A phenomenon of the last century is that more and more of us are now living in large cities whereas it used to be that most humans lived close to the land. Has this had an impact on our cognitive abilities?  Well Howard Gardner would suggest that nature is an intelligence. Studies from Chicago and Los Angeles have indicated that children who have no exposure to nature in their school environment will display an average IQ decline of 12 to 15 points compared to children who’s classrooms look out on a panoramic vista of nature. It is an interesting concept. Does nature inspire higher cognitive performance?

We think there is something in it. We include a nature element in nearly every imagination exercise. And children do respond to the sounds of nature in the stories and in their own creative inputs into designing the spatial environment of the story. The Enchanted Forest imagination exercise is an excellent tool for helping children in inner city environments to connect with their nature intelligence. But be aware that it may take many listening sessions before you begin to see their experiences flourishing in their creative output, however this will afford you the opportunity to measure outcomes over a period of time.