How do you encourage your children to play outside? Tell Persil for a chance to win a £300 voucher! NOW CLOSED

[PoppyMumsnet]

A new global study of 12,000 parents reveals children are spending on average less than an hour outdoors per day - and in the UK specifically 1 in 5 children never play outdoors.

In response to this, Persil is launching the Dirt is Good campaign, encouraging children to spend more time playing outdoors.

Here’s what Persil has to say: “We believe that children need plenty of outdoor play because climbing trees, building dens and just being in nature are essential for their learning and healthy development. That’s why we say that #dirtisgood. However, parents have told us that it’s getting more difficult to find time and places for their kids to play. So, in partnership with parents, educators, and other leading child development experts, we want to investigate ways to help children play and explore more so that they can learn and develop to their full potential.”

Persil wants to hear your top tips for encouraging your children to get out and play. Do you feel they have fewer opportunities to play than you did? What are the main obstacles to outside play and how do you overcome them? What, if anything, would you like to help you facilitate outdoor play for your children?

Everyone who adds a comment to this thread will be entered in to a prize draw where one winner will receive a £200 Love2shop voucher.

Thanks & good luck!

MNHQ

Standard T&Cs apply

Am very lucky that my 3 love playing outside and have done since they were very young . Agree that as long as you have waterproofs you can play out regardless of the weather . My youngest is 11yrs old and just today has been up to the Dyke to play and built a den in the woods. My middle child Ds. 13 has a moderate learning disability so can't play out of the garden/ street but is out from dawn to dusk, playing footy, tennis and trampolining in the garden and even the eldest who is 15 still likes to play hide and seek or trampolining . My motto is life is too short to worry about dirty clothes or wet clothes . Washing machine is there to be used

I leave the backdoor open and away they go!

They don't need much encouragement when there are other children around. I have good neighbours so we all keep an eye out and if they're in for a drinks break/toilets/bad weather, we adults use FB to let each other know who is in whose house.

We make it part of our routine playgroup then park. Supermarket then 20 mins outside. Take the dog for a walk most importantly enclose your garden n let them roam about from a young age and try not to be too precious about dirt.

Mud pies etc water play national trust 50 things before you're 11 3/4 great schemes to get out n about

Clearly MN is not a true representation of the public, because every person here says they themselves go outside and thus encourage their children to do so.
Whereas stats say that's not the case for a lot of the public.
Yes we go for a walk, go to the park occasionally. Ŵe have a trampoline and the boys ride their bikes.
But largely, they stay indoors. All they want to do is play x box and Lego. I, myself, prefer being indoors. I'm a home body and am never happier, if I'm just pottering around at home. I have no desire to go out in the rain and get soaked.
So, I fear I'm not the % that this survey is seeking.

You need to show children by example as in every thing. Take them out at every opertunity to play parks etc, anything to do with nature, animals, insect's, birds. A tent in the garden is a great adventure. Go for walks but don't say that's what your intentions are, ie, let's go for a picnic, paddle in the stream, look for fossil's, find crabs on the beach. The aim is to get them outside and experience the great outdoors and life. Take them to proper restaurants, cafes, pubs, outside if possible, library's, museum's. You can have great fun with kites, frisbee, ball, water, or how to grow plants.
We had great time doing all these thing's when my children were growing up, have fun.

I'm a fan of #dirtisgood after research found that being too clean in childhood increases the risk of asthma/allergies in later life. Apparently being exposed to soil bacteria etc as children improves the immune system, and I've seen how devastating asthma can be.
A little bit of dirt never did me any harm as a young tomboy so I like to get my 2 into the garden whenever possible. I also get them out to cubs, scouts and other supervised activities to help build social/team skills as well as getting exercise (including burning off a load of energy, which is no bad thing!).
So long as there's adult supervision to make sure they're safe from accidents etc I'm happy, and whilst they're out it also allows for a bit of 'me' time too, just what the Dr ordered

Turn the WiFi off and open the doors! Water play always gets mine out so I fill the washinhg up bowl and baby bath and stick them outside. They love outside if it involves getting wet and messy.

They need encouraging? Not my lot!

We are in a small village, fairly rural which makes life much easier I suppose. From around age 5 they play out by themselves, we only have a postage stamp garden so they go up the back road to the park. Ds1 calls on his friend. In spring and summer he will disappear for hours in the woods just being a kid, building dens, hiding from his sister,climbing trees or playing football. We walk or cycle to school, collect wood for the pizza oven or bbq, at the right time of year we gather elderflower, cherries, raspberries, apples, blackberries etc.

Being entirely honest of course there are some times they need convincing or 2 really want to go out and 1 doesn't but they know they have to do something active and something useful before they can have their screen time. This morning we've all been out together exploring. We've seen carpets of bluebells, splodged a bit in the river and found a fabulous swing hanging from a tree, we had a ball and even though we are now back home not one of them has asked for screen time they are just playing. While I set an excelent example by being on MN .

A bucket of water and brushes to paint thinner he. Washing day with soapy water and things to wash and peg out. Or build your own fairy garden, dinosaur land or bug hotel from things you find in the garden

Get den building with them - we take a picnic and go for a walk to find a good place to build our den (turns a walk into an adventure which they are less likely to moan about!). We even took a camp stove and had tomato soup on this occasion.

My dd (3 yo) loves being outside, she is currently learning how to scooter as she had one for her birthday, we take her to the park so she can use te smooth paths and then play on the equipment afterwards.
She is fascinated with nature so we spend time filling bird feeders, planting lots of seeds and going out to water them every day and see if they've grown yet.
Just offering to kick a ball around or getting the sand pit out and opening the door.
Finally, lots of visits to places so woodlands and gardens.
We also have passes to a local adventure area. It's mainly outside with tons of play equipment, we go pretty much one day every weekend and spend at least three hours there, if not all day. She loves it and comes back thoroughly exhausted. She asks if we can go there regularly.

My DD loves animals so I've tracked down a few choice locations for wildlife watching: squirrel nests, bird areas, etc as well as paths popular with dog walkers or nearby cats, and we'll put down a blanket with a bag of books and musical shakers for some quality mum and baby time.

I got my kid a 3DS so she can obsessively play video games outdoors.

Mine loves being in the garden, and the weather is no barrier to that. Wellies and waterproofs come out and the bigger the puddles the better. The fact that we have a dog encourages us to get out. We love going to the park, the woods, nature reserves, the beach.... and we have a lot of opportunities to do that where we live.

Barriers to my daughter playing out include increased traffic where we live compared to when I was growing up, and houses being built on the fields where I played. But we have a garden full of toys and even crafts are done outside - patio chalk pictures, painting, making 'perfume' and so on.

I was really lucky as a child to live in a small close with a field opposite my house and several other children living nearby. It meant that we were able to play outside all the time and our parents could always keep an eye on us. Doors were left open so we would be in and out of each other's houses for drinks etc. We played so many different games such as hide and seek, polo, rounders and because of this were very fit and active children. I think the main obstacle today for outside play is safety whether this is an imagined danger or not. I am still lucky to live in a quiet close so there is limited traffic but I would not like my children to be out on their own for extended periods of time, especially as their is a big age gap and my youngest (16 months) would have to stay indoors. Because of this I think there is more effort needed by us as parents to ensure the children spend time outdoors. We will let them play in the back garden but this is small and fully paved so does not give much opportunity for running. We do however have a small park in the next road so try to get there at least once a week and always walk which gives us the opportunity to talk on the way. We also have a large park with gardens etc in town and when we go will walk round the gardens first before the children go on the equipment. I think the main facilitator of outdoor play for us is having well maintained parks and gardens as well as sporting activities.

I encouraged my son to play outside by making him a rockery in the garden. Is his own little corner where he can dig and use his garden tools and find bugs and inspect insects. He loves it!!! (especially in the rain!!!)

I'm quite strict with screentime and so DS quite often asks to go and play outside. He's sporty and active in general (through nothing that I've done, other than encouraging!) and so will happily go and kick a football round the garden or ride his bike or scooter up and down the road. This also encourages indepedence.
But I do think there's a bit of a different culture these days to when I was growing up in that kids don't seem to "play out" so much any more.

"Treasure" hunts, bug hunts, etc...

Drain the batteries on their gadgets! 😀

Nowadays because of technology, I think children are more inclined to stay inside and play on the iPad than play outside. So I try to take DS to the park and play in the garden. Also getting things like scooters and bikes.

There is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing....
Leave the back door to kitchen open so they can come and go while I cook (back garden is enclosed - she's only 3yo)
Imaginative 'yes' space - a mud kitchen - a table/ pans etc... Let them create the fun.
Encourage a love of wildlife.

We have set up the garden to be a fun space - playhouse, climbing frame, swing ball.. Also have a veg patch and dd (6) has 2 planters of her own and is currently growing peas and straw berries. She loves a good dig, often helped by our rabbit! We are lucky to live near great woodlands and parks too so regularly head there for play/walks etc.
My dd loves computer games but we send a lot of time outdoors too.
Trying to talk our school into becoming a forest school but not there yet...

We don't have a lot of outdoor space so we try and just do indoor things outside. So dolls' tea party, painting, eating- they aren't "outdoor" activities but when the weather is nice, why not?

Find something that they really enjoy and use that. DD1 (3) loves going out on her scooter, so that's a surefire way to get her out of the house! She loves collecting things while we're out, like flowers, sticks and pinecones so we turn that into a game. Also, letting her take the lead of which way to go. She's discovered bits of woods and National Trust grounds that we had no idea were there! Football, blowing bubbles or "helping" us in the garden are the tricks for home, although on the whole, she absolutely loves being outside!

My top tip is to buy annual passes. My favourites are Longleat (after your 3rd visit, your entry is free) and National Trust venues. In my area NTs run events throughout the year.

If your budget doesn't stretch that far, you can print treasure hunts from the internet and you can put the trail anywhere: back garden, the park or a wooded area. You can either reward with a toy or sweet or you can reward with later to bed one night or a few extra minutes on their xbox/ipad etc.... If you put the clues round your street (if it is safe), get the neighbours kids to join in - great way to meet them and their parents!