Getting Grubby! Encouraging your child to engage in outdoor play is more important than you think!
Engaging children in exciting, explorative outdoor play presents them with a set of unique challenges that will not only spark a love of nature but help foster senses of creativity and risk-taking in a healthy environment.
The Benefits of Outdoor Play
Moving our children away from indoor environments (and screens) so that they can venture into the great outdoors allows for a range of organic, old fashioned experiences.
Outdoor, or nature, play introduces ideas of sustainability, resourcefulness and creativity into your child’s learning environment. The hands-on, explorative experiences that are part and parcel of engaging in unstructured, intuitive outdoor play can go a long way towards your child’s development. As well as encouraging a healthy respect for nature, there are many arguments in favour of allowing your little ones to spread their wings and explore the great outdoors.
Here are just some of the benefits of outdoor play for children.
Promotion of Creativity
Outdoor play is unstructured. The play might move from a sandpit to collecting sticks and leaves to the construction of an outdoor fort. The very fact that nature comes with no set of instructions means that children engaged in outdoor play are making the most of their burgeoning senses of curiosity. They are experimenting, pushing boundaries and challenging themselves to engage in healthy risk-taking play that asks them to think outside of the box.
You may find that you also become more of a creative thinker when you move your play into the outdoors. When looking around your green space of choice with the eyes of a child, you’ll be sure to be surprised by how many creative play ideas you can come up with.
Promotion of a Healthy Respect for Nature
Teaching our children lessons about sustainability, via means of either growing a garden or appreciating an existing outdoor space, means that they will begin to understand their place within the broader scheme of life. Actions have consequences in nature and so too will your child be able to understand the ebb and flow of life when they see it in action for themselves. Studying beetles, pulling up carrots or watering plants are all fantastic ways for children to immerse themselves within nature.
Promotion of Mindfulness
So much of our children’s lives is filled with busyness and noise. Being outdoors allows for a certain sense of peace to permeate the chaos. Taking the time to appreciate the soft cushion of blades of grass between tiny toes. Relaxing, facing upwards, to watch the clouds meander their way across a beautiful blue sky. Appreciating the little things – an ant working its way towards a nest, the way the water ripples when you splash in a puddle, the squish of cool mud between fingers – can allow our children to tap into a sense of inner peace and mindfulness that keeps them present in the here and now.
Promotion of Independence and Emotional Well-Being
Risk-taking is a part of growing up. Measured, safe risk-taking opportunities for children are available to those who venture outside for nature play.
Climbing, exploring, challenging limits and testing oneself were all a part of our childhoods – so why should today’s children miss out? Removing the cotton wool from our children means that they may experience some small setbacks but they will be better for the experience. This can also help build resilience and improve self-esteem as children learn to try, and keep on trying, before they experience success.
Promotion of Overall Health
Close to 30% of children in Australia are considered to be overweight or obese. Asking children to be outside, filling their lungs with fresh air and working towards physical goals, means that we are challenging them to be involved in their own health.
Participating in physical activity means an alleviation of the risks of obesity which are often linked to increased amounts of indoor only activity. Encouraging our children to be outdoors may make a lasting impact on their health.
Outdoor Play for Children
Get back to nature. Get back to old fashioned childhoods. Get your children away from screens and out into the backyard or your local park. The only thing you’ll regret is that you didn’t start sooner.
