How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature

By the beloved and wildly popular host of the PBS Kids show Dinosaur Train, here is the book every parent needs: a rousing call to connect our kids to the natural world, a practical parenting guide filled with tips and advice for nature mentoring.

The average North American child now spends about seven hours a day staring at screens, with mere minutes engaged in the kind of unstructured play outdoors essential for growth. Yet recent research on child development indicates that experiences in nature are essential for healthy growth.

Regular exposure to nature can help relieve stress, depression, and attention deficits. It can reduce bullying, combat obesity, and boost academic scores. Most critical of all, abundant time in natural settings seems to yield long-term benefits in kids’ cognitive, emotional, and social development.

How to Raise a Wild Child is a timely and engaging antidote, offering teachers, parents, and other caregivers the necessary tools for outdoor education to engender a meaningful, lasting connection between children and the natural world.

Distilling the latest research in multiple disciplines, this guide to nature connection reveals how adults can help kids fall in love with nature―enlisting technology as an ally, taking advantage of urban nature, and instilling a sense of place through place-based learning along the way.

“In a time when the connection between humans and the rest of nature is most vulnerable, Scott offers parents and teachers a book of encouragement and knowledge, and to children, the priceless gift of wonder.”—Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principle

This essential book provides an evidence-based framework for parents and educators:

• Evidence-Based Benefits: Learn the science behind why time in nature helps relieve stress and attention deficits, reduces bullying, and even boosts academic scores.
• The Importance of Nature Play: Discover why unstructured time outdoors is a powerful antidote to the seven hours a day kids spend on screens, and how it boosts cognitive and emotional development.
• Outdoor Activities for Kids: Find practical, actionable tips for making outdoor exploration a part of your family’s daily life, whether you live in the suburbs or a city.
• A New Approach to Environmental Education: Go beyond simple nature study and learn how to instill a deep, lasting sense of place and wonder, turning technology into an ally instead of an enemy.

SCOTT SAMPSON is a dinosaur paleontologist and science communicator. He serves as vice president of research and collections at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and, as “Dr. Scott the Paleontologist,” hosts the PBS KIDS television series Dinosaur Train.