Outdoor play for children is important
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EmailPlaying is crucial for learning and boosting all areas of a child’s development. When children play outside, not only do they get fresh air, but they exercise their bodies and expand their learning by exploring the world around them.
Playing is your child’s job. Young children need to spend a great amount of time playing. Playing is crucial for learning and boosting all areas of a child’s development. They are more likely to use their large muscles for running, jumping, skipping, hopping and climbing.
Be a kid yourself
You can encourage outdoor play by trying the following activities with your child. To use your large motor skills try skipping, hopping, any ball games and chasing games. Do some fun outdoor painting, create a nature book or create an outdoor collage by letting your child collect things from nature, then glue each thing separately onto paper and display your treasure as a conversation piece. Other ideas include doing animal imitations, use your driveway to act and sound like different animals or make a trip to the zoo. Create a sensory experience, by using a large plastic bins or buckets and fill them with sand and different types of noodles, rice or small toys. Then talk with your child about the texture, temperature, smell of all the items in the bin.
Make outdoor chores fun
Create a mini “car wash” in your yard, with buckets, water, soap, sponges, old dish cloths, wash cloths and towels. Then wash all the winter dirt from outdoor toys, play equipment and maybe other furniture in the yard, whatever your child chooses.
Playing outside is an extremely important avenue for play. When children play outside, not only do they get fresh air, but they exercise their bodies and expand their learning by exploring the world around them. By playing outdoors, your child will also learn to notice nature and how to observe the world around him, release energy and develop skills for using his body in new ways.
