Balanced and Barefoot

Angela J. Hanscom

Why Can’t My Child Sit Still?

1. Today kids:
a. Cannot pay attention
b. Cannot physically keep up
c. Poor posture is the new norm
d. Have decreased stamina
e. Are frail like our grandmother’s fine china
f. Fall much more often (poor balance)
g. Have an endless cold (weaker immune system)
h. Are so aggressive (cannot play tag because too violent)
i. Have difficulty reading (myopia is on the rise)
j. Are so emotional (have trouble controlling their emotions)
i. Trouble w/ emotional control
ii. Rise in anxiety
k. Don’t like to play
2. In a Nutshell:
a. Children today are getting weaker, less resilient and less imaginative.
They’re having difficulty paying attention in school, controlling emotions
and safely navigating their environment.
b. Helps: nutrition + exercise – especially with fighting obesity, improving
overall health and academic performance. However, when focused on
alone they also contribute to the decline in sensory and motor
development in children by overshadowing these important
developmental milestones.
c. The answer: ACTIVE FREE PLAY – ideally outdoors!
i. We must allow them time and space to play outdoors daily.

The Body and the Senses

1. Children thrive by challenging their bodies. Needed with gross and fine motor
skill development.
a. Children under 2 y/o need to have 4+ hours of active movement.
b. Older children need 3+ hours.
2. Need to build strength w/ GROSS and FINE:
a. Gross Motor Skills:
i. Core strength (stability for the spine etc.)!
ii. Upper Body
iii. Endurance (being able to persist through physical challenges)
iv. Postural Control (ability to maintain body alignment)
v. Gross motor coordination (ability to repeatedly execute a sequence
of movements with accuracy and precision)
b. Fine Motor Skills:
i. Fine motor strength (small muscles of the hands, fingers, wrists)
ii. Fine Motor coordination (cutting, writing etc.)
3. 7 Senses: Touch, Sight, Listening, Smell, Taste, Proprioception + Vestibular
a. Proprioception (ability to dense what different parts of your body are
doing w/out looking at them).
b. Vestibular Sense (awareness of where your body is in space)
 4. Sensory Integration (taking in all of the stimuli detected by the sense &
organizing information about the for functional use): Helping you effectively
process information about your body & world around you.
5. Mind:
a. Social-Emotional Skills
b. Cognitive Skills
6. In A Nutshell:
a. Issues in the above can be helped/prevented by giving children ample
opportunities for whole-body movement.
b. Due to less time spent developing strength, coordination, and balance,
children are becoming unsafe and accident-prone. In order to develop
skills of the mind/body, children must practice them daily – through
meaningful play experiences.
c. By constantly rushing children, restricting their movement (“no you
cannot do that) and diminishing their time to play, we could be causing
more harm than good.

From Restricted Movement to Active Free Play

1. Answer to all the questions in chapter 1: allow your child to have several hours of
active free play a day—preferably with other children and with little adult
supervision.
2. Causes/Issues:
a. Beware of baby devices!
b. The Sit Still Mandate (longer now than ever; pressure to produce results)
c. Screen time is taking over (average child spends eight hours/day)
d. Overscheduled and Overwhelmed (team sports—not superior to free play)
3. Give the gift of active free play to your child!
a. The right kind of movement (sports are increasing but so is obesity)
b. Builds strong muscles + bones
c. Benefits of heavy work (outdoors provides a variety!)
d. Benefits of spinning (muscle tone, posture, body awareness)
e. Strengthening the immune system (via movement)
4. How much active play is enough?
a. Infants (1-12m):
b. Toddlers (12m-3yr): 5-8hrs, preferably outdoors
c. Preschoolers (3-5yr): 5-8hrs, daily time outside
d. School age (5-13): 4-5+hrs, daily time outside
e. Adolescents (13-19): 3-4hrs
5. What to do:
a. Allow adequate time every day for children to play outdoors.
b. Take frequent movement breaks throughout the day.
c. Give children adequate time to play at recess.
d. Allow children to move prior to starting school day (ex. outdoor chores).
e. Let them play outside when school is done for a few hours.
f. Younger children don’t need organized sports/activities – they’ll get
adequate exercise through play.
g. Invite children to come over and play with your children outdoors for the
day (they will be more independent in their play w/ friends around).
h. Let kids play with other children.
i. Let children take risks – even the youngest ones.
 j.
Instead of entertaining your children primarily through adult-led
activities, inspire movement by using the environment (set up rope swing
outdoors, provide a bike).
k. Give your children the gift of time to move and play every day!
6. In a Nutshell:
a. Don’t need to structure your child’s activity when they’re home. Step back
and allow ample time to move and paly outdoors on their own.
b. Active free play is critical for developing healthy bodies and minds. It
allows children to develop creativity, independent thinking skills,
confidence, emotional regulation skills, strength, and healthy sensory and
immune systems.

The Therapeutic Value of Outdoor Play

1. Why Outdoors?
a. The outdoors offers a perfectly balanced sensory experience (natural
integration of our sense, calm but alert state, right amount/kind of
sensory stimuli).
b. The outdoors inspires the mind (no expectations, endless possibilities, no
pressure).
c. The outdoors offers risk and challenge (children build confidence,
challenge themselves at their own pace, learn to be adaptable).
2. How is Nature Therapeutic?
a. Nature is calming.
b. Nature improves the visual sense.
i. Simply looking at nature impacts children.
ii. Play outdoors improves eye function.
c. Nature fosters listening.
d. Nature enhances the sense of touch.
i. Hygiene hypothesis (living environments today are too clean)
ii. Going barefoot (develop touch senses in feet + strengthens arches)
e. Nature enhances the sense of taste & smell (textures, smells etc.).
3. Outdoor Experiences that Engage the Senses:
a. Promote barefoot babies.
b. Go fruit/berry picking
c. Garden with children
d. Go birding
e. Play in the dark
f. Interact with animals
g. Play at the beach
h. Encourage tree climbing
i. Cook over an open fire
j. Immerse your child in nature
4. In a Nutshell:
a. Man-made environments: may overwhelm, over-stimulate, under-
stimulate + offer few sensory benefits.
b. Outdoors: offer limitless possibilities for play + exploration of the senses,
enhancing/refining the senses through repeated practice.
c. Need: daily, outdoor free play!

“Safety First” Equals Child Development Later

1. What adult safety looks like:
 a. Constant supervision
b. Fear of strangers
c. Right to roam (gone)
d. Fear of injuries (causes more injuries – safer playgrounds)
e. An abundance of rules
2. What Child-Driven Play Looks Like:
a. Children know what they need.
b. Children were born to take risks.
c. Children take pride in independent play experiences.
d. Taking physical risks improves safety awareness.
3. Common Sense Safety in the Outdoors:
a. Cuts + Scrapes (simply a normal part of playing outdoors)
b. Getting dirty + wet (nothing to be anxious about)
c. Poisonous plants (teach them; not all) – ants
d. Edibles in the world (teach)
e. Staying hydrated
f. Bugs (teach; check for ticks nightly)
g. Sun exposure (heats, sunscreen)
h. Getting lost (boundaries)
i. Wild animals (teach)
4. In a Nutshell:
a. Taking risks is an essential part of growing up. Many benefits – physically
and mentally.

What’s Wrong with the Playgrounds and Indoor Play Spaces of Today?
1. Playground dilemma:
a. Playgrounds of the past (very different).
b. Rise of regulations
c. Change in playground equipment:
i. Merry-go-rounds
ii. Swings and slides
iii. Jungle gyms
iv. Teeter totters
2. What to look for in good playground:
a. Natural components
b. Space to move
c. Easy on the colors
d. Simple but challenging equipment
3. Indoor play spaces (avoid most, but best options):
a. Museums – Children’s
b. Water parks (slides etc.)
c. Public atriums (often offer a natural scene)
d. Playgrounds (high structures, equipment that moves in all directions)
e. Rock-climbing gyms (best outside)
f. Aquarium
g. Swimming pool
h. Art or science (tinkering) labs
i. Petting zoos
4. In a Nutshell:
a. Today:
i. Children play less.
 ii. Children don’t play with children of other ages.
iii. Children don’t play without adult supervision.
iv. Playground equipment is less challenging and stimulating and is
now often being moved indoors.
b. It’s more important – now than ever – that we offer children daily
outdoor play to support healthy, meaningful sensory experiences.
c. Natural outdoor settings offer the most open-ended, sensory-calming
environments for children, inspiring hours of pretend play and creativity
that aid in the proper development of their senses.

Rethinking Recess and the Classroom

1. Benefits of recess:
a. Can make your child a better student (combats obesity, improves
behavior, develops social skill, gets the brain working, reduces stress)
2. Make recess a play experience:
a. Extend the time (1+ hour; it takes 45min to really get engaged)
b. Fewer rules
c. Loose parts (materials kids can use to design, create, move/play with).
d. Free to get dirty
3. Rethinking the classroom:
a. Keep things visually simple (Waldorf schools are famous for using natural
supplies – wood/cotton/pinecones/fabric – in their classrooms)
b. Get moving in a meaningful way:
i. Sit and attend for brief periods of time (keep instruction to a
minimum and follow with movement to help children process the
new information).
ii. Change positions often (every 10-15 minutes)
iii. Think beyond the chair (write on the floor, tape paper to wall, use
movement while doing math)
iv. Get up and dance
v. Project-based learning experiences (alternative to paper based –
such as creating a restaurant)
4. Nature in the classroom:
a. Bring the classroom outdoors (walk, play, blanket)
b. Integrate the outdoors into the curriculum – natural field trips etc.
c. Spend most of your time outdoors
d. Consider a multi-age approach
e. Use the environment (it’s the third teacher)
f. Offer loose parts
g. Encourage risk taking
5. Rethink day care:
a. Benefits of free play & movement are even more pronounced among
younger children.
6. In a Nutshell:
a. We must rethink our current educational models.
b. We need daily opportunities to get outdoors, engage their senses, learn
through hands-on, exploratory play experiences, adults play less of a roll…

When Is My Baby Ready for the Outdoors?

1. A. Right now – even as a newborn!
2. Examples:
 a. Take walks outside
b. Floor-time (tummy time) outdoors – on grass
c. Leave the baby gear (containers) behind – sensations from a child being
carried vs. in a carrier. (Develops so many things)!
d. Touch new things
e. Nap outdoors
f. Eat outdoors
g. Just BE outdoors – explore the yard, play in the mud or the rain, picnic in
the park
h. A little less NO, a little more YES.
3. Stepping outdoors ignites the senses – all of them.
4. Benefits:
a. Time outdoors calms.
b. Uneven terrain challenges growing infants.
c. Lays the foundation for language + memories.
5. 3 common safety issues:
a. Boo-boos and splinters – normal part of outdoors
b. Getting dirty – good thing!
c. Eating dirt + chewing on sticks – good bacteria.
6. In a Nutshell:
a. Above all else, ENJOY your baby.
b. Go outside and let your littlest ones explore their surroundings.

Getting Children to Play Creatively and Independently Outdoors

1. Overcoming barriers to independent play:
a. Overcoming fear
i. Independence = safer children in the long run.
ii. Start simple = mall steps encouraging independence
iii. Observe + practice = observe from a distance, test out
iv. Set clear guidelines
b. Moving beyond boredom
i. Children need to experience boredom
ii. Let children daydream
iii. Let go of preconceived notions
iv. Open up your calendar (open up your schedule!)
2. Ways to encourage independent + creative play:
a. Giving children space (they need their own space).
i. The backyard (go out, but just be present):
1. Occupy yourself: start a garden, trim bushes, rake leaves,
play games from time-to-time, build something together,
bring a smaller project outdoors.
ii. The park (be present, but sit back):
1. Seek out natural areas bring a good book to read, bring
other children, stay close when near water.
iii. The streets (age 9+):
1. Teach navigation skills, set rules/boundaries, eat with your
kids (touch point during day), pack water/snacks, practice
first, clarify + teach street smarts.
iv. The woods:
1. Go with them at first, pick up sticks (focus elsewhere, also
opens up ground – encouraging them to go farther), allow
 for roaming, explore with friends, establish physical
boundaries, point out hazardous plants/animals, give clear
instructions
v. Give children time (45+ min):
1. Play after school, play in the morning, make time on the
weekends (leave at least 1 day un-scheduled), rethink
recess.
vi. Bring friends into the picture:
1. Schedule all-day play dates, allow your children to roam,
find like-minded parents, create an open house policy.
vii. Use environment as inspiration:
1. Play near a stream, play at the beach, play in the woods,
play near mud puddles.
viii. Loose parts:
1. Avoid plastic or childlike objects, offer building items, visit
garage sales, change up the loose parts, keep quiet
ix. Providing simplicity:
1. Get rid of the giant play structure in the backyard (they
become the center of attention and discourage children
from playing in the rest of the yard), offer a few pieces of
equipment, offer stimulating and simple equipment, install
a sand pit, loose parts
3. In a Nutshell:
a. We must start by overcoming our fears and the tendency to keep children
entertained – to start encouraging active, independent play outdoors.
This is further enhanced when children are given plenty of time for free
play on a daily basis and are offered inspiring outdoor environments to
explore.
b. To integrate free play in your child’s life, start by offering loose parts,
engaging environments and an adult presence that doesn’t interfere with
or distract from independent lay. Slowly phase out yourself and the loose
parts as your child becomes more and more independent and creative.
c. The goal: get your child to complete independence, which is the ability to
think creatively & openly.