Creekside Community Park

5601 W Las Positas Blvd, Pleasanton, CA 94588, United States

The increase in the number of children spending a predominant amount of time indoors has led to the publication of numerous studies highlighting the negative impact this has on their health and development. At the same time, research has also found that there are many benefits for children playing outdoors, which are some of the benefits.

• Learning

Playing outside helps children develop their learning skills. By putting education equipment outdoors, children will soon learn through play, which is a fun way to help children learn new information and skills. As well as this, outdoor learning encourages children to think that learning is an ongoing process instead of just doing something in the classroom.

• Creativity

Outdoor play is great for stimulating children’s creativity. Away from the constraints and confinement of indoor play, being outside children’s imaginations is often stimulated by objects around them, and they quickly tap into their creativity.

• Health

There are many health benefits to playing outdoors. With more room to play in, children are often more active outside, helping them build strong bones and good fitness levels, while also allowing them to burn extra energy and calories. In addition, being in the sun, even in winter, means that children naturally absorb vital vitamin D, a lack of which can lead to rickets.

• Social skills

Since outdoor spaces are usually less crowded than indoor spaces, they are less intimidating and help children to naturally get out of their shells and be more social. This means that children will be more willing to take part in games and activities, while they will also be more likely to talk to different children and make new friends. All of this encourages children to learn about social skills and how to interact with other children outside adult supervision.

• Well-being

Giving children the freedom to play outdoors helps them feel happier and calmer. As stated above, being outdoors means that children naturally get vitamin D, which is proven to help improve moods and create a positive mental attitude. Freedom outdoor play also encourages children to get rid of built-up energy, especially if they tend to be fidgety when they’re sitting for a long time, which makes them calmer and ultimately helps them to be more focused when they’re in the classroom.