Benefits of Kids Playing Outside

By Co-Founder, Erica Diepersloot

One of our daughters has the uncanny ability to predict when Daddy is coming home from work. Most days, she will have her face pressed against the window, waiting for his truck to pull in the driveway; some days she even sets out a lawn chair and a beach blanket to be sitting outside waiting for him. As soon as he turns in, she races out to greet him– it is such a sweet thing. 

Fun Things To Do With Dad Outside

The girls also make a list of three things they want to play with Daddy when he gets home.
It’s pretty much always the same:

1. Trampoline
2. Play Tag
3. Resl (this one took me a while to figure out from their list, but I finally determined it means “wrestle” :) )

Their list happens to be all outdoor activities (although #3 is often indoors… as we are trying to get them upstairs for bedtime :))

Why is it important for kids to play outside?

We encourage time outside in general, but the way it has happened so naturally is probably because Rob and I both enjoy time outside, so that is a lot of what we do together as a family. We love going on family bike-rides and family hikes. We started them young – we have worn each of our kids in a front-pack carrier as a baby, then later in a hiking backpack, so they were familiar with being on a trail at a young age. Some kids might like these adventures from the get-go, but some might be hesitant that they can handle a big hike or they might complain about being tired or too little.

Tips and Tricks to Keeping them Outside

In case you need a few little tricks to encourage your little one that these adventures are indeed very fun, here is what our family finds helpful.

1. Take a Bike Ride to a Destination 

My favorite would be riding to a deli or the beach, but our kids would choose to ride to a playground or out for ice cream :) We like to enjoy the journey, but also recognize that there is a natural dopamine rush when you arrive at your destination, whatever it may be.

2. Snacks

Our family tries to prioritize having nutritious meals versus relying on snacks, but we all agree that snacks are fun :) My kids know to pack one healthy snack, one medium snack, and one they call the “yummy yum snack.” Some examples would be an apple or carrots, a string cheese or Chomp stick, and fruit snacks or sucker, respectively, and they know they have to eat them in that order. We also try to have goals of where they get each snack (ie: let’s make it to the bench on top of the hill before our first pit stop).

3. Natural Souvenirs

We have a child who always stops to smell the roses, literally. So hiking with her two feet on the ground means a lot of stopping. But having little mini landmarks for her to spot makes it so fun to take her on a hike because she gets so much joy by finding the flowers. Another child of ours loves lizards.

To put it into perspective, this love is so strong that when we were at the zoo recently, she would rather be looking for lizards than feeding a giraffe or petting a stingray. So it’s somewhat of an issue, but also so great that she has found something that she loves so much in nature! When we begin a trail, she starts to tally how many lizards she finds (we had to set boundaries and say she cannot stop to catch them until the end), but she loved counting all 11 baby lizards and 4 big daddy ones. And now when we begin a new trail, we always aim to beat her personal record. 

4. Scavenger Hunt

Similar to the above, you might try giving each kid a list of three things they have to find on the trail (ie: a heart-shaped leaf, a butterfly, and a purple flower). If your kids do well with competition, make it a game to see who can find the biggest leaf or the longest stick. 

Or, have them team up! Add all their findings together to get 100 points.

5. The Wolf Within

This secret comes from Rob. We had been on a relatively strenuous hike as a family recently, and one of the kids couldn’t take another step. Allegedly. You may or may not relate to a situation such as this so I don’t need to paint you a picture, but there were definitely tears involved. At the time, we decided to divide into two groups: I took the two kids that wanted to continue, while Rob waited with the other two.

When my group made it to the peak, I admit that I didn’t think we would see the second half of our family until the bottom of the mountain. So my group enjoyed a snack and the view, then when we were about to head down the trail, we suddenly heard their voices. Albeit the steps were slow and the voices were tired, the second half of our group made it to the peak!

Rob and I were both pretty surprised, but so proud that everyone decided to finish. When I asked how he encouraged the child that could not go on, he said he called on the wolf within. I didn’t ask further questions, but I do think sometimes a dad acting silly (in this case, howling?) can be what helps shift a child’s brain out of “dysregulation” - which is the very emotional “flight/flight/freeze” state when the individual experiences stress beyond what she can cope with alone - into a regulated and more reasonable state. 

The science behind it is that humor makes kids feel connected, and feeling connected means they are not alone.

But backing up on all this, why are we even talking about getting outside? Maybe you are already familiar with the benefits of the outdoors, maybe (like me before this blog) you just enjoy it without realizing the science behind it, maybe you remember your mom telling you to “just go outside” when you needed a reset as a kid, or maybe you have heard of the fad about getting X-thousand hours outside per year. 

Whatever your motive is, here are a few health benefits that spending time outdoors is linked to:

Benefits of Kids Playing Outside

• Improved sleep: spending time outside can reset your circadian rhythm and improve your sleep by exposing you to natural light, which helps regulate sleep cycles.
  
• Reduced stress: Studies show that being outside can reduce stress, cortisol levels, muscle tension, and even lower your resting heart rate. The science behind this is that time in nature has been shown to decrease activity in the amygdala, the region of our brain associated with processing fear and stress.
  
  
• Better mood: Spending time outdoors can elevate your mood and decrease feelings of anxiety and worry– this is linked to the decreased blood flow in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that correlates with ruminating/self-referential thoughts.
  

• Increased physical activity: This is likely just a correlation, but it is logical: spending time outdoors often leads to more time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity. Yay for exercise– and it’s even more enjoyable when you are able to be in nature!
  
  
• Reduce inflammation: there are recent studies showing that spending time in nature can help keep internal inflammation in check.
  
  
• Enhanced Cognitive Function:
  • Enhanced Memory: Studies have shown that spending time in nature can improve working memory capacity and short-term memory.
    
    
  • Increased Creativity: Nature can stimulate neural pathways and foster innovative thinking, leading to enhanced creativity and problem-solving abilities.
    
    
  • Improved Cognitive Flexibility: being in nature can increase cognitive flexibility, allowing people to adapt more easily to changing situations.
    
    
• Improved brain structure: research is showing that time outdoors is positively associated with grey matter volume in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain involved in working memory, planning, and decision-making. 

So next time you need a lift, head outside and let nature work for you. You’ll be giving your mental, physical, and emotional health a naturally beneficial boost– it’ll feel like a breath of fresh air ;)

Wonder More

Source

NIH: Spend time outdoors for your brain: An in-depth longitudinal MRI study, 2021 Jul 7