Hong Kong parents told to take children outside to reach mental and physical potential

Parents who encourage their primary schoolchildren to go outside to play rather than staying indoors to study are giving them important life lessons from nature that could boost their chance to improve their grades.

Andrew Chambers, father of two children, aged six and eight, moved to Sai Kung to give them access to the outdoors. His wife is a teacher, and they firmly believe in the link between healthy lifestyle and academic performance.

“Having active kids instils the ability for them to entertain themselves and also promote creativity,” says Chambers. “Kids should be able to invent games with the resources and surroundings they have. It encourages life skills: how to make up rules, how to win and lose.”

Up to the age of six, it is key for children to experience the kind of stimulus found outdoors to enhance cognitive development, their brain’s ability to process information. Hiking along colourful trails or playing with sand builds neuron connections in the brain that boost the ability to learn.

“When a child plays outdoors, when they play on a swing, for example, they have movement, wind, the feeling in their tummy,” says Ann Bridgewater, a Hong Kong-based child psychologist. “It’s multisensory learning. But playing indoors, it’s limited, it’s basically just visual.”