Nature Play WA CEO, Dr. Kelsie Prabawa-Sear chatted to Bec and Asa on Drive about incorporating screen time with outdoor play to create a balance for children.

The Call of the Screen

There is an attachment children tend to have to devices because it engages their interests. This can become an opportunity for parents to get creative and get them outside.

“There are lots of opportunities to use technology to engage kids in the outdoors and get them to be interested in and fall in love with nature,” Dr. Kelsie began.

Intentional Interests

A disadvantage of devices is the unintentional scrolling it can cause. Dr. Kelsie listed ways to make it more intentional and engaging for them.

“From videoing, creating nature-based films, taking an interest like bugs and making miniature movies is a really cool way to spend time outside,” she said.

Capture the Moment

“Photography is also a beautiful thing to do,” she said. To assist them in appreciating their surroundings, Dr. Kelsie suggested capturing details with their eyes. Then when something is worth photographing, they use the device to take the photo.

Tools of Technology

“You are using it as a tool to engage them… one of my favorite things to do is to think about sounds when we’re in nature, you can do sound mapping with paper where you draw lines according to the sounds that you hear.” She added, “You can also audio record as well, and that’s a way of using their senses and using technology as a bit of a lever.”

None of these tools have the same addictive effect as apps or social media but instead offer ways for them to use their minds and become more resourceful, while spending time in nature.

Engaged in Nature

Dr. Kelsie noted that Nature Play has an app that is targeted at kids of primary school age. It is designed to engage kids in nature through challenges and stickers to put on a scoreboard.

“It has none of the social media pull-ins but instead is trying to pull kids attention away from the phone and into nature and ideally what we find is we use that tool to get them out and then they start engaging and then they find things that they like or they start to play and the phone goes away and we have some lovely time outdoors.”

Check out the full interview with Dr. Kelsie Prabawa-Sear below.

For more information about Nature Play WA head to their website.