3 Reasons to Say Yes to Outdoor Play

Improving Your Kids’ Quality of Life Through Outdoor Experiences

One of our favorite places to go in my hometown is a children’s garden.  Officially known as the Paul Smith Children’s Village, this amazing outdoor garden and exploration center is a kid-friendly space that’s part of the Cheyenne Botanic Garden in Lion’s Park.

Everywhere you looked today at the Children’s Village you could find happy, smiling kids.  Kids wading knee deep in rocky pools, kids digging in the sand, kids pulling themselves and each other across a water bridge.  All smiles, if a little soggy.

I think Wyokiddo summed it up best.

“I love this place because it’s a yes place!”

The Paul Smith Children’s Village encourages kids to touch.  To make noise.  To splash.  There are pools designed for wading, gears and levers made for turning and outdoor instruments for playing.  Everything is hands on.  Kids are actually encouraged to touch and explore.

Wyokiddo spent tickling the ivories of this inviting outdoor piano.  The best part?  No one telling her to keep it down.

Any place that encourages outdoor play and exploration is an amazing place in my book.  We live on a farm and are a hunting and fishing family, so my daughter gets plenty of time outdoors.  But spaces like the Children’s Village help provide places for urban kids to get their hands dirty.  And that’s important for so many reasons.  Most people know that getting outside and being active is important.  But time outside in nature is beneficial in other surprising ways.

Consider this…

1. Nature improves kids’ resilience to stress and behavioral issues.

According to the Children’s Mental Health Report, an estimated 17.1 million kids have or have had a psychiatric disorder.  That’s more than the number of kids with cancer, diabetes and AIDS combine.  That’s about 23% of all kids, or a little more than 1 in five kids.  Those disorders include anxiety, ADHD, depression, bi-polar and eating disorders.

Those 17.1 million kids, in fact all kids, can benefit from exposure to nature.  Having access to green space helps calm kids, reducing anxiety.  They benefit from exploring textures, smells and having space to decompress.  Numerous studies have demonstrated that time is associated with improved moods, physical well-being and meaningfulness.

2.  Nature teaches kids to think.

One of the most popular spots at the Children’s Village today was a kid-powered pulley bridge.  To get across the small pond, the kids had to use a pulley system.  Each new kid would jump on, fumble about for a bit and then finally get themselves moving through some trial-and-error.

Nature also helps develop the imagination.  A stick can become a sword, a javelin, a baton, a guitar or a flag.  Kids aren’t climbing a dirt pile, they are charging a hill or climbing a mountain.  They are engaged, active and participating in the world around them.  Outdoor time prompts kids to ask questions about the earth and the world around them.

3.  Nature increases kids’ sense of self-fulfillment and purpose

A 2014 study conducted at Michigan State University suggested that children who play outdoors have a stronger sense of self-fulfillment and purpose than those who don’t.  Perhaps it’s that nature teaches us that each individual is unique, but that we are also part of a larger whole.  As kids experience a world of social pressures and expectations, nature gives them a chance to appreciate a world bigger than their own and that contentment and fulfillment is found within, not in material goods or possessions.

Get your kids outside this summer.  Go hiking.  Go fishing.  Garden together.  Anything to get them in and around nature.  Find local spaces where they can explore with their hands and learn with all their senses.  You’ll see the benefits soon enough.

Fore ideas on outdoor and water play, check out my Pinterest Board!

-Teresa