Both indoor and outdoor play experiences are important for
children's development. While recent research has shown a decline
in the numbers of children engaging in active outdoor play, outdoor
play is critical to your child's healthy development. Outdoor areas
are ideal places for children to engage in messy play with sand,
water, paint and other art and craft activities. The outside
playground offers a much wider variety of natural materials to
stimulate the senses. Toddlers and preschoolers will enjoy playing
with dirt, leaves, bricks, rocks, bark, water, plants and
flowers.
Paddling pools are great for water play; your toddler will enjoy
splashing and kicking, include cups and containers of different
shapes and sizes for stacking, scooping and pouring. Bubble
machines are also great for developing spatial awareness as your
child excitedly attempts to catch bubbles floating through the
air.
As children move into the preschool years (2-5 years), they engage
in more active play, they are learning to use wheeled toys and
enjoy climbing large playground equipment. Your child will also
enjoy playing with balls, bowling sets, skipping ropes, and racket
games. The outdoors presents more opportunities for children to
engage in active play, important for the development of key motor
skills such as running, balancing, chasing, throwing and catching.
Active outdoor play has many health benefits; it enhances your
child's fitness, reduces the chances of obesity and promotes
general wellbeing.
Outdoor play also offers children opportunities to explore their
environment in relationship to themselves; create their own places
for play; and engage in imaginative play experiences with both
realistic (e.g., cubby houses, tents, clothes lines, trucks) and
symbolic (e.g., cartons, logs, rocks) props. Outdoor play spaces
are great for those times when children need to play games that
involve lots of noise as well as non-violent rough-and-tumble play.
Use these opportunities to talk to your child about "inside" and
"outside" voices and the different volumes that go with
these!
Outdoor active play can be intensely stimulating and creates
opportunities for children to learn about and develop self-control.
Research has shown that popular children are more likely to engage
in high levels of physical play with peers. Unpopular children, on
the other hand, seem to experience difficulty with the intensity of
physical play and often become overstimulated and "out-of-control".
By playing actively with your child you are not only promoting good
health and physical development but you are providing them with the
opportunity to develop essential skills that will help them in
their social interactions with peers.
Written by Dr Cathrine Neilsen-Hewett and provided to us by
KiDS Central and the Early Learning Centre.
