It’s no secret that technology has taken over and children are spending less time outdoors and more time in front of screens, often to the detriment of their health.

Although allowing your children to learn how to use technology from a young age can have its own benefits, it’s crucial to ensure that they are still spending more time playing outside than they do staring at a screen.

Encouraging your child to play outdoors comes with a number of developmental benefits which ultimately shape your child in important ways, helping them become healthy, well-rounded individuals.

In this article, we talk about the physical benefits of letting your child play outside.

Three Major Physical Benefits of Outdoor Play

Getting your child to play outside offers them several physical benefits which support different areas of their lives. Additionally, children who spend a lot of time doing physical activities often grow up to enjoy sports and other activities which contribute to their overall health and well-being.

Here are some of the physical benefits of letting your child play outside.

Improved Motor Skills

Balance, agility, and coordination improve through physical activities. Playing outside helps children challenge their physical endurance, muscles, and bones. All of these help develop important motor skills which are crucial to have throughout their lives.

Additionally, their self-confidence grows in leaps and bounds as they get to explore their environment, engage with different objects, and interact with peers.

Lower Body Weight

Childhood obesity is a modern-day phenomenon, which can be linked to sedentary lifestyles. In other words, the more time your child spends playing and engaging in physical activity, the lower their risk is of suffering with childhood obesity.

There is often also a correlation between active lifestyles and healthy eating habits. The two automatically go together and when your child is eating a healthy diet and engaging in a lot of outdoor play, they can more easily maintain a healthy body weight, reducing their risk of health issues later on.

General Health is Improved

Getting dirty helps your child build their immune system, making their bodies more capable of fighting off a number of viral and bacterial infections later on in life.

Additionally, moderate sun exposure provides an essential, natural form of vitamin D which is vital for developing strong bones, teeth, improving mood, and boosting the immune system.

Kay-Dee Educare Centre and Daycare Cape Town

We believe that outdoor play is not only fun, but also vital for your child’s development. Therefore, we make sure to include it in our educare and daycare programs.

To find out more about our educare centre in Mowbray, Cape Town, please feel free to contact us.