Roam

Our vision is to facilitate a culture where it is considered healthy and normal for children to play unsupervised in their natural environment.

Why ROAM?

There is a substantial body of evidence supporting the benefits of play, being outdoors in nature, and children learning through independence and self-directed decision making.

For centuries, children experienced the freedom to roam in their local area from an early age; gradually going further and for longer. The phrase ‘we stayed out till it got dark or were hungry’ resonates with a significant proportion of the adult population. 

Such freedoms have gradually disappeared, and it is no longer ‘the norm’ for young children to have the opportunity to explore nature without adults. 

Typically, children are not experiencing any unsupervised time in the public realm until an average age of 10.5 years old, whereas even for their parents, it was 7.5 years old.

 What Happens in a Session?

Our sessions remove the barriers that prevent parents giving their children the freedoms that many of us enjoyed at their age, by putting a degree of structure in place for families to feel comfortable joining our sessions. We also run sessions for those not ready to access free roaming, to begin their journey of independence in nature.

We promote children’s independence and advocate for their right to play freely, with minimal adult supervision, in a world where so much of their time is increasingly structured.

We are a small charity, dependent almost entirely on grant funding, so any donation, no matter how big or small, will go a long way to helping us on our mission.  

#letthemroam