Outdoor Play
| What is this unit about? |
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| Outdoor play is good for kids |
In today’s world many children are not getting any time outdoors. They are driven from place to place, and are only outside when they walk from the car or bus to home, store, or childcare program. Today’s children are spending more time indoors watching television, playing video and computer games. Yet the simple joys of play outdoors are one of the things that most adults remember with great pleasure from their own childhood. Outdoor play has so many benefits for health and child development. Because we can no longer count on children having daily outdoors time at home, it’s more important than ever that children have regularly scheduled time outside every day during their childcare. |
| Outdoor play is valuable |
Fitness and Health |
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| Along with this extra fat come potential health problems, including an increased risk of heart disease. Over 60 percent of the overweight children ages five to ten years old have at least one risk factor of cardiovascular disease such as elevated insulin, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure, and 25 percent have two or more of these risk factors. Obesity can also increase the risk of bone disease and some cancers later on in life and puts children at an increased risk of adult-onset or type 2 diabetes. |  |
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In addition, studies have found that children who are overweight before the age of eight tend to go on to become overweight adults. This early onset increases the risk of being more than 100 pounds overweight as an adult. The health benefits of building muscle and burning calories are the number-one reason why outdoor play should be a regular part of your childcare day, but there are many other reasons as well. |
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Stress Release |
Improved Behavior |
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Social Skills |
| Sensory Learning Outdoor play helps young children use their most powerful form of learning. Young children learn by doing and by exploring with their senses. Children remember much more of the learning that they do through their senses. This is why time spent outside learning through the senses may provide the best foundation for understanding the world. |
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| What can we do? |
Young children are naturally active, but they need a little help from us to give them time and opportunity to use their bodies actively every day. Offer children two types of outdoor play: structured play and unstructured (or free) play. Structured active play is when an adult leads an activity or does an activity together with the children. In unstructured play, the children choose what to do, either playing on their own or with others, while the adult closely supervises the children. |
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| How much physical activity do young children need? |
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| What is structured physical activity? |
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Structured play can be very simple. Introduce children to active games. Games that require jumping and running are a fun and wonderful way to get kids moving. Children need three types of activities:
Old-fashioned games like hopscotch and jump rope work well with older preschoolers and school-age children. Games like “Simon Says” can be made more active by suggesting jumping and toe touches. Simple games like tossing a ball and running after it can be just right for toddlers. With mixed-age groups it works best to have several different versions of the activities going. Rather than drawing one hopscotch board with chalk, draw two or more and encourage the smallest children to jump from square to square while the older children play a more advanced version of the game on their own board. |
| Great structure activities |
Musical activities work well with children of different ages. All you need is a tape recorder with batteries, musical instraments for a parade outside, or just you singing voice. Musical activities; are a great idea for a rainy day when you can't go outside.
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| What is unstructured active play? |
Children need unstructured outdoor play. One childcare provider who loves the outdoors says, “I take the children outdoors as much as possible. When the weather is good we may be outside as much as half of the day. We eat and snack outside, and I bring activities outside whenever I can.” Although free play is not directed by adults, caregivers must prepare for and supervise free play to keep it safe, fun, and active:
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| Active play equipment |
You can organize good active play using simple equipment: plastic or foam bat and ball, larger blow-up balls that can be bounced and kicked, hula hoops, beanbags, and scoops. Beanbags can be homemade--in fact, these are the best kind. You can make them in different sizes and colors. Balance beams can be created out of lumber. Although store-bought climbing structures, swings, and playhouses are great, they are also expensive. Children can and will play on anything available. You may be able to find discarded materials with play potential, like logs, cardboard boxes, and pieces of large plastic pipe. If children are playing on anything that was not made to be played on, then you need to take extra care to make sure that it is safe. |
| Safe Supervision |
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Children need special close supervision during outside play. Always check the area and remove sticks and other debris that children might trip and fall on. Check the condition of any outdoor play equipment. Plastic weathers when it is left outside and may chip or crack. Wood develops splinters and screws and nails can work their way loose. Make sure you count the children often and walk around while you are supervising. Children sometimes use this time to misbehave out of your sight, so to prevent this from happening you need to move around. Even though it is tempting to sit down and relax while the children are playing, it is very important to keep a close eye on the children. |
| Summary With the growing epidemic of obesity among children, childcare providers must take special care to make sure the children in their care get adequate physical activity to build both health and fitness. This means that children need regular structured and unstructured active times during their childcare day. During structured active times, plan activities that are fun and active. Thirty minutes of structured activity is recommended each day for toddlers and sixty minutes a day is recommended for preschoolers. Unstructured free play outside is equally important to children’s health and development. During this time you might offer a variety of outdoor play equipment, which you can rotate to keep the children interested.
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