Why Outdoor Play Matters

August 8, 2016November 10, 2020 0 Comments

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This post was sponsored by TruGreen as part of Influencer Activation for Influence Central. One of the universal bonuses of childhood is the ability and freedom to play outside, running through the yard with the grass beneath your toes, getting dirty, and enjoying all that nature has to offer. Only, recently, due to the advancement of technology, children aren’t spending near as much time with unstructured outdoor play as we did growing up. The average child spends more time in front of a screen than outside and in many cases, even less time outside than folks in prison! I’ve partnered with TruGreen to give you share some outdoor fun as well as a chance to enter the 2016 Live Life Outside Sweepstakes! Aside from just plain fun, there are MANY benefits children receive from outdoor play. As a mom of two boys, I can definitely see a difference in their overall well-being when they get to go outside. Even something as simple as playing in the sand box or going for a short walk goes a long way! They just have so much energy to release and they love to explore on their own terms. We try to offer them an option of outside time each day. During summer when it’s nearing 100 degrees, this is usually best in the morning or the evening after it’s cooled off a bit. In just a few short months, the snow will begin to fall and that grass beneath their feet will have to wait until spring, so we try to soak up the outdoor weather as much as possible this time of year! We’ve been enjoying dinner at the park followed by duck feeding or playground time at least once per week which has been so nice for us as well as our kids. It feels great to just appreciate the beautiful scenery around us and watch the boys have fun without any distractions! In Florida, we had to deal with fire ants, so we really treasure the ability for the boys to lay and roll around in the grass here in Utah without any worries!

Outdoor Play Facts:

A generation ago 75% of American kids played outside daily; nowadays, only 25% do. Source Sixty minutes of daily unstructured free play is essential to children’s physical and mental health. (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2008) The average American child is said to spend 4 to 7 minutes a day in unstructured play outdoors, and over 7 hours a day in front of a screen. Source In a typical week, only 6% of children ages 9-13 play outside on their own. (Children & Nature Network, 2008) Prisoners at a maximum-security facility in the U.S. are guaranteed 2 hours of outdoor time daily, whereas 1 out of 2 kids worldwide spend less than an hour outside. Source