Our age has a very big effect on what our day to day life looks like. A baby will spend their day reliant on adults, Adults will most likely be more independent but will have more responsibilities and the elderly may also require assistance in day to day tasks. Age has a big effect on British people's interactions with the outdoors. Originally, I started this blog intending to cover all ages and how they interact with the outdoors however this would have been a very large topic so I have broken it down into a series. In this blog I am going to focus on children, I will later release two others one focusing on adults and the last on the elderly.
Children are one of the most well researched age groups when it comes to outside interactions. A survey done by the UK Gov suggests, this is because on the whole children spend more time outside than adults, with 70% of children going outside once a week. Out of that percentile 72% of children were visiting urban greenspaces, with 36% attending the countryside and the remaining 17% going to the coast. Adults are very important mediators when it comes to getting children outside with 66% of children who visit an outdoors space once a week are taken by an adult. So how come 30% of children aren't going outside once a week? Research done by the UK Gov shows that children from lower income areas and BAME backgrounds are less likely to spend time outside. As these groups encounter more barriers when trying to go outdoors, parents struggle to take children outside or will at least do so less often. (Read my blog on The Outdoors and The Class system where I go into further depth on this subject). Children spend the majority of their time outside playing both when with and without an adult. As children get older and more independent children start to spend more of that time doing physical activity, spending time with friends and using the outdoors to relax.
This gives us a great understanding of how and how often children are going outside. But why is it so important for children to be getting into the outdoors?
Time spent outside is widely accepted to improve wellbeing, however children who spend time outside tend to reap more benefits than adults do. They benefit from: cognitive benefits, physical development, positive mental health, social development and a stronger appreciation of nature. To understand these areas better I have spoken to the best forest school teacher I know, Alison, my Mum! Forest schools is a form of education based in the outdoors where children are given more freedom than in the traditional classroom. They learn how to make a fire, play outdoor games and observe nature. So who better to ask about the benefits of the outdoors to children than a forest school teacher!
The Nature of outdoor play helps children reap cognitive benefits, meaning it helps them think more effectively. Alison believes that there is no right way to play outside which opens children up to a wide variety of ways to experience the outdoors. The style of problem solving tasks and games involving imagination allows children to develop their ability to make decisions, create plans and to adapt these decisions and plans. Children learn how to explore and engage with risk, laying a foundation for skills they will use for the rest of their life.
Outdoor play is excellent for physical development. It encourages movement like running, jumping and climbing which can improve muscle strength and bone density. Outdoor play also lays a great foundation for a healthy adulthood. Children who exercise to a sufficient amount are at lower risk of suffering from obesity or cancer when they are older.
Spending time outside is one of the best things we can do to look after our mental health and this is so true of children as well. Even just 20 minutes outside is shown to improve mood. Time in natural spaces lowers cortisol, which is the stress hormone, this makes us calmer. Natural light is proven to boost serotonin and endorphins leaving us feeling happier. It's important children grow up with a strong understanding of the benefits the outdoors has to their mental health, as this will set them up to reap the benefits as they enter adulthood. Alison shared that children often reflect on their time outside as a part of their sessions, where they develop an awareness of how the outdoors positively affects their mental health.
Playing outdoors is great to help children develop their social skills. Group activities like team games and den building encourage children to communicate ideas and how to navigate conflict when it arises. Outdoor play also encourages children to learn when and how to take risks building confidence in their own judgement. Witnessing a peer get injured or lose a game allows children to develop empathy. The freedom of playing in natural spaces with new obstacles like trees, streams, hills and mud, can allow children to develop confidence as they work around them and figure them out. Alison explained how children also learn a lot from each other when playing outside. She used the example of “Some love digging for worms and watching them move, others will watch from a distance but even if they don't want to be too close they soon become aware they do not need to be fearful of the unknown.” The outdoors is a great place for children’s social development.
Through time outside children develop an appreciation for nature and the world they live in. This will help form a generation who wants to look after the planet we call home. The UK is blessed with some incredible national parks, forests and other various green spaces however we will only be blessed with them as long as we look after them. Alison believes when children spend time outside they form an apparition for nature making them more likely to look after the world they live in.
In order to get more children outside we need to start with awareness. Both children and their parents need to understand just how good going outside for you is. It's important that in school and the family home children are taught the benefits of spending time outside. Ultimately most children rely on their parents to take them to these spaces which is why it's so important the media echoes the great benefits children reap from going outside. Motivating parents to take their children outside will allow children to make the most out of the outdoors for the rest of their lives. So parents lets get your children outside more so they can really make the most of the British outdoors.
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