Importance Of Outdoor Play

Introduction

Background: Play is a pivotal part of a child’s life. It fosters creativity, imagination, social connections, and learned behaviours. Play is the activity which can be defined as “a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities that are normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment.” Play can also be considered a rehearsal for acting-out real life events- such can be seen when children play house or school. For children, play is a critical element of growing up. Ginsburg (2007), stated that childhood play is essential for helping children reach important social, emotional, and cognitive developmental stages. Play also helps children dispose of abundant amount of energy and excitement. Play is often undervalued

It is the freedom to run until they are exhausted, yell as loud as they can and discover their limits. Through outdoor play children learn how to have rich social interaction with their peers. This sets them up for achievement both in and out of the classroom. There are additional, less obvious, reasons why outdoor play is important. Teachers will understand or come to the realization that young children’s social development is enhanced through outdoor play, as children are away from the density of play materials and the restrictions of the classroom. Children who play outdoors have more space to develop friendship. Researchers report that children who engage in outdoor play enhances their social skills as they learn to be leaders, they learn to be a part of a group and they learn to be alone. Children engage in play that is more complex, filled with language and less stereotyped by gender (Frost and Strickland 1985). Despite the many benefits of outdoor play teachers find it difficult to engage children in outdoor play as time is a major factor. Although outdoor play is slated on the timetable, it is often difficult to make the transition as the teacher’s focus is on getting the set work done, to meet parents demands. Thus, the time that should be spent outdoors is usually spent inside completing other academic activities on the

Outdoor play within the preschool setting fosters the social and emotional development of children.. Play is a difficult concept, and by its very nature cannot be pinned down or precisely defined. There is nothing tangible, predictable or certain about children's play, and this makes thinking about play more difficult and sometimes uncomfortable for those who like things neat and orderly. Play sits uneasily in a culture of standards, measurable outcomes, testing targets and quality control. (Tovey, 2007)

While most of us know play when we see it, academics have had trouble defining it (Johnson, Christie, & Yawkey, 1999). "Play involves a free choice activity that