Children today are spending more and more time inside on electronic devices and less time outside playing and exercising. With technology’s ever-increasing hold on them, today’s kids are missing out on one of the greatest childhood memories that they can have: Outdoor playtime. Here at Texas Backyard Structures, we want to see kids engaged in more playtime outside. If you’re looking for an outdoor playset for your Austin home, you’ve come to the right place. Texas Backyard Structures has a wide variety of playsets and playhouses to choose from in order to create an enticing play area outside for your children.
We know that there are many factors that contribute to children spending less time outside and more time inside these days. Parents often have a lot to take care of on a daily basis, leaving less time to travel to a park for their children to play outside. Safety is also a factor for many parents who do not want their children to travel to a park by themselves. That’s why having an outdoor playset in your home’s backyard can offer parents and children the safety and convenience that is needed for kids to enjoy more outdoor playtime.
WHY IS OUTDOOR PLAY SO IMPORTANT FOR KIDS?
Exercise
Playing outside affords children the opportunity to run, skip, hop, and jump to their heart’s content. There’s nothing quite like running around with the sun shining down on you as a child and playing with your friends on an outdoor playset. When kids play outside, they have the ability to run around with more space to play and they can really increase their use of their gross motor skills such as, running, leaping, and jumping. Playing outside also gives children the perfect opportunity to practice ball-handling skills, like throwing and catching. Children will even be able to increase their agility skills when they are pushing friends on the swing or climbing a ladder on the playset.
When children play outside, they also tend to burn more calories. Because kids today spend more time indoors than kids used to, as Americans, we have seen an increase in the amount of children who are dealing with obesity. More than half of American children are not getting the amount of exercise that is recommended. However, outside playtime has the ability to stimulate the pineal gland, which is the part of the brain that regulates our “biological clocks,” and it is vital in the health of our immune system and helps us to feel happier.
Learning
When children play outside, their cognitive, social, and emotional development is impacted. When children get the opportunity to play outside, it is likely that they will use their imaginations more, allowing them to express themselves and learn about the world around them in a way that feels natural to them. When children feel like they are in control, they can improve their decision-making and organization skills. When children play together outside, it is also likely that they will make up rules for their games and they will learn how to work and play together. They will also increase their vocabulary and communication skills.
In a previous article, we suggest making a backyard obstacle course using outdoor playsets or wooden play structures to challenge your children. Creating an obstacle course is an excellent way for children to hone their problem-solving skills. When you make it a play date and invite other neighborhood children, you offer an exciting way to build teamwork skills and allow the children to learn through collaboration or competition. By using your existing children’s outdoor playset, you can include your obstacle course as a permanent idea or change it up over time as your child develops physically and mentally.
Appreciation
When children play outside, it gives them the ability to appreciate being outside. Giving children the chance to develop their aesthetic awareness is crucial to their understanding of the beauty of the world. Playing outside will give children the opportunity to interact with the sights, textures, and sounds of the outside world. Children will really get to better understand their senses when they can feel the grass between their toes, hear birds chirping, smell water on the pavement, taste raindrops on their tongues, and see the colors of trees and flowers nearby. If children are only gaining experiences from electronics, they will only be utilizing two senses, hearing and sight, which can negatively impact children’s overall development.
Health
One of the best ways to reduce the spread of infection in children is through lots of fresh air. Outdoor play allows infectious agents, such as bacteria and viruses, to be dissipated. When children are outside more often, they are breathing the stale air inside less. Outdoor play encourages a healthy lifestyle from an early age. Exercise and play are critical in developing a healthy activity level. Children who do not play outside as often risk living a sedentary lifestyle and becoming obese later in life. Wooden play structures can encourage children to grow up to be more interested in mountain climbing and less interested in watching television.
Adventure
Outdoor play instills a sense of adventure in children. Whether they lay in the grass and search for shapes in the clouds or pretend to be a pirate aboard a ship that is their wooden playset. Outdoor adventures require imagination, and there is always something to explore. Bugs in the mud or swinging on swing sets, it is nearly impossible to sit still and not explore when children play outside. When there are children’s outdoor playsets, it increases the sense of adventure and exploration by providing a center focus and a reason to be outside, exploring.
Outdoor play is crucial for children to be able to grow and learn in an environment that is suitable to the loud, messy, and energetic nature of children. Having an outdoor playset in your backyard will foster an environment for your children to be able to get the outdoor playtime they need to be able to fully grow, develop, and enjoy their childhoods. If you’re looking for an outdoor playset for your Austin home, contact us here at Texas Backyard Structures and we can help you get the outdoor playset that will fit your families needs and budget.
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