Welcome to our third article in our series celebrating outdoor play! Here’s another inexpensive outdoor activity featured in the PLASP programs for you and your children to do at home – in your back yard, your driveway, or the neighbourhood park.

Week Three – Playing Ball

Healthy Kids Statistic #3

“Canadian kids are not playing actively in their ‘free time.’ At lunch and after school, kids are getting only 24 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity out of a possible 4 hours.”

Solution #3

Never underestimate the fun and activity involved in a pick up game of soccer, basketball or most other games of a similar nature. And as great as organized sports are (they teach very valuable lessons about sportsmanship and teamwork), according to the parentcentral.ca article “Get moving, baby! Exercise guidelines target toddlers and preschoolers”, “one common misconception is that kids who play organized sports automatically get enough exercise, when free play like pickup soccer, pleasure skating or chasing games like tag actually amount to more physical exertion…As soon as you put whistles and rules and restrictions into team play, kids have more stop time.”

For parents that are concerned about letting their school age children play outside unattended (many are), the Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card  suggests that parents “can take turns supervising kids at play in the park or on the block, and encourage kids to play outside with a buddy."