The lifestyles of children are changing all around the globe in both positive and negative ways. These changes shape current societies, and it dramatically affects our childhood experiences. For example, the time for active outdoor play is increasingly restricted and replaced mainly by addictive gadgets leading to sedentary lifestyles with limited interaction with the natural environment.
There are various benefits of getting children involved in outdoor physical activities that not only impact children’s brain development but also enhance physical fitness, cognitive ability, emotional and social behaviour, creativity, their ability to solve problems.
Cognitive Benefits
Exposure to outdoor play and physical activity is found to improve cognitive health in preschool-aged children. In addition, this experience is critical for overall growth and development.
Lower Risk of Obesity
Obesity in children is a significant concern around the globe, and doctors are recommending parents cut down screen time for their children and engage them in more outdoor play and movement. For a good reason, childhood obesity could be prevented by increasing the frequency of outdoor play and monitoring the children’s eating habits.
Lower Risk of Hypertension
The involvement of children in outdoor play and physical activity lowers the chances of high blood pressure and cholesterol-related health issues, and the children who have access to outdoor activities tend to have better health than others.
Improved Learning Ability
By promoting outdoor play, children can learn to explore natural elements like activities involving water and soil can serve as the ground for learning science, mathematics, or language. Furthermore, while playing outdoors, children become learners for themselves and teachers for the others involved leading to the development and sharing of skills to carry out challenging tasks. This keeps children physically fit and develops a sense of understanding the feelings of others and learn empathy.
Improving Immunity of the Children
Interaction with the natural environment (playing in the dirt) can improve children’s immunity by exposing them to health-promoting microbes present in their environment to later protect against diseases.
Emotional and Psychological Benefits
Another benefit of outdoor play is emotional and psychological wellbeing by supporting the development of safe and nurturing relationships with friends and family essential for a child’s prospects. Shouting, running and interacting with family members and pets have a proven benefit in enhancing emotional stability with learning social skills. It is imperative for children to develop skills to boost and manage stress.
Play with family and friends promotes language, cognitive, social, emotional, and self-regulation skills leading to prosocial brain development required to achieve goals and avoid distractions.
Mental Health Benefits
A research report presented that in England, there is an estimated 695,000 children of 5-16 years old with clinically significant mental health issues that include depression, anxiety, conduct disorder, and suicidal feelings. These conditions lead to further involvement of these children in drug abuse and criminal activities. Therefore, allowing children to involve in adventurous outdoor play can help them challenge themselves, test their limits, gives them a sense of control and learn to adjust their emotions in times of uncertainty and stress.
