If you dream of relaxing hikes through picturesque mountain scenes, viewing wildlife in its natural habitat, or cooking over an open fire, you’re not alone. More families than ever before are choosing to explore the great outdoors during vacations, on weekend getaways, and through everyday play.
 
Whether you’re planning an outdoor experience in the backyard or the backwoods, the time will be well spent and well worth the effort involved.
 
The Benefits of Outdoor Play
In his book, The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness (Ballantine Books, 2003), Edward M. Hallowell, MD, asserts that playing helps children develop important skills, such as resourcefulness, optimism, and creativity. These skills, say Hallowell, correlate with happiness as an adult.
 
Outdoor play, says Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder (Algonquin Books, 2006), adds even more benefits to the list. In his book, Louv explains that outdoor play is especially important in developing children’s imaginations. To maximize imaginative growth, he says, parents must encourage outdoor play each and every day. “Parents or other adults need to be there for their kids to limit the time they play video games or watch TV,” Louv writes. He argues it is the parents’ responsibility to help their children “detach from electronics long enough for their imaginations to kick in.”
 
An active imagination is only one benefit of outdoor play. The American Academy of Pediatrics noted in a recent report that outdoor play results in an increased level of creativity, which helps children discover their interests, solve problems, relate to others, and adjust to school settings.
 
Time outdoors boosts exercise levels to help children reach or maintain healthy weights, build stronger muscles and bones, and reduce blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Other studies directly link the advantages of unstructured outdoor play to lower stress levels, stronger immune systems, and fewer symptoms of ADD and ADHD.
 
Making Outdoor Play a Priority
With greater emotional and physical health on the line, it’s no surprise that more parents are making outdoor time a priority—for every member of the family. For many a harried parent, unplugging and slowing down is a welcome change.
 
Recent estimates indicate that children spend two to six hours a day in front of electronic screens. Six hours a day is almost a full-time job and longer than most children spend in the classroom every day. Parents concerned about the lack of physical activity in their children’s lives are choosing to set limits on television, computers, and video games. TV or other electronic devices can be available to kids after they finish their homework and spend time outside. Reducing children’s schedules, rearranging work hours, and postponing errands and household chores are other ways families are making more time for outdoor play and exploration.
 
Exploring Your Own Backyard
Your backyard or a nearby park is the perfect start. Trees, rocks, grass, and flowers provide an unending supply of interactive, natural fun. Simple activities, like identifying wildflowers, watching ants, and studying leaves, inspire a sense of wonder in most children.
 
At home, parents can encourage outdoor play by keeping shovels, nets, binoculars, and other inexpensive toys and containers available so children can fuel their own ideas and experiments. Play dates in the neighborhood allow kids to explore the yards of
other families.
 
As children get older and gain more confidence outdoors, parents can introduce backyard camping, nature scavenger hunts, journaling, bird viewing, nature photography, and other activities. The list of Oklahoma nature areas below offer trails, ponds, and green areas to explore.
 
Expanding Your Outdoor Horizons
Some families will be satisfied staying close to home; others prefer more advanced adventures like bicycling, canoeing, hiking, camping, fishing, and outdoor vacations. A little research into such activities will increase the fun factor.
 
Camping is the number one outdoor family vacation and federal and state parks are among the top family vacation destinations. As a result of its popularity, many sources of information are available. The Internet offers numerous resources for destinations, equipment, and trip planning. One good source for learning about national parks and making reservations is www.Recreation.gov. You can find information on Oklahoma State Parks at www.TravelOK.com and Oklahoma City parks at www.OKC.gov/Parks. Major outdoor retailers also provide detailed information and adventure vacations on their websites.
 
Whether playing in the backyard or climbing the nearest mountain, enjoying time in natural surroundings offers significant benefits to all family members—especially children. And the best part is, all you need to do to get started is step outside your door. From there, just follow your family’s interests as you take on the outdoors.
 
Jennifer Woodford works with DeHavilland and Associates, an educational consulting firm.