The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast 1KHO 640: Children Improve Their Attention Spans Outside | Angela Hanscom, TimberNook
Dec 4, 2025
Angela Hanscom, a pediatric occupational therapist and founder of TimberNook, dives into the transformative power of outdoor play for children. She reveals how unstructured nature interactions enhance attention spans and social skills. Angela emphasizes that movement stimulates brain development and cultivates resilience and empathy among kids. She shares compelling stories of children resolving conflicts and learning leadership naturally. The conversation inspires listeners to embrace outdoor exploration as essential for nurturing confident, capable children.
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Movement Primes Attention
- Rapid, varied head-and-body movement (spinning, hanging, rolling) stimulates the vestibular system and activates the brain's reticular activating system.
- That activation primes attention and helps children sustain focus in classroom tasks.
Give Kids Multi-Plane Movement Daily
- Provide children opportunities to move in rapid, multi-planar ways like swings, rolling hills, and merry-go-rounds.
- Allow those movements daily so vestibular sense and sensory integration develop for learning.
Fort Fight Turned To Friendship
- Girls formed a human chain to defend their fort, chased a boy who stole their gems, and later one girl calmed him down and invited him in.
- That sequence illustrated self-rescue, empathy, regulation, and authentic inclusion without adult intervention.
