It’s not your imagination. Your children’s childhood is much different than your own. Today’s kids spend far more time indoors than previous generations, using electronics, managing scheduled activities, and keeping up with school achievements. Children and parents often overlook outdoor play and exploration – but spending time outdoors is crucial. Children need to play outside. Outdoor activities offer many essential health benefits. Why should you make outdoor play a priority?
Get a Boost in Sunshine Vitamins
While sun overexposure and burns can increase skin cancer risk, our bodies need sunlight. It’s essential to vitamin D production, a necessary nutrient. Seventy percent of kids ages 6-11 are deficient in vitamin D. Sunshine plays a key role in synthesizing this vitamin, which aids in many body processes. Vitamin D boosts immune function and mood and aids bone development and muscle function. Sunshine also regulates the brain’s circadian clock, supporting healthy sleep rhythms. Reconnecting with nature in Mowglis’ unplugged environment and following our daily camp schedule offer a great way to restore these natural rhythms.
Face-to-Face Outdoor Play Builds Social Skills
Interacting face-to-face outdoors with other children, rather than via mobile device, helps children learn essential social skills. The art of conversation, sharing, empathy, cooperation, compromise, problem-solving, and self-control are just a few of the abilities lost in virtual play that can be quickly gained at our unplugged summer camp program for boys 7 to 16.
Improve Physical and Mental Dexterity with Outdoor Play
Movement is crucial to learning – it’s not all in your head. Children need at least an hour of daily physical activity for optimal health. Playing outdoors offers opportunities to run, jump, climb, throw, catch, and kick balls, and play with equipment requires balance. These activities, included in the Mowglis’ overnight camp program schedule, outshine indoor pursuits. They boost brain function, helping neurons forge new pathways to improve not only motor skills but cognitive skills as well.
Outdoor Activities Offer Opportunities to Take Appropriate Risks
Being around new people puts children at risk of rejection when making new friends. Trying new activities, from non-competitive hiking and water sports to competitive archery and crew at our boys’ overnight camp, puts kids in a position where they might fail. Surmounting these obstacles builds confidence, while failure helps them learn important life lessons.
Outdoor Play Regulates Energy Levels and Mood
Time spent outdoors at summer camp or in parks near your home boosts self-esteem and mood, improving many mental health conditions. Exposure to natural, green settings reverses depression and seasonal affective disorder (SAD), decreases heart rate, blood pressure, and cortisol to counteract stress and anxiety, and improves concentration in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Time Spent Outside Fosters an Appreciation of Nature
The wonders of the earth and the need to protect it cannot be fully understood without hiking in the woods, seeing wildlife, climbing a hill, playing in a sparkling lake, or taking in a beautiful sunset at home or our scenic overnight summer campgrounds. This interaction with nature helps children understand their special place in the world and the ripple effect their actions have on those around them.
Ensure Your Child’s Future Health and Success Through Outdoor Play
Take the first step to make outdoor play an essential part of your child’s life. After just one summer at Camp Mowglis, you’ll understand why children need to play outside, witnessing its benefits on your son. Don’t miss out on the upcoming boys’ summer camp season. Sign up today.
