Does your child play outside for 3 hours a day?

[StopGrowingPlease]

I’ve just seen this -
‘Pediatric occupational therapist Angela Hanscom calls active free play outdoors, “the most beneficial gift we as parents…can bestow on our children.” Hanscom says ideally kids should be playing outside 3 hours each day, and that doesn’t include organized sports.’
Do your children play outside for 3 hours a day?
My 18 month old has just come back inside after about 40 minutes playing in the garden. He’s also had a 30 minute music class and a 45 minute Little Movers class today. He’s now having his tea and will then probably want to play with his toys inside for a couple of hours before I attempt getting him to sleep. When we go to the park he’s usually out of the pram and playing/walking around for about an hour.
Is this not enough?? What do you and your children do??

I don't really understand how you would fit 3 hours in every day once your dc are in school well maybe if a parent doesn't work but how would you fit in getting home from school, dinner, homework, reading & potentially after school clubs?

Does the week long camping trip count as 168hrs?

@SnowyGiveAway I don't get that aspect either. Mine do hockey, tennis, cricket, football outside. Love a cycle & do swimming, karate indoors. Plus if the have a play date in the autumn/winter that's bad because they don't play outside?

We used to and it was the best thing we ever did. Due to returning to work/longer school day it’s much harder now so they only get playtimes which I do regret. We drive to school and back, they used to walk. When I wasn’t working I used to pick them up from school and rain or shine get outside till sunset. I honestly believe it made them more resilient, happier, sleep better, healthier, more curious, imaginative etc.

Now we try at the weekends at least but not always successful in the winter. In the summer, we’ll do it no problem and also at least double it to make up for the winter. Can you tell I feel guilty about this?!

No but we should be aiming for it. DC1 will come close because they are at private school.

but isn't that due to organised sport?

DS1 -Maybe on a weekend day - we tend to go to bit country parks with a playground as our most usual weekend day out.
On a weekday maybe 2h a day between breaktimes/PE lessons/after school clubs (but not every day, sometimes it will be extra assembly plus wet break etc.)

DS2 - definitely on a nursery day, as they have free flow and I get pictures on the app. He's always outside looking for bugs/playing in the mud kitchen/doing something with a hammer (and a teacher!)

i don’t think mine reach this target but Afterschool club is good for this - they have a lot of scooters bikes those pedal go cart things, a hammock, etc etc. When it’s not raining they spend a lot of time outside playing. I think it might come closest to that unstructured free play kids used to have with other kids on the street, out for two hrs before dinner etc.

we’re making an effort now it’s getting lighter that as well as going out in the morning for a few hrs we go out again about 4.30 for a playground/walk or something

Goodness, I’m out a lot with 3 yo DS but I doubt he is outside for 3 hours every single day. Easily in summer and probably approaching that in spring and early autumn. But I’m not going to keep him outside in miserable weather when he’d clearly rather be inside at a toddler group/playing at home for the sake of it. He’s outside quite a bit at nursery but again I doubt it’s 3 hours a day over winter.

@Longwhiskers you take your dc out in the morning before school for a few hours? what time do you get them up at?!

I certainly did when I was a child. A lot longer in spring and summer for sure.

At school we'd play out for 15 minutes and then an hour for lunch too. Then we'd play out after school until tea time and in the summer we'd stay out after that til the street lights came on. At the height of summer you'd be dragged in for bed even though it was still gorgeous sun and long shadows out.

My son is only 18 months old too so he's not out for that long. On a dry day he'll have an hour to and hour and a half at the park or the beach. Usually that's just for the morning or afternoon. The other half of the day is usually a toddler group for a bit of variety- play group, messy play, gymboree type things. Some afternoons he's happy pottering at home. As long as there's plenty of variety I think that's fine.

In the summer we'll spend more time outside and also as he gets older. When he stops napping I imagine we'll be out a lot!

Not every day, but in nice weather we do. For example, 2 hours in the park in the morning and an hour or so in garden after dinner maybe around 3-4 times a week. The other 2-3 days, we're out less, maybe 90 minutes. In rubbish weather though we have days at home more often. I find the days are just easier getting out the house. I have an 8 week old and we've had more days at home recently too but with nicer weather coming, I'm hoping we'll get out more again! The days are long with a toddler and newborn

For some of us,it's harder.
My boy has mornings at nursery, so plays outside then,
Our back yard is unsanitary due to rats roaming around streets and the parks are full of unsavoury people. Plus I can't dont/can't drive.My son also has special needs and won't go on certain types of public transport to anywhere.
But I have just got a national trust membership so I can take my boy too see nature etc thoroughly hopefully through family and car.
But sometimes it's not that easy for everyone.

@mmalinky well they’re young children, early risers (6-7am) and my oldest is autistic and needs fresh air and exercise so we tend to be out by 10 for a couple of hrs. Home for lunch then they have a couple of hrs screen time. That brings us to about 4pm and during winter we wouldn’t go out again but now it’s lighter really making an effort to! Talking about the weekends of course.

@Longwhiskers so they are not at school then, that makes sense

Oh come on. Most don't, do they?

@Oblomov23 it's MNs so posters will say of course they do, just like they sit around a table every single night all eating home cooked food. Plus the dc do a ton of after school activities & the parents also do exercise themselves each night. On top of working f/t & having very active social lives. Clearly they have the secret to bending time, I wish they would share!! 😆

My DS probably averages out at that throughout the year.

But its much easier now he is older and can go play with the other kids, without me being there,

If it was you have to have them out for 3 hours every day and not an average, it is not going to happen for us during winter, by the time he gets home its dark, he also does sports after school, so while I would include that, its organised sports.

I really dont understand taking organised sports out and where that stops, if he decides to go kick a football round the park with a few mates, is that organised?

Mine is 19 months. I get ideas from nursery and Pinterest to be honest. She has a little slide that she loves. Last weekend I got her a big bucket of soapy water and a sponge and she spent a good 30 minutes ‘cleaning’ her outdoor toys. Dunking toy animals in mud and letting her clean those works too. Water balloons, sweeping the patio with her toy broom, throwing a ball for the dog. Sometimes I hide objects around the garden and she goes and collects them all and puts them in a pile, or pushes them round in her little wooden cart thing. She loves her water table. Watering the plants. I think I will probably do an Easter egg hunt for her on the bank holiday weekend.

With all that being said it definitely doesn’t total 3 hours! On weekends I do try and get her out on the dog walks but it’s difficult at the moment because she refuses her buggy but can’t walk for as long as the dog needs to be out (spaniel). If anything it’s easier when it’s wet because she is obsessed with puddles so she is always racing to the next one without realising how far we are going!

Yes, but mainly for my own sanity, I wouldn't feel guilty about not doing so though if it didn't fit in with our lives.

DS goes to a childminder and they're out and about for most of the day, in bad weather they'll still be outdoors for a bit and in summer they're out all day- that's the reason I chose one over nursery to be honest. Me and DH are very outdoorsy, many of our hobbies are outdoors and we enjoy being outside, just preference and DS also enjoys it. Watching TV indoors under a duvet, soft play, cafe with friends and playing/reading etc at home is also important though!

I think these studies are usually best case and don't account for other factors which are invariably important.

To add we are very fortunate in that we have a nice garden and I enjoy sitting out there or playing out there with DS; appreciate this isn't the case for all.

It's unobtainable for most and unlikely any children are hitting the target during the winter months when they are of school age. As others have said it's just something to catch the headlines.

Even with the best will in the world and the best gear available such as puddle suits, boots, coats etc 3 hours a day especially on a cold wet windy grey day as is common in the UK is not something a large portion of children would enjoy. I mean honestly teh allure of jumping in puddles and getting muddy wears off quickly when it's a daily occurance from approximately November to March.

Of course being outside is beneficial for children but there is absolutely nothing wrong with that same child also enjoying being at home, dry and warm.

I'd actually wager that some days being at home learning to make their own entertainment and using their imagination would be more beneficial to a child than yet another trip to the park to play on the same equipment in the rain whilst their parent looks wistfully around for all those other mythical Puddlesuit wearing children which somehow never seem to materialise.

Surely walks, bike rides or outdoor work such as animal care or garden maintenance aren't free play. Those are jobs, directed activities or travelling. To be free play, I would say the child shouldn't have an objective set by an authority figure or a preset destination.

I think especially in the winter, lots of school age children wouldn't have time for inside play if they were spending all their free play time outside. And I think inside toys are also great, as are organised sport and doing activities with adults.

Well if you include the time he spends bouncing in his trampoline, plus the time we spend in the park, then yeah I guess we do 😃

Unlikely for a city children with 2 working parents at 55 degree northern latitude in winter.

No mine do not spend 3 hours outside every day. I don't think they'd particularly want to, neither would I. They go out to play as and when they wish, in the summer, lots. In the long, long wet Scottish winter, much less.

The idea of forest school fills me with horror to be honest, it's not right for our family at all. My middle child in particular would hate it.