The new norm includes spending an average of seven hours with and in front of electronics. Previously, these hours were usually for outdoor activities. The benefits of these outdoor activities are no direct substitute for the current sedentary lifestyle. Unfortunately, one of the consequences is directly negative to their health and well-being. Already, society is witnessing a decline in the number of active kids and young adults. One of the crucial causes of this decline is due to isolation from peers.
Parents have a huge role to play in ensuring that their kids get all-around nourishment for their individual growth. This is important for their physical, emotional and intellectual growth. Taking part in outdoor activities is a huge way to encourage your kids to form an integral part of a community with their peers.
This article focuses on the benefits of stepping away from the screen. Its outlines what these outdoor activities provide to their body, emotions and psychology as kids and young adults while growing up.
Benefits of Outdoor Activities for kids
Encouraging your kids to spend more time outdoors and in nature will add several benefits to them. Below are the specific benefits you are sure they will be getting
- Physical Development
Agility, balance and coordination are some of the top physical development that our kids benefit from outdoor activities. Activities like running, walking, biking, playing with motor toys and other activities help to exercise their body and make them strong physically. These activities also help to burn excess fats from their body. In this age where fast food is increasing the number of childhood obesity, exercising and participating in outdoor activities are some of the ways to shield kids from obesity.
There is a direct correlation between a child’s body mass index and the number of outdoor activities the child performs. Activities like running, jumping, climbing and other calories burning activities help to burn calories and exercise all parts of your kid’s body.
- Mental Development
Unfortunately, not all intellectual and mental development happens in the classroom. In fact, a bulk of these developments require active running outside in nature. Encouraging your kids to step outside is an active way of helping them to develop their mental and intellectual activities.
For example, kids have to come of fun games that require innovation and direct connection to their competitiveness. This need to become independent and work for the win is good for cultivating good decision-making and concentration skills.
They are also improving their communications skills for every minute they use on the playground. Kids are naturally gifted to hit it off with other kids immediately they make contact. However, this gift needs proper cultivation. Communicating to achieve certain goals while having fun altogether helps to improve their communication skills. The skills they gather are independent of their parent’s influence or assistance.
Consequently, the knowledge they gain by just playing with other kids foster the opportunity to learn new skills and opportunity to gain new information. They are strengthening their primary activities when they play games that require them to count, spell, among others.
- Social Development
The ability to function in a social construct is important for societal development and advancement. Of course, the foundation of this development is rooted in how the generation of people bond and build social connections. One of the ways to nurture this social development is allowing kids to play outdoors and learn from their interactions.
Kids are natural caregivers and brutally honest at a young age. The space and people around them define their perception and how they develop these social characteristics. They are either facing an intimidating reception that makes them increasingly quiet or a nurturing reception that makes them more open and caregiving. To develop their social skills, they have to meet and interact with different characters to understand how to deal with the different behaviours. Being in front of a screen will seclude them from such activities.
Consciously, a kid playing outside with others has a better chance of developing a stronger observation skill. Self-awareness is one of the social development that kids get to develop while on the playground around other kids. This allows them to see the world from a different perspective from other kids around them. Kids get to see, in effect, the real cause and effect world and be aware of the risks that also accompanies actions and their reactions.
Overall, being in tune with their emotions while playing with other kids will help to improve their relationships with their peers. Coming up with fun activities and actively competing with each other helps to nurture positive peer-to-peer social relationships.
- Emotional Development
Joy, sorrow and everything between this end-to-end spectrum is emotions that kids will most likely experience on the outdoor playground. Playing outdoor helps kids develop all their five senses early and faster than their peers. The rapid development of their emotion sits right on top of these senses. This helps them combine the information from these senses to process situations better and grow stronger.
This development can directly translate to having independent self-awareness when they are in specific situations. They can decipher situations where there is danger and other situations where they are free to express their emotions. Playing outdoor help them to become innovative, confident and adventurous while continually growing. They can try difficult tasks without having the fear of failure. They get to improve and stay in tune with their emotions as they grow.
Summing It Up
The various development of kids varies for age groups. Kids are magnets that absorb and act out the actions they can see and observe. For these different stages, they do not play nor absorb the same way. Hence, it is important to provide them with the tools and enough play areas to develop and grow. A sure one-stop shop that can take care of these for you is the Riiroo motor toy shop. You can get the best outdoor motor toys for your kids to play around with and bond over.
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