For me outside play is my top activity for the girls, there is nothing better than getting outside in the elements looking for a mini adventure, following a trail to no where and foraging finds for our next craft activity. Exercise, fresh air and fun will always be top of my list - besides it gets me out of the house as I strive to calm my cabin fever!
For us it can be as simple as a walk to the post box, scooter to the shops, bike ride to the park or foraging in the woods for pretty flowers, sticks and leaves. As children my siblings and I grew up in big and small gardens, next to farmers fields (to which we would regularly slip through the fence into the field chasing mice and playing pretend farmers) and next to great parks with lots of fun apparatus. So obviously we grew up with a lot of outdoor play, making dens and had lots of mini adventures, so naturally I want the same for my girls. What better memories are there than of summer holidays filled with lots of healthy fun running around outdoors, besides it's how it's always been?
Unfortunately there seems to be a decline in children playing outside as much as our predecessors. This is probably in part because of parental fear of the unknown and horror stories in the media and a lot more families unable to afford bigger housing with gardens and being stuck in a flat unable to move because of the recession.
A article about a UK study on children playing outside has found that only 25% of children play outside on a frequent basis. View article here. For me this is a tragic statistic and I certainly don't want my children to become part of the 75% even if it means getting outside myself and encouraging imaginative play.
There has even been a study conducted to prove that time spent outside is soothing and calming for young children and allows them to settle their own disputes (I think personally children are just too distracted outside to care about arguing!). View article here.
Whatever way you look at it its clear to see playing outside is good for children, pretty common sense I would have said. To co-incide with these studies published earlier this year Persil teamed up with Bear Grylls to come up with a list of the top 10 things children should do before your 10, which is downloadable for all for free here.
Now after looking at the list myself I have to say that there are a few things on there even I didn't do as a child and as for sledging down sand - down anyone live near a desert by chance as I certainly haven't seen many sand hills. But then maybe I don't get out much? So on inspection I'm wondering how to incorporate many of these into my daughters play outside and wondering if I will struggle just to find a hill as Essex is a pretty flat place!!
- Perfect the perfect hill roll
- Become a hide-and-seek champion
- Go sledging- on sand
- Build a den- indoors or out
- Build a rope swing
- Nurse that sting
- Try and count the stars
- Make a mud pie
- Make a compass
- Pick your own pudding
I've done 7 1/2 out of 10, not bad in my eyes. How many I can get the girls to do before their 10 is another thing! I think for now we'll just enjoy our nature walks and foraging...
We <3 the outdoors!
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