A childcare business says New Zealand children are obsessed with instant gratification and have become detached from the natural world.
And it is proposing an innovative solution - a "Gaia-inspired" preschool in South Auckland which encourages kids to "go back to basics".
Its founders, Darius and Nikeeta Singh, said it was a school for kids to get back in touch with nature.
Shaped like a giant leaf, the childhood centre will be built on 0.4ha of forested land and is scheduled for opening in April 2020 if all its consents are approved.
"With everybody subdividing their properties and losing their backyards, people are really losing that connection with the Earth," Dr Darius Singh said.