Page 58 - SEN116 January-February 2022

Outdoor activities
Why outdoor physical activity and play have a fundamental role in children’s development
Vicci Wells discusses how schools have turned to outdoor-based activities – embedding physical activity into lessons.
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Despite the varied and substantial benefits of physical activity, many children and young people are insufficiently active. One group that is becoming increasingly inactive is disabled children and young
people. It has been reported that one third of disabled children take part in less than 30 minutes of sport and physical activity per day. This compares to 21% of children without disabilities. This discrepancy in physical activity levels between disabled and non-disabled children has increased during the global pandemic.
For children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), outdoor physical activity and play has a fundamental role in their development. Freedom to move in a therapeutic, stimulating, outdoor environment can make for healthier and happier children. However, with disabled children being less likely than non-disabled children to be active at a park, and reporting worries about getting hurt, how they look or not knowing what to do, we need to be intentional about their activities and environment to encourage participation.
“Expressed increased desire to do more sport and exercise”
In the Youth Sport Trust’s ‘Class of 2035’ research, young people expressed increased desire to do more sport and exercise, with 54% of five to 16-year-olds expressing this sentiment, up from 44% in 2014. Since the pandemic, more practitioners in schools have been turning to outdoor-based activity, and embedding physical activity into lessons – recognising that often the most memorable learning experiences take place outside classroom walls. Recent research also highlighted that young people want to do more physical activity, and would like to have more lessons outside.
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