each other and the natural world.

Research shows that when kids spend time outdoors they are:

happier, healthier and smarter;
more self-disciplined and focused;
confident, creative and cooperative;
more physically fit, more optimistic and better problem solvers.