4th of May: a day to play [outdoors!]

"Many of us don’t get out into nature much. We’re too busy, plugged in to screens and rushing through our busy lives. But nature is crucial to our health and wellbeing — and to the health of our planet. Let’s reclaim nature and grow our connection with each other and the places we love!"

Australian Conservation Foundation

Today was "Play Outside Day", an initiative coordinated here in Australia by the Australian Conservation Foundation. The Day is a great example of the global movement recognising the importance of nature and unstructured outdoor play for the health and development of children [and adults!].

You may be thinking Why the emphasis on playing outside? What's the need for creating such a day?

As I wrote about here and here, in the space of a generation, children in the developed world are spending markedly less time outdoors which can be attributed to a range of factors including increased screen-time, risk-adverse societies, urbanisation and less time for unstructured play. Alarmingly, today's more sedentary and technology-dominated lifestyles are occurring in conjunction with rises in childhood obesity, depression and attention disorders.

Social commentator Richard Louv coined the metaphor "nature-deficit disorder" to explain the correlation between increases in social, mental and physical health problems, and less time spent in nature. The good news is across the developed world, communities and individuals are rethinking the way they live, with campaigns and initiatives that promote and implement nature play principles taking off. Today's "Play Outside Day" is a perfect example of the growing global movement to reconnect with nature, each other and the places we love.  

We celebrated by heading to a Play Outside Day gathering at Sturt Gorge, here in South Australia. I'll let the pictures do the talking - it was a super nice morning and a brilliant alternative to the chaos happening inside earlier that morning [think: no sleep / kids fighting / mum yelling]. Thanks to those that organised the event, we all had a ball and were thrilled to discover yet another beautiful spot right on our doorstep. 

Did you do anything in particular to celebrate Play Outside Day?