Importance of Outdoor Play for Kids
Outdoor play is very important for kids for a number of reasons. Here are 7 top reasons why we as parents must not skip the outdoor play.
Reduced Screen Time: If as a parent, we are worried about screen time for young kids, then outdoor play is the bets option to reduce screen time. We recommend you also keep your phone back at home or in silent and take in the sights and sounds of the outdoor.
Physical activity for kids: When we are indoor, we mostly tend to be seated. Outdoor games offer a lot of opportunities for kids to move around and play. They also walk, run, crawl and breathe fresh air.
Many Health benefits: Outdoor games are very good to keep kids healthy. When outdoors, kids get exposed to sun, sand and fresh air, these elements are very important for kids health. Apart from this, they also run around and get a good work out.
Outdoor games increase creativity in kids: Creativity increases in a low stimulating environment. When kids are watching something on the screen, their brains are over stimulated and their brains are not functioning at optimal level. In the outdoor setting, they have limited passive entertainment sources, so they tend to entertain themselves. You may have noticed, when you take kids to the park, how they use the stick, stones and leaves to come up with some imagination play.
Improvement in social skills: When kids play outside with other kids, they learn a lot of social skills. As kids interact with each other more and more, they learn a lot of life skills - Negotiating, adjusting, conversing to name just a few.
Love for nature: When kids go outside, they get to see a lot of nature. For example, may be they saw a bud two days ago and today they see it full bloom. This gives them a great appreciation of nature. Being outdoors also helps them interact with other outdoor creatures like small pet animals, insects and plants and builds a love for nature
Delayed Gratification: In today’s world instant gratification is the biggest issue. We are so used to clicking a button and getting what we want. In real life, kids often have to wait for getting what they want. Nature is the best example for getting kids to understand about delayed gratification
Now that we know it is very beneficial to get kids outdoors, what can we do to encourage this in kids. We can take some effort to take them outdoors on a regular basis, once kids make friends then they don’t need to be pushed to go outdoors. They will start liking and enjoying it and start going out much more frequently.
The above parenting article is compiled by our team. If your kids loves animals and nature, do check out our animal themed Flash Cards here
