You may have heard of attention deficit disorder (ADD), but have you ever heard of “nature-deficit disorder?”

I hadn’t heard of it until I read Richard Louv’s seminal work, Last Child in the Woods. This worldwide best-selling book shows how our cities and schools are producing a generation of kids who suffer from a host of ill effects due to their lack of contact with genuine, unbridled nature. He believes that the condition of growing up without access to nature causes enough problems in kids to warrant its own name hence the term “nature-deficit disorder.”

For Louv, outdoor spaces help develop kids’ imaginations and allows them to run wild, which aids self-confidence and physical fitness.

Think about the difference in creativity we can apply to indoor and outdoor “toys.” A doll is just a doll. A toy truck is just a toy truck. But a tree stump, on the other hand, can be a podium for a president’s speech, a launch pad for a Mars Rover, or a diving board for the Olympics.

This potential for nature to stretch our imaginative horizons is known as elasticity. Nature is the primary elastic environment for our kids to explore, discover, and grow in.

Nowadays, there just aren’t enough spaces for kids to chop wood or build treehouses without adults trying to stop them.

According to Louv, kids experience a decrease in creativity, risk-taking, and mental wellness due to spending time sequestered inside. Coincidentally, creativity, risk-taking, and mental well-being are all necessary traits to be an innovator, entrepreneur, and leader in our modern society. 

Louv argues that kids become video and computer game addicts because they aren’t getting the type of unstructured stimulation they need from the outdoors.

But finding nature in Beijing is difficult, right? Actually, you’d be surprised.

This city is surrounded by beautiful mountains and natural parks that can make an easy day trip for you and your little ones. I’d suggest hikes like Yunmengshan National Forest Park or the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. Exploring parks like Chaoyang Park and Ritan Park can also help cure “nature-deficit disorder.”

Whatever you decide, get outside this summer! It could end up saving your kid’s creative muscles.

About the Writer
Kassandra Lee is a published poet, arts organizer, and education entrepreneur. In her free time she enjoys talking about education and bicycling around the eclectic hutong neighborhoods of Beijing in search of surprises.

Photo: Kassandra Lee

Two weekends ago, I walked through the door of an otherwise normal-looking apartment building in Haidian to find the lair of a mad scientist complete with robot parts, 3D printers, periodic tables, and Erlenmeyer flasks.

Instead of a wizened scientist running the experiments, a small group of elementary schoolers decked out in lab coats and safety goggles were at the helm. These kids were getting a hands-on introduction to one of the most classic science experiments for kids, the Coca-Cola and Mentos bottle rocket, with a local organization called Genius Lab.

Unfortunately, in many local schools in Beijing, true science experiments are far too uncommon and often sacrificed for book knowledge. Genius Lab created this kids’ laboratory and curriculum to fill this need.

Genius Lab is an after-school and weekend science program that provides a hands-on, creative approach to science education.

The Coca-Cola and Mentos bottle rocket experiment is just one of the many experiments that the organization facilitates. It partners with local schools to give instruction in Chinese and is planning to open its first English-language program in the near future.

After exploring the space, I sat down with Sophia Su, founder, to discuss the vision of Genius Lab. She explained that about 80 percent of the teachers are science Master’s and PhD students from local universities who have a desire to teach the experimental process to kids. She explained to me the difference between what goes on at local schools and what happens at Genius Lab.

“In local schools, you would learn about DNA and its double helix structure. It would be a very blurred concept in your head and you would just know the theory. But here at Genius Lab, we learn about [the theory]and then we do an experiment where we extract a strawberry’s or a banana’s DNA,” she says.

“It would be a visual experiment for [the kids]. They would know more about cells, DNA, the nuclei and everything related. It’s very exciting and that’s a big difference from what they get in school.”

It was exciting to go into the apartment complex courtyard with the little bottle rockets and shoot them up into the sky. Parents crowded around and took pictures as the kids giggled.

I can see why, after participating in this program, many kids tell Su and her colleagues that they want to be scientists and go to MIT. It all begins with the passion that Genius Lab puts into their work.

If you’re interested in finding out more, contact Su and Genius Lab through the organization’s official WeChat account: GeniusLab.

Kassandra Lee
Kassandra Lee is a published poet, arts organizer, and education entrepreneur. In her free time, she enjoys talking about education and biking around the eclectic hutong neighborhoods of Beijing in search of surprises.

Photo: Kassandra Lee

If the past 20 years were dominated by the rise of the Internet, the next 20 years will be dominated by smart products that are seamlessly integrated into everyday life.

Think smart cars that drive themselves, rooms that adjust their temperature by comparing your body temperature with the temperature outside, and stoves that automatically start making your eggs a few minutes before you wake up.

Technologists call it, “the Internet of things.” This is the world your kids will be entering as they become adults with careers.

But how should we best prepare our kids for this next knowledge frontier? Enter: Maker education.

A “maker” is a 21st-century fusion of hacker, programmer, designer, and builder. “Maker Faires” are hosted around the world each year to encourage kids to become more than consumers – to start creating things through their own imagination. Last week in California, the original Maker Faire’s 10th anniversary drew in over 150,000 people.

Maker education reflects a greater emphasis on science, technology, engineering, art, and math (or STEAM as it’s lovingly called by those who work in the education field).

I recently visited Wynwood Maker Camp in Miami, US where I saw 3D printed glasses designed by an 8-year-old girl for her visually-impaired father and an Oculus virtual reality headset that could take kids on a journey through the Amazon.

Although Beijing is seen as a growing hotbed for innovation, the offerings for kids are severely lacking. There’s a need for kids as young as elementary school to get their hands (and computer screens) dirty with creating, experimenting, and making. After all, being proficient with the foreign languages involved in code and computers may wind up being more important than being multilingual in English and Mandarin.

If your kids’ school doesn’t offer maker opportunities, here are a couple things you can do to jumpstart their maker education:

1. Download Scratch. Scratch was invented by MIT to help kids learn programming languages. It’s a free open-source tool that can be downloaded straight to your computer. Kids will have a great time learning to create their own animations and games using the program’s basic, user-friendly programming language. If you’d prefer an iPad equivalent, check out Hopscotch.

2. Buy a Lego Mindstorms Kit. Lego makes a great introductory robot kit, which makes it really easy for kids to make their growing code skills come alive. They also learn basic engineering and mechanics along the way!

3. Help found a CoderDojo in Beijing. The first CoderDojo, a free coding club for kids, in China came this year to Hangzhou. There isn’t one yet in Beijing, but Armada Education is planning to launch a Coder, Hacker, and Maker Lab in late summer. Contact us at contact@armadaed.com if you’re interested in knowing more or being a part of the project.

4. Go to a Parenting Innovative, Creative, and Entrepreneurial Kids Meet-Up. The first meeting will be on Thursday, May 28 from 6-8pm at Caravan.

With these few easy steps, you’ll be on your way to raising your family’s little maker!

Kassandra Lee
Kassandra Lee is a published poet, arts organizer, and education entrepreneur. She works at Armada Education, a start-up and laboratory school geared for experimenting with the world’s most innovative tools, methods, and environments for learning. You can follow Armada Education’s blog and join their weekly inspirational newsletter at ArmadaEd.com. In her free time she enjoys talking about education and bicycling around the eclectic hutong neighborhoods of Beijing in search of surprises.

Photo: Steve Jurvetson (Flickr)