Benefits of Outdoor Play

By Kelly Lee, Humboldt Unified School District Community Engagement Coordinator

With the introduction of smartphones, laptops and on demand streaming of movies we have seen a shift from children playing outdoors for hours to very limited outdoor play time. Recent research has shown that outdoor play is key to not only physical health but also mental health. “Exercise is the single best thing you can do for your brain in terms of mood, memory, and learning,” says Harvard Medical School psychiatrist John Ratey, author of the book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. John J. Ratey, MD, is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an internationally recognized expert in Neuropsychiatry.

Science based research that shows that children who engage in physical activity are better learners because exercise (physical activity) does not just work the skeletal muscles, but it is also working the brain, which is also a muscle, by creating new neural pathways and strengthening existing neural pathways. He also states that students perform better on tests after engaging in physical activity. “You’re challenging your brain even more when you have to think about coordination,” explains Ratey. “Like muscles, you have to stress your brain cells to get them to grow.” Complicated activities also improve our capacity to learn by enhancing our attention and concentration skills, according to German researchers who found that high school students scored better on highattention tasks after doing 10 minutes of a complicated fitness routine compared to 10 minutes of regular activity. (Those who had not exercised at all scored the worst.)

How can we as parents, educators and community members engage children in outdoor activity? Something as simple as taking kids to a community park with a playground helps to stimulate brain muscles through active play and creative imagination. If you sit on a park bench and watch children play outside you can see many brain functions hard at work. They are collaborating with their peers, communicating with their “outside voices”, engaging their frontal lobe with decisionmaking and risk taking, they also utilize leadership skills all while being physically engaged in the activities. They are also engaging with nature by climbing trees, playing in the leaves, skipping rocks at a lake or swimming in their favorite watering hole. Outdoor play brings the best the world has to offer a child all just by simply letting them play outdoors.

We need to encourage children to play outdoors no matter what age they may be. We also need to support these activities by giving them the opportunities in our community for outdoor play. Parks should be convenient, safe and fun places for them to play. Neighborhoods should be built with children of all ages in mind. Schools need ample supplies of sports gear and playground equipment for students of all levels. Encourage participation from the whole family so as to build it into their lifestyle. The benefits of active outdoor play will benefit the children with a healthy brain and a healthy body. These are positive benefits that researchers have shown will improve test scores and give students better ability to regulate their energy and maintain classroom focus. It’s a win-win for everyone.