Benefits of outdoor play:
- Improved mood and self-esteem
- Increased energy
- Decreased stress and anxiety
- Improved brain function
- Decreased pain
- Improved agility, balance, coordination
- Strengthened immune system
- Improved vision
- Improved imagination, creativity, and focus
- Play soccer, basketball, frisbee, or tag with your kids or friends.
- Go to a playground and climb on the jungle gym, do the monkey bars, climb the rock wall, go down the slide, and swing on the swings.
- Go on a hike and look for trees to climb, logs to balance on, and streams to jump over.
- Explore places like your local zoo, nature park, arboretum, or rails to trails.
When I go to parks with my kids, I get active swinging, climbing, running, and jumping with them on the playground and anything we can find to play on.
My goal this summer is to run every inch of trails in Forest and Washington Park, do as many of the 10+ mile hikes in the Columbia River Gorge as I can, and explore the many Mount Hood trails I've never been on.