3 Reasons Why Your Child Should be Outside this Summer

With the warmer months ahead and summer in full swing, there are many benefits to encouraging your child to play outside. As a parent, modeling outdoor activity will show your child that they have a world full of fun activities other than video games or screen time, and that these activities bring a lot of positive changes. There are many benefits to encouraging your child to move their body, interact with peers, and get natural sunlight. These benefits not only bring positive change to your child on a personal level, but can also elevate how the whole family spends time together. Take a look at these three reasons how spending time outdoors can help your child and family.

1. Reduced stress and anxiety

Being outside and engaging in outdoor play can offer a very calming effect, being in nature can provide that sense of calmness and relaxation that every child needs after completing the school year. Playing outside can increase vitamin D production for the child, which can boost their mood and sense of relaxation, lowering stress levels and improving the immune system. One activity to take this benefit further is to try incorporating meditations that can be introduced while playing outside. One fun and simple exercise for the whole family is utilizing your five senses to be more grounded within nature. 

Practice as a family finding 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can touch, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste. 

2. Provides unstructured playtime.

Having your child play outside with their peers or individually leads to them utilizing their imagination and creative play skills. Having the unstructured time to play outside can give your child a break from structured activities in the summer and allows them to utilize their own creative brains to figure out what they want to play. This can be a really good time for peer to peer interaction with other kids in the neighborhood or just individual playtime, which can be relaxing for the child and allow them to process their day. Having this unstructured time for your child to utilize is extremely important in helping them regulate their emotions and allows them to take a break from a busy schedule. This is also a great way for parents to take time to get outside themselves for some fantastic recentering. 

3. Enhanced problem-solving skills 

Spending time outside and engaging in activities that are unstructured with peers will allow your child to develop effective problem solving skills. Having to work together, come to an agreement on a game, or even something like going on a nature scavenger hunt will help your child develop socially with peers of all ages as well as encourage their own sense of self. In the summer, more children are home and have more time, which can lead to the fostering of new relationships for your child and family. Going outside in a safe, playful environment is a great way for your child to learn to navigate these new relationships and strengthen their own values and knowledge of their surroundings as well.

There are so many resources alongside this one showing how beneficial the outdoors are for our mental and physical health. Try some of these tips and tailor them to fit your family needs to see how you can incorporate outside time in your routine today.