This article on Outdoor Play was based on our insight written for Baby College by Nina Politimou, Senior Teaching Fellow at UCL, Institute of Education and an Associate Lecturer at Birkbeck, Department of Psychological Sciences.
Eight Reasons to Get Outside With Your Baby or Toddler
Getting outside with a baby or toddler takes effort. By the time you have packed the bag, found both shoes, and navigated the buggy through the door, you could be forgiven for wondering if it is worth it. It is. The research on outdoor play is among the clearest in early childhood development.
A poll published in 2025 by the University of Michigan found that one in ten parents of toddlers and preschoolers said their child plays outside once a week or less. Three in five reported their child watches TV or videos every day. The contrast matters, because outdoor time offers things screens simply cannot.
Here are eight of them.
1. Vitamin D
Sunlight triggers vitamin D production, which supports bone development, immune function, sleep quality, and mood. Babies in particular benefit from fresh air and daylight — research consistently shows it helps them sleep better at night. You do not need much sun exposure to make a difference, and sensible precautions apply, but being outside regularly is one of the simplest things you can do for your baby’s health.
2. Motor development
Outdoor spaces invite movement in a way indoor spaces rarely do. Crawling further to reach something interesting, picking up pebbles and leaves, navigating uneven ground — all of this builds both gross and fine motor skills in ways that are hard to replicate inside. A ball, a patch of grass, and a toddler is a very effective combination.
3. Learning and executive function
Outside, there is more to sense, see, explore, and discover than any indoor environment can provide. The variety and unpredictability of outdoor space is cognitively stimulating in a way that structured activities are not. Unstructured outdoor time — where children make up their own games, explore, and entertain themselves — builds executive functions including planning, problem-solving, and creativity. These are some of the most important skills for later learning.
4. Risk-taking
This one makes parents nervous, but it matters. A 2026 review of 40 studies found that risky outdoor play consistently supported resilience, confidence, and wellbeing across early childhood. Children need to discover what they can and cannot do. A toddler who climbs a step and falls is learning something valuable about their own body and the world. Appropriate risk is not the same as danger.
5. Immune system
Reasonable exposure to dirt, microbes, and natural environments in early childhood supports immune development. Contact with soil, plants, and animals helps establish a more robust immune response and may reduce the risk of allergies. Let them touch the mud.
6. Reducing screen time naturally
Children who are engaged outdoors are not on screens. But the benefit goes further — children who are regularly active outside tend to be more energetic generally, and less drawn to sedentary behaviour at home. The habits formed in early childhood around activity and outdoor time tend to persist.
7. Appreciating the natural world
Children who grow up exploring outdoors — noticing insects, digging in soil, watching weather — are more likely to develop an understanding of and care for the natural environment as they grow. Environmental awareness starts early.
8. Social connection
The unstructured setting of outdoor play — a park, a garden, a playground — creates natural opportunities for children to approach other children, negotiate, share, and cooperate. This kind of social learning is different from what happens in structured class settings, and equally valuable.
At Baby College, we actively encourage families to take the activities they explore in class outside. Everything you do together — the movement, the songs, the play — works just as well in a garden or a park.
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