With health organisations across the world advising of the looming epidemic of child obesity there has never been a better time to motivate your child to live healthy, happy and active lives. In the past motivating youngsters was never a complex task, with fixed hours of kid's T.V, no computer based entertainment and a range of local government maintained parks and playgrounds kids would naturally meet with friends and participate in active and energetic games. Sadly nowadays encouraging a child to go outdoors can be a real uphill battle and a battle that is usually left too late. By motivating a child to play outdoors at an early age they will quickly realise the amount of fun they can have and develop good habits the child can take through childhood. With the shutting down of many local government run parks and playgrounds and growing concern about gangs on Britain's streets many parents are unwilling to let kids play away from the home. A fantastic answer in this case is to provide a selection of outdoor games and play equipment in your own back garden that kids can use and invite playmates over to play.
In the past outdoor games consisted of a football or a fishing net and lots of imagination, happily nowadays the outdoor toy market is massive and the choice of toys on the market makes sure there is something for every child. Encouraging your child to play outdoors needn't be pricey though. By showing them basic games from the past such as Dodge Ball, Kick The Can or even Hide And Seek you are able to get the children playing energetically for free!
If you are considering purchasing a selection of outdoor toys to help drive your child's play then there are a fantastic selection of toys to assist you. For toddlers sand pits are a perfect purchase to make. Almost any child can benefit from playing in a sandpit and at the same time develop important motor skills as they dig, construct or even just run their fingers through the sand. Clearly very small kids do have a tendency to want to place things in their mouths so a watchful eye is crucial in the baby years. Sandboxes have also changed over the years from the ugly cheap plastic 'shell' shape found everywhere in the eighties and you can now find a range of products including stylish wooden sandpits, sandpit desks where kids can sit on a bench seat to have fun in the sand, and even portable sandpits that can be kept in the shed or garage when not being used. When purchasing sand for your sandpit ensure you make sure to select a specific 'playsand' that has been processed to remove clay that can stain clothing and skin and has had larger particles removed to ensure it's gentle on a youngsters skin. The other benefit of buying a wood sandpit is that once the children have outgrown it you can simply pack it with compost and a few flowering plants for a instant flower bed!
Another introduction to the UK has been wooden climbing frames or 'Swingsets' from the US and Canada These structures are made from a range of timbers with the higher quality ones being made from cedar and redwood and are available in an amzing selection of styles, sizes and prices. These wooden climbing frames are available in two catagories; modular or pre-boxed. Boxed swingsets from companies including Adventure Playsets make a self contained structure that incorporates all the components you need to build it in the box and allows anybody with basic DIY skills to construct a superb wood swingset. The modular option from companies such as Backyard Adventures and Rainbow permint the parent to select constituent 'modules' that bolt to one another to create a brilliant and unique creation. The main distinction are quality and price. The boxed sets range from three hundred pounds to £3000 in contrast the modular climbing frames are two thousand pounds to twenty five thousand pounds or more. The modular climbing frames do tend to be of a higher quality and have better warranties. The other key distinction is that unlike boxed climbing frames which are built by the home owner the modular set-ups usually requires a salesman visiting your home, working with you to formulate a design and then having a authorised build gang construct your playcentre as part of the deal. With 10 or 15 year warranties you can be assured that whichever type you choose your swingset will easily last beyond your children's childhood years.
If your finances are much tighter than that of a playset then don't worry there are outdoor games that will have children having fun energectically that cost just a few pounds. On a warm day water pistols are a fantastic idea and will have children running around after one another for ever using up energy and developing agile and healthy muscles whilst they play
This is just food for thought with many other methods to encourage your children to play energectically outdoors that I don't have room to talk about. I hope this essay has however, helped to galvanise you into driving your youngsters to develop healthy lifestyles that will have implications years after they outgrow their garden toys.
Gary is an expert on garden toys and writes for a range of websites including his blog..
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