Did you know that kids nowadays spend 35% less time playing outside than we did when we were kids? I remember going out and making mud pies, swinging on the tire swing, swimming in the pool, and just creating an imaginary world where everything was fun and what I believed to be perfect.
I admit, it’s sometimes easier to get a break now and then by allowing my toddler to watch videos or play learning games on the tablet while I am trying to take care of things in the house or with baby sis, but I do try to make it a priority to get her outside for free play at least once a day.
The weather is just starting to turn fall like which means rain rain rain here in the PNW, and one of Arya’s desires is to jump in a mud puddle. Well, one of these days when enough rain accumulates, I’m going to make that happen, but until then we went to a couple of parks and explored the area while playing ocean (pretending the ground is the ocean and you have to stay on the ship aka the playground equipment?) We even found some painted rocks from the Vancouver, WA rocks facebook group. One of them actually came from Whidbey island though, which was cool.
We picked some dandelions that we pretended had a who on them like in the Horton Hears a Who movie, jumped in leaves and hunted for different colors, and just enjoyed outside overall this week, which was much needed after a loss in the family last month. But, that will be a post for another time when I can muster up the right words.
We’re planning on taking my mom with us for our anniversary weekend. So we’ll all be getting some refreshing, crisp ocean air and having some fun checking out shops, eating good food and maybe gambling a little bit at the casino.
I can’t wait! Thankfully though, we’ll be prepared for stormy weather with our Kamik boots which are the perfect shoes for fall, outside yard work, and the #freeyourplay movement.
Kamik is encouraging us, parents, to step outside the overcrowded repetition of our family’s daily routine and to rediscover an offline-no-agenda creative balance with our kids by engaging in outside free play, moments of play that are truly unstructured, spontaneous, and imaginative. Kamik believes kids today miss the types of experiences we enjoyed in our childhood and that there should be more people embracing the value of outside free play. Kamik wants to encourage more families to embrace this idea and to help your children develop their creativity through playing outside, freely.
So free your play and opt outside whenever you can. The world needs more kids being just that, kids.
beautiful family and article!