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16 articles found

Sleep

How Outdoor Time Influences Sleep

Outdoor time is good for infant and toddler sleep — and the reasons are specific enough to be actionable. Understanding the two mechanisms through whi...

2 min read

Play

Outdoor Games for Toddlers

A two-year-old in a garden invents twenty things to do in twenty minutes if you let them. The trick is mostly what you don't do — don't over-direct, d...

6 min read

Play

Using Movement to Release Tension

The 4-year-old running laps of the kitchen at 5pm on a wet Tuesday is not being annoying. They are doing roughly the right thing for their body. After...

9 min read

Play

Gross Motor Activities for Indoor Spaces

British weather makes outdoor play unreliable for stretches of the year, and toddlers don't politely save their movement for the dry days. The good ne...

7 min read

Play

Outdoor Play for Children: Why It Matters and How to Make the Most of It

A 7-year-old in 1971 was, on average, allowed to walk to school alone, ride their bike to a friend's house in the next street, and play unsupervised i...

8 min read

Play

Outdoor Games for Toddlers: Active Play Ideas Without Equipment

A toddler outside is a different person from a toddler indoors. They run faster than they will indoors, shout louder, take more physical risks, and la...

6 min read

Family Life

Outdoor Family Activities for Different Ages

The bar for "enough outdoor time" with young children is lower than parents tend to think, and the activities are simpler. A 9-month-old strapped to y...

13 min read

Family Life

Music and Movement in Family Life

You do not need a music class, a Bluetooth speaker, or any musical talent to make this work. A parent humming the same goofy song every morning while...

5 min read

Family Life

Walks as Shared Family Time

For all the activities that get marketed at families with young children — soft play, baby yoga, signing classes, weekend swim sessions, music groups...

11 min read

Family Life

How Families Can Support a Child's Physical Activity

Physical activity in early childhood does something important that adults sometimes underestimate: it builds the neural infrastructure for learning. A...

5 min read

Daycare

Outdoor Time and Nature at Daycare: Why It Matters

Time outdoors is one of the few things in early childhood that produces almost universal benefit — to physical development, sleep, mood, attention, an...

10 min read

Family Life

Active Play at Home: Ideas for Different Ages

The WHO physical activity guidelines are explicit: under age 1, the goal is 30+ minutes of tummy time daily and a lot of floor play. Ages 1-5, the tar...

7 min read

Parenting

Youth Sport and Early Specialisation: What the Evidence Says

Few areas of children's development attract more parental anxiety and cultural pressure than youth sport. The logic of early specialisation feels comp...

6 min read

Safety

Playground Safety and Risk: What's Protective and What's Overprotective

The gap between the legal liability of playground providers and what children actually need from outdoor play has produced playgrounds that are, in so...

4 min read

Parenting

Physical Activity for Young Children: How Much, What Kind, and Why It Matters

Physical activity guidance for young children is sometimes presented in a way that makes parents feel like they should be managing a training programm...

4 min read

Parenting

Physical Activity for Children: How Much, Why It Matters, and How to Make It Happen

The evidence for physical activity as one of the most effective interventions available for children's overall health is overwhelming and consistent....

5 min read