6 Reasons Children Need to Play Outside

There is on very easy thing you, as a parent, can do to improve your kid's health, success and wellbeing: make sure they spend time playing outside! The most glaring difference between how we grew up vs. our kids is the amount of time today's kids spend indoors.

Here are six ways that playing outside helps kids:

1. Sunshine: We need sun exposure to make vitamin D, which plays a big role in bone development as well as creating a healthy immune system which can improve sleep and mood in children.
2. Exercise: Kids should be active and outside everyday for at least an hour. Playing sports, riding a bike, sliding, swinging and other forms of active play is great for keeping kids fit and healthy!
3. Executive Function: This is a weird one right? Well, maybe not... Giving kids unstructured time to play will force them to make up their own games, figure things out and amuse themselves. These simple skills will help kids prioritize, troubleshoot, negotiate, and multitask as adults!
4. Taking Risks: This can make parents anxious as we want our kids to be safe but taking risks will greatly improve your kids confidence and bravery! The lessons we learn from failure are just as important as the ones learned from victory. 
5. Socialization: Kids need to learn to work together, make friends and cooperate! This can be accomplished with unstructured play outside with friends!
6. Appreciation of Nature: YES this is easier accomplished by playing outside than watching videos on YouTube!

Get your kids outside by themselves, with friends, or go with them! If you need more activities outside to make getting your kids outside easier, let River City Play Systems send you a catalog for ideas!

This blog has paraphrased "6 Reasons Children Need to Play Outside" by Claire McCarthy, MD. You can read this article in full, along with other related articles HERE!