Playing Your Way To Wellness: The Physical Benefits of Play
Updated on: August 22, 2023
Contemporary lifestyles mean children’s play is becoming increasingly sedentary. When our children are playing on X boxes, tablets, and phones, it’s easy to forget they’re missing the important physical benefits of play.
So often, our conversations about physical play are restricted to “getting fresh air” yet the benefits of physical play for children go much deeper.
How Play Helps Children’s Physical Development
When children engage in physical activity the body and brain are put to work.
Physical play is much more than entertainment, it’s open-ended. Outdoor play is full of obstacles, curiosities and wonders for the body and brain to navigate.
It requires every part of the body to come together to: solve problems, respond to situations, interact with others, and complete all sorts of new and challenging tasks.
From co-ordination to balance and fine and gross motor skills, physical play builds the muscles and bones of all parts of the body as well as cognitive functioning, social skills, emotional skills and more.
Why Outdoor Play Is Essential For Physical Health
Research by the British Heart Foundation, Tesco, and Diabetes UK in 2015 showed 75% of children in the UK are not doing enough physical activity.
The study also showed three quarters of parents didn’t realise their children should be getting more exercise and over a third thought the responsibility rested with schools.
The research suggests that if levels of physical activity for our children don’t improve, we’ll have a generation of children at risk of developing complications, such as diabetes and heart disease in future.
How much physical play should children be engaged in daily?
The improvements to control over movements that physical play delivers means it’s important all children get plenty of opportunity to engage in energetic physical activity throughout the day.
According to the NHS, primary school children should participate in at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day, including playground activities.
These physical activities enable children to gain better control of how they move and handle objects, including themselves. It’s for this reason, physical activity is critical to our ability to learn and function.
The Importance Of Physical Play in The Early Years
This vital learning through physical play is important at all stages but particularly in the early years. During the EYFS, the body and brain pass through big stages of development so it’s critical that young children enjoy plenty of outdoor play.
During physical activity, the brain builds important neural pathways. Signals sent from the premotor areas of the brain to the primary motor cortex and then the spinal cord enable us to carry out complex movements.
Each time we complete these physical activities, they get easier to perform because the neural pathways for each movement grows in strength.
When we help children to get plenty of physical outdoor play in EYFS, we assist them to become more accomplished at a greater number of tasks that are essential for daily life and learning.
It’s one of the reasons why, here at Fun & Active Playgrounds, we’re so passionate that outdoor play equipment and playground markings should inspire all children to get active, have fun, and learn at the same time.
More about outdoor play equipment and playground markings
From writing to reading and getting dressed, all the activities we carry out throughout the day require muscle strength, co-ordination and so many other elements which are developed through physical play.
Let’s take a closer look at each of those elements.
The Physical Benefits of Play
1. Body Awareness
Outdoor play is an environment rich with new discoveries. In the outdoor environment, children are inspired to move around at a pace. As they dart around, lift things and climb up and down, children develop vital body strength.
Our bones are not fully developed until adolescence so it’s crucial children engage in these sorts of stimulating outdoor activities which also require the body to work hard against gravity and challenging weights.
As children crawl through play tunnels, throw balls and run along outdoor surfaces, they can test out their body strength and gain an understanding of what each part of their body can do.
These wide range of movements ensure children build the strength they need for healthy and strong muscles and bones.
2. Spatial Awareness
Engaging in energetic movement across large spaces also helps children improve spatial awareness and balance.
As young people navigate equipment, play in busy spaces and search for things, they gain an understanding of where things are in comparison to their body.
The vast variety of spaces and stimuli involved in outdoor play demand children engage both parts of the brain.
As they do, young people build a clearer understanding of the side of the brain which is most dominant, helping them to discover if they are left or right-handed.
In the outdoor environment, children also build their capacity to respond to different sensory stimulation and react at speed.
Looking behind objects, standing in front of objects, understanding how close they need to stand to something to obtain a certain result are all important skills learnt through physical play.
3. Fine and Gross Motor Skills
It’s impossible to overplay the importance of the development of fine and gross motor skills for children.
We often hear about the fine-tuning of dexterity through fine motor skills, but gross and fine motor skills are about more than just our hands.
From our mouths to our eyes and feet, gross and fine motor skills refer to our ability to build enough strength in our muscles to perform tasks.
Whether we want to hold a pencil, put on shoes, run, jump, or form facial expressions, we need well-developed gross and fine motor skills.
With good body strength, co-ordination and strong muscles, the body can carry out the actions the brain tells it to perform. The better our fine and gross motor skills, the smoother and faster we can complete tasks.
Discover top outdoor activities to develop gross and fine motor skills
4. Healthy Body Parts
The body is a machine. When children are physically active each part of the body and brain is put to work.
Our body parts need to keep working to function properly. Engaging in energetic outdoor play keeps our heart muscles strong, a factor we know helps to ward off heart disease later in life.
Active play in the outdoors also aids memory and focus by sending more oxygen to the brain and around the body. At the same time, we benefit from the release of endorphins which help us feel good.
All the while, the body is using more energy, so we sleep better at night.
The physical benefits of play for our health are endless. That’s why we’re so proud to play our part in inspiring physical activity through exciting and fun playground markings and equipment that are educational too.
Take a look at our popular collection of playground markings and outdoor play equipment that’s guaranteed to motivate your children to get active.
Jess Sparks
Jess is deeply committed to supporting our mission of positively impacting UK outdoor play environments to promote healthy lifestyles in children.
With a CIM Level 6 Diploma in Sustainable Marketing, Jess channels her passion for sustainability into her marketing role, using her skills to promote eco-conscious practices and raise awareness for our initiatives.
Jess’ experience within the industry is instrumental in driving engagement and supporting connections with those who require ultra-durable, high-grade playground markings both locally and internationally.