Benefits of Outdoor Play
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- By Just Imagine Toys Hero Team
Outdoor play is beneficial for children beyond the physical activity it provides. It helps them socialize, understand their bodies better, engage in imaginative play and enjoy the outdoors. On average, today’s kids spend seven hours a day staring at electronics like phones, laptops, tablets and television. Evidence demonstrates that kids today tend to swap active outdoor recreation for more sedentary activities, often to the detriment of their health and quality of life. The best way to teach these qualities to your kids is to get them outside. Spending time outside presents extensive benefits for children’s physical development throughout their preschool and elementary years. Playing outside allows kids to develop more advanced motor skills than children who spend most of their time indoors, including agility, balance and coordination.
Playing outside comes with many physical benefits, and it also provides a remarkable opportunity for children to develop socially. Teamwork and imagination are necessary for outdoor play, which allows children to experience positive interactions with their peers. Kids who get consistent time to play outside are more likely to get along with others and find common ground.
Putting educational toys and materials outdoors gives kids a chance to learn new information and skills by playing. Engaging in outdoor play with your child helps the following skills:
- Emotion regulation.
- Group leadership skills.
- Creativity.
- Cognitive flexibility.
There are so many outdoor toys and materials that can make outdoor time so much fun. Just to name a few that will keep your child busy for hours.
3 Benefits of playing with sidewalk chalk
While playing with sidewalk chalk, kids develop color recognition, sorting and matching skills. The chalk can also be used to teach children shapes, numbers and letters. Playing with sidewalk chalk can be one of your child’s first experiences with coloring and writing. It helps them learn the appropriate pencil grip as well as develop fine motor control and manipulation. By allowing them to color and create their own designs with sidewalk chalk, they begin to express themselves in their own creative way.
Benefits of Bubbles
Fine motor skills: the ability to complete tasks with the use of the small muscles in our hands and fingers.
Hand/eye coordination: the ability for the eyes and the hands to work together to complete specific movements.
The same is true with most outdoor activities. Playing ball, hop scotch, jumping rope, throwing a frisbee, archery, darts, water toys, and the list goes on. All these fun activities have benefits for your child to grow and learn. Whether its gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, social skills, grasping skills, balance and coordination skills. These are the skills that are important for maturing.
So have your child unplug and get outdoors to play. Just Imagine Toys can help match your child with the appropriate age outdoor toy. Have a great spring, summer & fall learning, playing, and just having fun.