Taking time to connect with nature has a long-lasting impact on our health, learning and emotional well-being. Here is what the latest research says about what mucking about in the dirt, collecting sticks, observing insects and climbing trees does for your child.
Learn
Children who play outdoors:
- Are healthier. Children who spend time outdoors contract fewer viruses and bacterial infections. There is no link between wetness, water, snow, temperature or dirt and increased illness.
- Are more physically fit. Playing outdoors counteracts our sedentary lifestyles; we’re seeing an increase in childhood weight and eating disorders.
- Demonstrate increased coordination and motor planning.
- Are more focused. Nature calms and focuses children. Outdoor play especially benefits children with attention and sensory processing challenges, supporting their learning abilities.
- Have healthier emotional lives. Children who spend time outdoors have increased abilities to resist depression and daily stress lasting beyond childhood.
- Learn to use all their senses and to be more aware.
- See themselves as part of natural world – not separate from it.
- Have spontaneous and authentic learning opportunities in math, physics, literacy and natural sciences.
- Are more collaborative.
- Show increased imaginative play and creativity.
- Are more equipped to assess and manage risk taking. Increased safety standards in playgrounds and constant adult presence are causing more childhood injuries, as children are not given opportunities to take risks and assess their own abilities.
Do
- Just go play outside – It’s that simple. It doesn’t have to be complicated with organized games or toys. Having a ball can be fun, but rocks, sticks, grass, puddles, hills can be equally fun and eye-opening to children.
- Encourage your child to pay attention to using ALL their senses – What do they smell? How many different types of bird calls can they hear? How does this tree bark feel different from that tree bark? How is the green on this leaf different from the green on that leaf?
- Scavenger hunt – Make exploring interactive. Here are our favorite printable freebies (no credit taken; we just did the legwork of finding the best for you):
Childhood is magical. Now go play outside…rain or shine!
