The average child only gets 4-7 minutes of outdoor free play every day
It can be hard to unglue a child from their screens, but once outside with a little direction and motivation, kids become kids again, quickly becoming captivated my their natural surroundings.
Better yet, the benefits that outdoor play has on a child's health, behaviour, and development are considerable, and well worth the effort!
Danielle Cohen, writing on behalf of the Child Mind Institute, states that kids who play outside are smarter, happier, more attentive, and less anxious than kids who spend more time indoors.
How time in nature is good for a child's mind:
It builds confidence. The way that kids play in nature has a lot less structure than most types of indoor play. There are infinite ways to interact with outdoor environments, from the backyard to the park to the local hiking trail or lake, and letting your child choose how they treat nature means they have the power to control his own actions.
It promotes creativity and imagination. This unstructured style of play also allows kids to interact meaningfully with their surroundings. They can think more freely, design their own activities, and approach the world in inventive ways.
It provides different stimulation. Nature may seem less stimulating than your child's video game, but in reality, it activates more senses—you can see, hear, smell, and touch outdoor environments.
It gets kids moving. Most ways of interacting with nature involve more exercise than sitting on the couch. Your kid doesn’t have to be joining the local soccer team or riding a bike through the park—even a walk will get her blood pumping. Not only is exercise good for kids’ bodies, but it seems to make them more focused, which is especially beneficial for kids with ADHD.
It reduces stress and fatigue. According to the Attention Restoration Theory, urban environments require what’s called directed attention, which forces us to ignore distractions and exhausts our brains. In natural environments, we practice an effortless type of attention known as soft fascination that creates feelings of pleasure, not fatigue.
So while screen time is the easier, more popular choice, it’s important to set aside time for outdoor play.
Find more benefits of being in active in nature for kids here.
(Author Danielle Cohen on behalf of Child Mind Institute.)
Our top Treetop Trekking adventures to get kids active in nature are:
- Treewalk Villlage (Ages 3-7)
- Discovery Courses (Ages 5-8)
- Zipline & Aerial Game Trek (Ages 9+)
- uplā (Ages 9+)