Remember the days when all the kids in the neighborhood would gather in someone鈥檚 yard for massive games of Man Hunt, Kick the Can, and SPUD? This was back before play dates and carpooling soccer moms, before parents decided it was insane to let their kids ride bikes home from school alone, when “game” meant something you played outside, not on a screen, and if you asked your mom for a ride to the mall, she said 鈥渨alk.鈥 It was true then, and it鈥檚 still true now: You don鈥檛 have to get all fancy about raising outdoor kids. Especially now that the days are warmer and longer, keeping kids active outside is as easy as shooing them out the backdoor to play.听
Giving kids unstructured fresh-air time isn鈥檛 just good for the body, it鈥檚 good for the brain, too. It鈥檚 simple and proven: Creativity flourishes outside. “New research suggests that children are more likely to invent their own games in green play spaces than they are on flat cement or playing fields,鈥 says Richard Louv, bestselling author of Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principle. 鈥淜ids are healthier, happier and more creative when they spend more time outdoors.鈥澨
Everything's better in the backyard
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听鈥擪atie Arnold
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