Get out and get messy this summer

PLAYING in an outdoor environment can have many benefits for a young child’s learning and development. Playing and exploring the outdoors can be great for young children’s physical development and at the same time they learn how to get on with others and manage their feelings while experiencing and learning about the environment that they are in.

Studies have shown that children also tend to develop a more positive attitude to learning when they are in the outdoors. They are usually more active, absorbed and involved, and they see a purpose in what they are doing more so than if they were inside.

I grew up in a small village in the countryside with two sisters and three brothers. At the bottom of our garden there was a low wall and beyond the wall were fields and woodlands. All of our holidays from school were spent in the fields and woods, only coming home when we were hungry or it was time for bed. While we were out we built dens in the hedgerows, we hunted for insects, birds and animals and searched for their nests. We built dams in the rivers and fished for sticklebacks, frogs and water boatmen in the streams and cow troughs. We climbed trees, made bows and arrows, rolled down hills, got stuck in mud and the school holidays seemed to last forever!

What we didn’t realise was that as well as having a great time we were also learning. We were not only learning about the animals and plants that we came across but also we were learning about ourselves and our own potential.

Research has shown that children these days are missing out on these kinds of opportunities. There are many reasons for this, such as lack of time and safe spaces for play, a lack of awareness of the benefits of children playing outdoors as well as negative attitudes about playing outside on the part of some adults. The number of hours children spend on screens – using tablets, phones, computer games and watching TV – has also grown significantly.

There are lots of benefits for young children when they can spend as much time as possible playing outside in an interesting outdoor environment. Young children learn through the type of place or environment they are in. When they are outside, children have the freedom to shout and make noise, the space to be more expansive in their physical movements, which sparks their imaginations, and more places to hide in and explore. Children can also be messier outdoors, which encourages them to be more creative and to try things out and experiment.

Children learn through active, hands-on experience – playing, exploring, experimenting and discovering. Richard Louv, author of eight books about the connections between family, nature and the community, says that ‘children who play outside are less likely to get sick, to be stressed or become aggressive and are more adaptable to life’s unpredictable turns’.

Through my work in the Killarney National Park Education Centre, I feel that I’m helping some children experience some of the things I did when I was a child. We have been running Environmental Camps for children in the school holidays for many years now. The children who attend these camps build dens, hunt for creatures in the river, build dams, cook on a campfire, climb trees, catch insects, use microscopes, roll down hills, do scavenger hunts, get muddy and are allowed to shout and run around if they like!

They also make new friends, gain new experiences and while doing so learn about the plants and animals that we share the planet with. Over the years many parents have acknowledged the positive impacts that these camps have had on their children and many children return year after year.

So, even if our typical Kerry weather continues this summer, make sure your kids get outside and have time to explore the wonders of nature whether it is at the beach, in the woodlands, on the mountains, out on the lakes or even in the back garden. There’s always something new to discover!