Outdoor fun creates healthier kids

AMC Outdoors, May 2008

As parents who hope to imbue their kids with a passion for being outdoors and active, my wife and I have discovered that our own playful, childlike imaginations can be all it takes to get our kids, ages 6 and 3, revved up.

A ready supply of healthy snacks, drinks, and warm, dry clothes helps, too. And if we’re feeling incredibly organized, maybe our muck boots, a bucket, and a dip net.

Thus equipped, we can spend aimless hours with our kids tossing twigs in streams, catching frogs, watching ant colonies, and even poking apart scat with a stick.

Turns out, we may be on to something.

“One of the best times we can have with our kids is when we’re just ambling through the woods,” says Andrea Muller, AMC’s A Mountain Classroom director. “As parents, you don’t have to structure all this activity.” With her own son, Muller says a favorite activity is walking along a nearby river and simply throwing rocks in the water.

Outdoor educators say kids who spend lots of unstructured time outside enjoy great exercise and become better connected to nature. According to a study released last year by the American Academy of Pediatrics, playing outside also positively affects children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development.

But sadly, “free” time outside is becoming a rare commodity. Typical Americans spend up to 25 percent less time in nature now than they did in 1987, according to a recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

That lack of outdoor time extends to kids, too, and some experts contend it’s an important contributor to rising childhood obesity rates: The prevalence of overweight children aged 6 to 11 increased from 7 percent in 1980 to 18.8 percent in 2004, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

KID TIPS So, what can we parents do about it? Here are some tips:

Ironically, it may mean planning some unstructured outdoor time into each overly-structured day. A study conducted by The Nature Conservancy found that children under the age of 13 spend less than 30 minutes a week playing outside. Families can build a “green hour” into each day–a dedicated hour when kids can play informally outdoors–just as they might set aside an hour for reading, TV, chores, or homework.
It helps if parents can show the same fascination with nature that they hope to see in their children. So, instead of uttering “Ewwww!” on encountering a bug, slug, or slimy mud, parents can offer a “Wow, cool!” to send a positive message. Learn to love dirt, and your kids will follow your lead.
Set simple goals, short on ambition and long on flexibility. With kids, hiking one mile in an hour–stopping frequently to play and explore–can be more rewarding, and invigorating, than force-marching the same distance in half the time.
Don’t wait until you can get to an “official” nature trail or preserve. A backyard, garden, park, or even a large lawn can suffice.
Let your kids be the nature guides. It’s easy to overwhelm kids by insisting that they learn the proper names for every critter and plant. Early on, it’s OK if they call a painted turtle a “stripy turtle” or a sow bug a “squishy bug.” Introduce nature guides gradually.
The same creative games that work in the city have their place in the woods. Try a game of “I Spy,” hide-and-seek, or red light/green light. Sometimes, my kids and I make up a simple nature imagination game we call, “Wouldn’t it be cool?”–as in, “Wouldn’t it be cool if that blueberry bush were as big as a house? And the blueberries were big as basketballs? How’d we ever fit them in our backpack?”
If your children aren’t used to being in nature, introduce them gently. Start with brief visits to the local park, with maybe nothing more than a picnic lunch. And, yes, it’s OK to bring along familiar toys from home if it makes your child more comfortable and eager to play.

-By Jim Graham

Time to Play