Nursery World - Children are missing out on outdoor play

Fewer than 10 per cent of primary school-age children benefit from outdoor play in natural places, such as woodlands, streams and heaths, says Natural England.

The Government body, which is part of Department for Environment, Foodand Rural Affairs (DEFRA), surveyed 1,150 adults and 502 childrenbetween the ages of seven and 11 about outdoor play. Almost two-thirdsof children said they played indoors more than any other place, incontrast to the adults, of whom 42 per cent said that in their childhoodthey tended to play outdoors in local streets.

The survey also found that 81 per cent of children wanted more freedomto play outdoors. Of the adults, who were divided into a 'grandparentsgeneration', aged 51 or above, and a parents generation, who were aged50 or under, 94 per cent of the grandparents and 84 per cent of youngeradults felt they had more freedom to play outdoors when they were young.While 85 per cent of adults said they would like their children to beable to play in natural spaces unsupervised, 74 per cent said they weretoo concerned about their child meeting strangers and 59 per cent wereworried about road safety, reinforcing concerns that children today arebeing raised as 'cotton wool kids'.

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