A miraculous thing happened in the woods today. Six children were spotted running wild with smiles on their faces, stretching their imaginations, diving into creative play, and sharing in unabandoned joy with each other. These days witnessing a scene such as this has become a rare thing as many kids spend most of their free time indoors and in front of screens. Today, though, magic ignited, and children once again found their true playroom in the open spaces of Mother Nature. 

What made this day in the woods so special is that these six boys had been either removed or discarded from their public schools for social and behavioral issues. They are young, most not even ten years old, and now all attend the same private school where I work. Some live with mild autism and struggle to fit in with others. Bullied and outcasted, they could not thrive in public school. Others have lived with social and emotional problems unsupported for years that ultimately lead to their removal from public school. Daily episodes of meltdowns, fights, and lack of friends and peers made it impossible for these children to engage in positive social interaction, cooperative play, and to reach their full potential. Their childhoods, that special time when we should be most free and happy, have been fraught with stigma, isolation, and an almost criminal lack of opportunity to grow and be joyful.

Today in the woods proved far different for these boys. Offered time for unstructured activity in a natural setting, these kids who have struggled their entire life to fit in engaged in positive and cooperative play. They bonded over sticks, rocks, and logs and tramped through hollows and groves of hemlocks and pines. Weaving through the trees and crawling under logs, the boys began a fictional game of battle that brought me back to my childhood of the late 1970’s and early 80’s and all those hours playing “Cops and Robbers” and “Cowboys and Indians.” 

They were not glued to a screen playing Fortnite or some other graphically violent video game pretending to shoot each other with automatic weapons. Instead, one boy with autism, who struggled for years to make friends and never felt comfortable speaking up, began calling out battle formations from the French and Indian War! He struggles to play a board game and share a snack with others, yet he knows every detail of all military engagements since the beginning of time. He awed his new peers with his knowledge and leadership. This is just one of his many gifts that went undiscovered until now. 

As the boys played, the social rejection they face daily melted into the forest. They joined forces, cheered for each other, and supported each other in climbing and hiding. They shared true moments of joy with each other. I watched stunned, hardly believing what I saw before me. A group of kids who struggle for acceptance and kindness were playing together like real friends. Most of us take for granted having friends to share, grow, and have fun with. The idea that some children have no friends is a tough pill to swallow. However, the reality is that many of our most vulnerable children, those with special needs and emotional and social issues, spend much of their lives with no true friendships and limited positive peer interactions. But for these boys, that changed today. They were becoming friends right before my eyes.

In my three years working at this school I have experimented using the woods as a type of “mental medicine” for these children who have suffered so much trauma and distress in their young lives. What I have seen has been nothing short of miraculous. Like a caged animal being released back into the wild, many children do not even know which way to run when they first enter the forest. I watch them darting from place to place, picking up sticks and rocks, and releasing the physical and vocal energy they have bottled up inside from years of constraint and social ostracism. Though these miraculous experiences do not happen all the time, they offer glimpses into the healing that can be achieved through natural play and are a testament that that something special is happening in the woods. A healthy dose of unstructured play in nature just may be what the doctor did not know to order.

This type of outdoor play, however, is in rapid decline. This may be from general fear of nature, such as bugs, poison ivy, or getting lost, or simply not having accessible wild places nearby. Our children are becoming more disconnected from the natural world than ever before. This can lead to a decline in their natural curiosity and impede their understanding of the world in which they live. They risk losing interest in learning how things grow, develop and evolve. They miss out on chances to garner the skills and bravery that come from the risks and challenges that the natural world provides such as climbing a mighty oak, scaling a boulder, or sloshing through a muddy swamp with net and bucket in hand. As I have seen with my students, these types of activities are essential to their growth and happiness.

As we continue to look for ways to help these children with intellectual, social and emotional issues, a steadier diet of natural free-play is what may be needed most. Giving these kids a chance to bond, build friendships, and connect and with each other and their natural world may be the greatest gift of all. Perhaps with more time outdoors exploring and engaging with each other and the world around them, the miracle I witnessed today with these boys will inspire ongoing positive change and happiness in their lives and in others who embrace the power of unstructured play in the great outdoors.