Why Kids Should ‘Take Your Brain Out’ This Summer

Colorado Parent · June 24, 2026

Featuring Dr. Pooja Tandon, Center advisor and researcher

Generation Wild, a movement from Great Outdoors Colorado that works to connect kids with the outdoors, today launched ‘Take Your Brain Out,’ an initiative aimed at offsetting the effects caused by screens on kids’ brains. In a screen-saturated world – the average child spends more than seven hours a day on a screen and less than 10 minutes outdoors per day – Generation Wild wants Colorado parents to know that time outside is not only beneficial but essential to supporting the development of a child’s brain. Generation Wild has partnered with top health experts to help Colorado parents understand the science behind these benefits.

This year Generation Wild has partnered with health experts Dr. Pooja Tandon, a pediatrician, mom, and the Health Director at Trust for Public Land, and Dr. Joel Stoddard, a father, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Children’s Hospital Colorado, to educate Colorado’s parents on why it’s essential to carve out time for outdoor play.

“Time spent in nature is restorative for the brain, helps with emotional regulation, improves mental and physical health, reduces symptoms of ADHD, and can have benefits for sleep and memory,” said Dr. Tandon. “As a pediatrician and a mom, I like to prescribe green time as a strategy to decrease screen time. Because when kids and families spend time outdoors, we see real gains in physical health, mental well-being, and overall happiness.”