This is the first book I've read by biomechanist Katy Bowman and I love it so much it's my book of 2021. It's for all parents and caregivers, those expecting, with infants or toddlers, right through to those with teens and young adults. This is a book for every parent and caregiver, it's for every teacher. Grow Wild is all about movement and there couldn't be a more pertinent time for us to be incorporating more movement into our children's lives.  

Grow Wild contains information on the science of movement, the science of sedentarism with a ton of practical ideas and movement-rich ideas and environment suggestions. Older children (primary age+) can flip through the book and look for ideas themselves. 

Grow Wild has been divided into chapters and it's super easy to skip a chapter or jump to the chapter you want to read the most. The chapters include:

• Stack Your Life for More Movement - fulfilling two or more needs at once.
• The Culture Container - movement is counterculture.
• The Clothing Container - clothing matters! How to dress our children for natural kid movement, includes product suggestions. 
• The Cooking Container - incorporating movement into growing, collecting + preparing food 😍.
• The Home Container - creating a home environment that offers more movement, including floor movements + hanging.
• The Learning Container -creating learning spaces that offer more movement, including flexible seating, nature education & movement beyond physical education. 
• The Activities Container - movement before school, after school, extracurricular activities with ideas for locomotion, climbing, hanging, jumping, throwing/catching, water skills, nature games, activities for infants and toddlers. 
• The Celebration Container - celebrations that promote movement and community, includes ideas for outdoor celebrations.
• Alloparents - how to create a dynamic community, alloparents are older children or adults who are not related to the child but provide parent-like care. Other people can play a role in getting our children to move! 

"The beautiful thing is that no matter what your life looks like now, you can find elements of movement, nature, and community described in this book and incorporate them into your existing home, routines, habits, and life." - Katy Bowman

Grow Wild encourages us to look at our own home environments and also our habits or preconceived ideas about movement or movement habits. Each chapter provides questions that help us address our own movement biases.

Each chapter has personal stories from parents with real examples and a study session that cover relevant theory including research with references. 

The photographs in Grow Wild are beautiful and inspiring. Grow Wild has 402 glossy pages and lots of stunning full colour, and sometimes full-page photographs.

Grow Wild helps us to identify barriers to movement and provides ideas on how to remove them. 

There are year-round 'snacktivity' ideas listed by the season. 

The photographs of home environments really get me thinking! These are beautiful and creative environments that support and promote movement. 

The Afterword discusses children's movement during the global pandemic. During periods of lockdown or sheltering in place it appears that some children move less and some move more. It's important reading.

"The pandemic has created a shift in consciousness for many of us; a time where culture is pregnant with the possibility of choice; how will we move forward now that we've seen how radically different our lives can look?" - Kate Bowman. 

It should be noted that vegetarians and vegans may find some photographs distressing, there are animal products shown. This post includes affiliate links. Thank you so much for your support!