How Playground Instruments Enhance Outdoor Play For Children

It's a fact that fresh air and outdoor play is a vital part of childhood. Being outdoors is a fantastic source of inspiration and creativity and playing out provides mountains of opportunities for learning as well as many other key aspects of child development. The outdoors is full of wonderful things for children to experience, discover, and explore - so much more than simply allowing them to let off steam by running, swinging, climbing and sliding, although all essential and brilliant fun! Being in the open air encourages our children's observation skills, they'll notice the weather, insects, plants, and everything going on around them; in fact all that the natural world provides to stimulate the senses - wonderful colours, different smells, sounds and textures. Being outdoors allows children to explore and develop a relationship with the natural environment, gain a sense of freedom and self-exploration, space to imagine and think, and to learn the skills required to self-manage risk. They'll also see, hear and learn about who or what is sharing their habitat; can you see a cobweb? Who lives here? Can you hear that buzzing noise?

There are three interrelated aspects to children's development - cognitive, emotional and physical. Play in the outdoors is able to support each of these aspects in a way that is different from play in an indoor environment. Outdoor play encourages the holistic development of the child by providing children with opportunities for the development of physical and social skills, improving self-esteem and help gain confidence in their own abilities.

Young children love physically active play and it is good for them in a number of different ways; it benefits their growing bodies and gives them a healthy outlet for their abundant energy while subconsciously developing a confidence in their bodies and in their growing physical strength and capabilities. Active play ensures both fine and large motor movements and skills are being developed.

An outdoor area with varying levels and surfaces enables children to enhance their spatial awareness. The outdoors has open-endedness in terms of what it represents to children - from the fantastical to the domestic. This is also true of objects to be found outdoors, all encouraging creative thinking - a simple stick becomes a tool for the imagination.

Providing quality outdoor play experiences for children involves more than simply constructing a safe climbing structure and allowing them to experience fresh air and exercise. Language, social and creative skills in particular benefit from play areas with landscapes and equipment that enable them to try new experiences and extend their horizons and which provide opportunities for social discussion, problem solving and increased communication.

Splitting the playground into zoned areas is an easy way to ensure the play space has all the right play and developmental opportunities. For example, having an area for active play, running and ball games, a friendship stop to encourage nurturing and communication, an adventure playground for climbing, swinging and balancing, a quieter space suitable for playground games, fantasy or imaginative play and even an area for outdoor musical instruments. In fact, making music available in the playground ticks all the right boxes - musical play offers cognitive, emotional and physical play opportunities. Playing music can relax, revive or rally us depending on our mood, musical play encourages creativity and the physical action that accompanies it helps improve coordination. Music in a playground and the space and freedom it offers, makes it more likely that gross motor activity and development will occur.

Its true that we may not be able to allow our children the same sort of 'free-range' lifestyle we had as children. This makes it so much more important to offer outdoor play environments and equipment that will develop their bodies and minds. Children have a right to high quality, safe outdoor play and recreation facilities; however just being outdoors releases children's natural exuberance!

So let's open the door and let the playground provide the social interaction, equality, turn taking, negotiation, excitement, risk, challenge and opportunities to use their imagination that children enjoy and need to learn and develop to grow into well-rounded individuals, hopefully with a love of the outdoors!