Why Outdoor Play Matters

​Time outdoors is essential for kids’ well-being—and for ours, as well. When kids get outdoors, they enjoy reduced anxiety and enhanced mood. The same goes for us adults. Outdoor settings also provide kids’ sensory systems with an ideal mix for learning, because the outdoors is both stimulating and calming at the same time.

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• Kids who spend more time outdoors are more physically active, and physical activity drives positive health outcomes.

• Daily doses of fresh air and sunlight increase circulation, vitamin D, boost immune systems, and promote overall wellness. 

• Time spent in natural settings also contributes to healthy sleep patterns in babies, toddlers and kids. And proper sleep drives all kinds of beneficial health outcomes.

• Kids who spend time outdoors get sick less often. 

• Nature and play lower stress. Time spent in natural settings is restorative and reduces anxiety for kids and for adults. Plus, if you can join your kids, your stress will reduce too!

• Play in nature brings joy. Learning to find and experience the joy that nature and play provide is another way to provide children with enriching, positive emotional experiences in the short term. If we can engrain that joy practice for them, they can carry forward this powerfully positive way of being in the world.

• Rain and snow build resilience. Playing in inclement weather can even give kids the opportunity to learn that they can manage when life gets a little challenging. 

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Excerpted from Tinkergarten: How Time Outside Makes Kids (and us) Healthier, Happier and Ready to Learn