Features

Special Report: Adventures Outdoors

1 min read Play Outdoor Learning
Participation in outdoor learning is vital for the health and wellbeing of children, with evidence showing it also aids attainment and social skills but rising costs are restricting access for disadvantaged young people.
The pandemic has exacerbated barriers to outdoor adventures for children. Picture: Cheeky Cherubs Childcare
The pandemic has exacerbated barriers to outdoor adventures for children. Picture: Cheeky Cherubs Childcare

Despite a growing evidence-base for the wide-reaching beneficial effects of nature on child development, the amount of time children are spending outdoors is in rapid decline; in the UK, today’s children are spending half the time playing outside than their parents did according to research by the National Trust.

Barriers such as parental concerns around safety, access to natural green spaces – particularly inequality between urban and rural areas – and children’s tendency towards screen-based play indoors, are reducing children’s contact with the natural world.

Such barriers have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, and there is clear evidence indicating that during this time children reduced their outdoor engagement and physical activity levels. The rising cost of going on trips and residentials is another barrier restricting access to outdoor adventures for disadvantaged groups of children.

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