Early Start
 Active living, healthy lifestyle, organic lifestyle, physical activity, get moving, exercise, connecting with the nature… I’m sure you all have heard the buzz in the news or from health advocates and professionals who are advocate a better lifestyle for children.
All over the western world there has been an increase in obesity and diabetes in children. In 1998\1999, over 40% of Canadian children between 2-5 years-old are overweight.Active living for early childhood It is becoming clear that we are looking at an entire generation of children lacking even basic physical skills and fitness.
What has happened with our communities and our children? There seems to be an increase in availability of indoor playgrounds, government initiatives and organized programs attempting to get children active, but interesting enough the trend is not reversing.
The present trend in North America of beginning formal education at an earlier age and influences of media and technology seem to be pushing children away from activity rather than embracing it. Recent studies have shown that unstructured outdoor play is the best activity for children!! At first glance it seems counterintuitive. If the first 5 years of a child’s life are the most important in learning and development, how does unstructured outdoor play foster their ability to become successful students and adults? And though most adults would agree that play is an important part of childhood, our actions as a society speak to the difficulty we have to just let our children play. Simple, no agenda play.
There are two basic rules to outdoor play:
1.) Any activity you do inside (that does not involve being plugged into an electrical outlet) you can do outside with your child.
2.) Instead of staying inside in bad weather, use the weather as an opportunity rather as an impediment for your child. They love different experiences. Parks and playgrounds are all-season locations. Rain and snow, ice and mud can actually increase their enjoyment and changes the landscape adding new opportunities of discovery in familiar and stale playgrounds.
 Increasing your child’s exposure at an early age to outdoor play doesn’t just benefit their physical development. It enriches all aspect of early childhood development, mind and body. By exposing your child to both structured activities and unstructured play not only are you are building the foundation for a healthy active lifestyle that the child will embrace life, you are supporting their mental and emotional health as well.
Connecting children to nature is also an important component. A child is naturally bound to nature. By exposing children to nature early they will be likely to stay connected with nature.
Richard Louv postulat in his book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder, that the rise in obesity, attention disorders and depression in children in North America is directly linked to the lack of outdoor experiences in children.
In other Nordic countries, and some northern states in the US (with the same climate as Canada) there exist “Nature Daycares”where kids are outside all day in all kinds of weather. Dr. Ingunn Fjortoft, a professor at Telemark College in Norway,published a study on how children’s fitness level and motor development.published a study on how children’s fitness level and motor development.
Fjørtoft concludes that children who use nature as their playground have better motor fitness, balance and coordination compare to children using normal playground equipment.
The school system in Finland is ranked number 1 in world and they consider being outside playing an important part of their school system.
For us nature is something we are in, what we can smell, touch and hear. It is not something that is abstract. Nature exists everywhere, even in the city. It can be your backyard, your local park, ravine or even an empty lot in an urban setting. Children don’t need a big forest, for them it is enough to be in a little lot with different natural elements.
Nature is something best experienced as the real thing. Children learn best through their senses. It is not being indoors and reading about how to skate, ski or sledding. Take the kids outside and let them experience it. We as parents have to ensure our children get these experiences every day.
Small children are meant to be moving, for them this is their work and this is how they learn. Children through history have always been playing outside, but now because of fear (fear of injury, lawsuits, pollution and child predators) this fundamental need is being taken away.
The irony lies in the fact that most adults will tell you that the most positive childhood memory they have occurred outside. But we are bending to the “times have changed” camp taking the path of least resistance of subtraction rather than looking at the problems and coming up with ways to enrich our children’s lives. Expanding their universe starts in the micro of their world directly surrounding them and evolves to the macro of education, organized sports and piano lessons.
Let the Children Play : Nature’s Answer to Early Learning
(November 8, 2006) Early Childhood Learning Knowledge Centre.Canadian Council on Learning.
Louv, Richard (2005)
Last Child in the Woods : saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
Bohan, Suzanne
Video : the movement to get kids back to nature
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So to sum it up
outdoor experiences benefit your children in the following ways:
- Logical mathematical thinking, scientific reasoning, and cognitive problem solving.
- Social and emotional self-regulation
- Fosters creativity and flexibility in thinking
- Pretend play fosters communication, developing conversational skills
- Literacy
- Physical skills.
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