New research by University of Exeter, which involved 2,568 children aged between 7 and 12 years-old from the ‘Born in Bradford’ research programme, found:
- 34% of children don’t play outdoors after school and 20% don’t at weekends
- Different patterns of outdoor play throughout the week based on ethnicity. E.g. British heritage children played outside more on school days while South Asian heritage children played outside more on weekends
- Children living in less deprived communities benefited more from outdoor play than those in more deprived communities
Researchers measured social-emotional skills of the children involved – their ability to understand, manage, and express their own emotions and behaviours, as well as interact with the world around them and build positive relationships with others.
- The study suggests that outdoor play benefits social-emotional skills through physical activity, socialisation, and adventurous play