6 Ways To Get Kids Outside And Moving This Summer

While children count down the days until summer, one question looms large for their parents: "What are they going to do?" Summer should be a time for roaming, discovering and running outside -- but unfortunately, for all too many kids, more free time means more screen time and more structured activities.

It's up to you to ensure that your kids get a healthy daily dose of unstructured outdoor play. Here are six ways to get your children moving, nurture their creativity and provide them with all the rich learning opportunities that outdoor play presents. In the process, you'll meet new neighbors and contribute to a nationwide movement to save play.

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Join the Park-A-Day Summer Challenge

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The Park-A-Day Summer Challenge asks parents to take their children to as many local parks, playgrounds or other public play spaces this summer as they can. Why take on the Challenge? For starters, it gives families something to do that's cheap, educational and active, not to mention just plain fun. The Challenge helps kids stay healthy and learn essential life skills as they make new friends and explore their hometown. And parents contribute to a worthy cause by helping to map, photograph and rate local playgrounds.

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The Park-A-Day Summer Challenge asks parents to take their children to as many local parks, playgrounds or other public play spaces this summer as they can. Why take on the Challenge? For starters, it gives families something to do that's cheap, educational and active, not to mention just plain fun. The Challenge helps kids stay healthy and learn essential life skills as they make new friends and explore their hometown. And parents contribute to a worthy cause by helping to map, photograph and rate local playgrounds.

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To learn why outdoor play is so important to your children's health, and to get more ideas for bringing play to your neighborhood, check out my New York Times bestselling book, "KaBOOM!: How One Man Built a Movement To Save Play."

 

 

 

Follow Darell Hammond on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kaboom

Comments

[williamg]

07:27 PM on 07/14/2011

My mother used to kick us out at 8 am, and would tell us not to come back until lunch, and then would kick us out until dinner. If you got thirsty, there was always the hose to drink from (which always seemed so delicious).

Back then (1980s) I don't remember wanting to stay inside, when we could go outside and play baseball, basketball, football, ride bikes, etc. These little fu/ckers want to sit inside and watch tv and play video games all day.

[jencountry]

03:01 PM on 06/29/2011

I can't believe parents have to push their kids to go outside and play now days. It is so sad. I couldn't wait for school to get out for summer so I could spend every day out in the sun. We didn't need our parents to create any special play things for us. We had our imaginations and created our own games. Or "cops and robbers" and "hide and seek" were always lots of fun.

[JohnFromCensornati]

05:01 PM on 06/01/2011

My mother used to tell us to get out. It seemed to work pretty well.

[Andres64]

05:52 PM on 06/01/2011

We used to go out in the morning, come back for lunch and then back out until dinner, then out again until dark.

[playflute2]

11:25 AM on 06/02/2011

Often after supper at our house, we would go out and catch fireflies in a jar (holes in the top of course) I could take mine to my room until I fell asleep, then my Mom would take them out and set them free again. Life was simpler then.

[emlr]

12:20 PM on 06/01/2011

When the temp reaches 90-100 degrees in Texas, I prefer my kids (g'kids ) to be inside or in a pool.

[roseau]

10:47 AM on 06/01/2011

The kids who are at highest risk for obesity don't live in places with lawns, don't have a parent at home to drive to the parks. We have made it too hard for families to live decent lives with a parent raising children at home, we have allowed towns and cities to degrade.

[Kat80]

11:14 AM on 06/01/2011

Agreed. That said, some of these ideas, like play streets and pop-up playgrounds are specifically geared toward kids who live in neighborhoods that lack other places to play. Check out: http://www.jhgreen.org/playstreet.html

[mikelanza]

12:53 PM on 06/01/2011

While obesity is a big problem for children these days, it is by no means the only problem. The larger problem, in my view, is a lack of independence and self-reliance among children, which results in all sorts of deficiencies as they grow up (e.g. lack of life skills, social skills, creativity, resilience, etc.). The key societal failure that ties all these problems together is lack of neighborhood life, and it spans all social classes. From low income to middle class to affluent, practically all neighborhoods are unappealing to children. They're totally dull at best, eerily unsafe at worst.

[playflute2]

10:31 AM on 06/01/2011

I grew up in the country. After the usual morning ritual, breakfast, etc., I went outside to play on any day when the weather permitted. I had woods to wander (never too far from home), wonderful bushes that were big enough to play under and hide, trees to climb, clouds to watch, etc. My Mom was a stay at home Mom when I was little and also a concert pianist, so I had the advantage of beautiful music surrounding me. Rarely did she have to tell me to go outside, and my summers were spent using my imagination and growing both in body and spirit. Why do we need an article to tell parents how to get their kids to be kids? This, to me, is a very sad commentary on life in 2011.

[eva07]

02:32 AM on 06/04/2011

You grew up in a place where it was possible. In cities or even in suburbs there are no woods to wander etc.

[RocheTm]

09:24 AM on 06/01/2011

Any tips to get the kid inside? That is my problem.

[playflute2]

10:26 AM on 06/01/2011

That is not a problem! :)

[NanoFrybread-on-the-rez]

02:05 PM on 06/01/2011

It would be if it's after midnight

[egaeus]

09:05 AM on 06/01/2011

Why do all of these methods require that parents make huge efforts just to get their kids to go outside? When I was a kid, my mom would just say "God outside and play."

[frank day]

09:23 AM on 06/01/2011

Seriously, who has time or money for this?

This is written for the affluent.

[Silverwolf72]

12:50 PM on 06/01/2011

Most parents I know are to scared to let their kids out of their sight for a couple of minutes, and their kids have no real world coping skills.