Dr Sarah-Anne Munoz, a co-investigator in the Outdoors and Health Network recently published a literature review on the children and outdoors. The review was supported by the Forestry Commission, Countryside Recreation Network and the Outdoor Health Forum. Sarah-Anne is currently carrying out research at the Centre for Rural Health UHI.

Childhood has long been associated in our collective imagination with images of the ‘rural’ and the ‘countryside’ because adult conceptualisations of the child as ‘innocent’ are connected with nature. Many children’s books, programmes and films incorporate these notions - involving ‘natural’ spaces, animal characters or visions of rural childhood. Societal fears have impacted on this vision of childhood - with concern over crime and children’s safety in public spaces linked with a decreasing amount of time spent by children in the outdoors. Recent research has started to examine the links between use of the outdoors, access to greenspace and health, and policy-makers have also begun to look at promoting the use of outdoors as a means for increasing public health. Children have been identified as one of the key groups that could gain health benefits from use of the outdoors - but also one that requires evidence-based policy directed towards their needs. This review therefore takes an in-depth look at the current themes within health, outdoors and children’s research and highlights how these relate to understanding the links between children’s use of outdoor spaces and health outcomes. It also highlights where there are research gaps and how these might be addressed. More… http://www.countrysiderecreation.org.uk/Children%20Outdoors.pdf