5 Ideas to Help You Reconnect with Nature

It’s long been known that nature is good for you. Maybe it won’t cure tuberculosis, like the Victorians seemed to think it would, but it can definitely have a big impact on your health. Aside from getting out and becoming more active to improve your physical health, being outside in nature can do so much for your mental health. 

Being in nature can help you feel less stressed, help you relax and improve your general mood. Here at KiteNest, we want your mental health to be in the best shape possible, so we’ve come up with a list of 5 ways to help you reconnect with nature. Everyone deserves to experience nature, so this list is designed to suit everyone - whether you’re trying things out on your own, with a friend or with an entourage of kids following you. 

1. Get your hands dirty! Gardening is an easy and creative way to get involved with nature. If you’ve got a garden or an allotment, you’re already well on your way. If not, there’s still lots of ways for you to become a planting pal. It still counts if you’re planting veg in a windowbox, flowers in a plant pot or cress on a bit of kitchen roll. Start small and find something that suits you! 
2. Get tasty! Do you want the fun of naturally grown food, but don’t want to grow your own? Try learning how to forage! There are loads of plants growing in the wild that are tasty to eat, so do some research and get hunting. Just be careful you know exactly what you’re taking home, because not everything is safe! 
3. Get searching! Does the sound of looking for things grab your interest, but foraging for food not for you? Never fear! Geocaching might be the thing to try. Geocaching is when containers are hidden in specific locations, which can be found using an app on your phone. Most caches will have a logbook for you to sign and date - make sure you have a nosy at who else is in there - and sometimes, there’s a slightly bigger box where you can trade an item with whatever the last person left there. It’s like a giant game of hide and seek! 
4. Get surveyed! Do you ever wonder how they know things like how many sparrows are visiting people’s gardens in different areas around the country? Every year, there’s a range of nature surveys launched by a variety of charities and organisations, where they ask people to watch out for nature, and jot down what they see. Popular ones include spotting birds, bees and butterflies.
5. Get eco! We all know that nature is under threat and it needs people to help. You can be one of those people by taking on an outdoorsy eco-hero project! Build a hedgehog house, volunteer for an environmental charity or simply go on a litter-picking walk! You’ll be doing yourself and the environment good. 

Whatever it is that you choose to do, make sure you’re staying safe. If you’re going somewhere you wouldn’t normally go, make sure your phone is charged and you have a back up plan. You might feel silly taking a torch with you on an afternoon walk, but with the amount of times Chris and Markus have got themselves lost on hillsides we know its an extra item worth taking!