Importance Of Outdoor Play For Children

 

Outdoor play is critically important for children's health, wellbeing, and overall development. Physical outdoor play has many benefits: from strengthening and developing the brains to helping children learn and deal with stress and adversity. It is very bad for a child to pass through childhood stage without adequate outdoor play. When children play, they learn how to explore, invent, discover, create, and collaborate with others. Those skills imbibed when they are young help them as they make friends and learn how to live in the world in future as adults. Studies have shown that sports and physical activity strengthens kids' bodies and develops the brains, helping them learn and stay focused on studies. The American Academy of Paediatrics  (AAP) even recommended that doctors prescribe physical exercises for their patients. When times are tough, active play also helps children deal with adversity. The pleasure of connections children tap into when playing together or with adults are powerful antidote to the stress that can build up in a child who has endured trauma. 

While over-scheduling is often what cuts into children's playtime in the Western world, the barriers in many other parts of the world, especially in the underdeveloped countries, are often more dangerous and difficult to address. There are children who must spend countless hours daily fetching water for sale to eke a living for their indigent families to survive. Such children have no time for outdoor plays. So many thousands of children, boys and girls, in the sub-Saharan African countries are intensively engaged in woodcutting (deforestation) activities daily for decades, despite the desertification threats facing them, to earn a living. Mali and her neighbouring countries are cases in point. So many children in the poverty-stricken countries who are hawking bread and biscuits for several hours daily do not virtually have time for outdoor sports and games. For children who live in the war zones, a safe place for sports is not tenable. When families are poor, their children lack nutritious food, and as such, are bereft of physical energy to engage in energy-sapping outdoor games or sports activities. Outdoor play is essential for children's physical, emotional, cognitive, and social development. Outdoor play is very important for kids in the following ways:

1. Outdoor play helps children develop gross motor skills such as walking, running, jumping, and climbing by developing strong bones and muscles.

2. Consistent outdoor play activities such as riding of bicycles, playing football, and skipping rope, improve coordination and balance in the human body. 

3. Constant outdoor play reduces the risks of obesity and other related health issues.

4. Spending enough time for outdoor games can help children relax and reduce stress.

5. It fosters social skills. Outdoor play generally encourages social interactions, teamwork, interface, and communication with peers and colleagues. 

6. It helps children develop resilience and adaptability. Outdoor sports and games help children cope with challenges, setbacks, and uncomfortable environments. 

7. Outdoor play has been proved empirically to improve attention span and concentration in children.

8. It stimulates creativity, imagination, and problem-solving skills.

9. Outdoor play enhances interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), especially activities such as gardening, bird-watching, and natural exploration.

10. It helps children appreciate nature, conservation, environmental sustainability, and all natural systems.

11. Outdoor play helps regulate children's sleep patterns and improves sleep quality and health.

12. Outdoor play helps children develop advanced motor skills, lower body mass index, and better general health, including improved muscle strength and immune functions.

13. Playing outside the house allows children to develop essential social skills such as empathy, cooperation, and friendship, which are crucial for success in life.

14. It enhances self-awareness and appreciation of nature.

All parents and caregivers should help children participate in outdoor sports activities by: 

1. Supporting and facilitating outdoor play activities, even if it is just a short walk or playtime at the backyard or amusement park.

2. Engaging in outdoor play with their children, and making the moment enjoyable for all.

3. Ensuring safety during children's outdoor play periods by making sure that they wear boots, appropriate sports attires, and others, to avoid injuries while playing.

International agencies across the world have emphasized the crucial role of outdoor play for children's overall growth and development. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), children should engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily. The American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) has also recommended that children spend at least 30 minutes daily outdoor, engaging in play in order to promote physical activity, socialization, and creativity. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has highlighted the importance of outdoor play in children's lives, emphasizing that it is essential for cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development of children. 

In summary, outdoor play is highly essential for children's physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development. It helps the children develop strong bones and muscle groups, thereby reducing obesity and other related health issues. It reduces stress and anxiety, improves mood and quality sleep patterns. Outdoor play fosters relationships, teamworks, communication, while stimulating curiosity, creativity, and imaginations.

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