Much as we love to encourage families to embrace the great outdoors in all weathers, we get it. Sometimes a cold, grey day makes us all want to just batten down the hatches and stay inside. But research suggests that it’s worth coaxing little kids outside even for very short spells of outdoor play.
In fact, lots of small ‘snacks’ of outdoor play may actually be better for boosting physical activity levels in pre-schoolers than spending all day in the great outdoors. Why? Because under-fives are at their most active during the first 10 minutes of heading into the fresh air, according to a Canadian study. Split their outside time up into small 10-minute chunks and the chances are they’ll end up being more active over the course of the day.
When children are outdoors, they engage in 10 times as much energetic play
‘We found that children were most active within the first 10 minutes of outdoor play,’ says researcher Brianne Bruijns at Western University. ‘In fact, 50 per cent of their first 10 minutes outdoors was spent engaging in higher-intensity physical activity, which then dropped to just 10 per cent during the remaining outdoor playtime.’
When children are outdoors, they engage in 10 times as much energetic play (higher-intensity physical activity) compared to when they are in an indoor childcare setting, the researchers also found.
In their study, they asked 11 childcare centres to shorten the duration of outdoor play sessions but double the frequency. Doing so helped to maximise children’s physical activity and slash time spent sitting, compared to the traditional outdoor play schedule of longer periods outdoors which they monitored in another 11 centres.
The message? A few mini outdoor ‘snacks’ can be just as good, if not better, than spending hours in the great outdoors when it comes to getting kids active.
