The Backyard Play Revolution: How to Engage Kids in Simple, Inexpensive Outdoor Play and Increase Child Health and Motor/Sensory Development

by Jason Runkel Sperling

In this eye opening, easy-to-follow, action-oriented book, Jason Runkel Sperling explains how to use screen-free, unstructured outdoor play and toys to increase early-age child learning opportunities and improve happiness for the whole family.You’ll •How to encourage your child to enjoy active, outdoor, screen-free play •How to foster unstructured, child-led playtime •The secret to making risky play work for your child•Practical advice on how to pick the right toys and transform your backyard•How to set up your backyard playspace and not break the bank•And much, much more… Follow one father’s entertaining and informative experiments to find play and toys that inspire his children to play outside, offline, and independently—like children of past generations. Author Jason Runkel Sperling shares his six-year journey discovering the history of play, playgrounds, toys, and the role of adults in their children’s experiences, culminating in a revolutionary approach to backyard play. Full of humor, parenting insight, and in-depth research, Sperling’s book will change how you think about raising children, and how you organize your home.If you’re like the majority of parents today, you may have noticed the differences in modern childhood. Unlike every other generation, your children spend more time indoors, glued to screens, and are less active and free to roam than in any time in history. You likely have come across countless articles on the epidemic of child obesity and behavioral problems today, and perhaps you’ve heard that getting children to play outside is an easy and inexpensive remedy. You may already want to get your children to play outside, but nothing seems to motivate them. Or maybe you’re frozen with fear that they might get hurt if they go out. Plus, your backyard is manicured for adult enjoyment. So instead of heading outside, your children stay indoors, damaging their health, and driving you up the walls.You may have tried lawn games, sports equipment, remote control toys, or backyard arts and crafts, but nothing seems to hold their attention. And when you do spend time in the backyard, you always have to play with them. Or, perhaps you can’t stand the thought of your children not getting ahead—so the children’s schedule is jam-packed with adult-led, goal-based activities outside the home. In other words, you’ve turned into the family chauffeur. Whatever happened to “go outside and play”? Raising children today is harder than ever before, but children haven’t changed all that much.The best way to get children to develop their imagination and creativity, motor and sensory skills, emotional and social intelligence, and every other physical and mental ability, is to get them to “go outside and play” with open-ended, child-led play that can be enjoyed in the backyard. There are proven, evidence-based approaches for the role parents should take in facilitating this kind of play. And you can learn them quickly and apply them tomorrow. This doesn’t mean getting rid of every after-school activity, throwing away every toy in the house, or putting the kibosh on screen time forever. But it does mean making sure that children have active playtime necessary to prevent physical and psychological maladies. It’s vital, especially with early-age children, to give them the environment and support they need to develop. You don’t have to play with children every second, you just need to know the right kind of play and toys to provide and how to gently guide them.The Backyard Play Revolution is for parents from every background, regardless of location or income level, and is appropriate for backyards of any size.This book isn’t hundreds of pages long. You can read the whole thing the day you get it and take action the next day. Are you ready to profoundly impact your child’s life? Scroll up to the top of the page and get your copy of The Backyard Revolution now.

Genres: Parenting

124 pages, Paperback

Published January 19, 2016

Reviews

[Aaron Griffin]

A decent book about the sorts of play children can engage in, and how adults can help them play without enforcing their ideas and excessive safety.

As a parent, a lot of this comes as somewhat obvious (how many times do kids play with boxes more than the toys in them?) but it was still good to read it on paper.

Short and sweet, and worth the read.

[Allysia K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, entertaining, no fluff, actionable. Exactly what I wanted from this book. It was well-written too, which was a nice bonus. I appreciated it's brevity and enthusiasm.

[Susie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

Very short but well researched and immediately useful. A conversational tone with personal examples and photos of the innovations in action. Worth it!

[Scott Allan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to young kids at home and so I am used to the high-octane energy and noise that raising youngsters can bring. I'll admit that for a couple of years, we filled the house with a lot of plastic toys. These things provided short-term happiness and were forgotten about with days, and now collect dust waiting for their day on eBay. Last year I started buying different things for Bday or Christmas: roller-skates, a unicycle and skateboard. These things can only be used outside of course. This set my mind that outdoors play is so much better than hanging around inside just watching TV or breaking the place apart.

That is wear Jason's book comes in.
I realized so many things about myself as a parent after reading this book. First of all, I am overly protective [and always have been] and by constantly telling kids "That is dangerous" or "watch out!" I have been distilling the idea in their minds that playing risky is dangerous and should be avoided. I love the theme of this book because it also reminds us that we were once children too, only we have forgotten how to play. I could totally relate to the authors experience of being in the house with the kids, and either having them explode like demons with energy, or become zombies with games and mindless television. These are energy-killing devices. They have some fun moments but, as the author pointed out, much of our society has become a packaged, marketed funnel of digital warfare. This is why PLAY is vital to their growth and mental development.

The book includes colourful pics of the authors own children and backed up by his own research as he investigated "loose parts"; this is such an amazing concept that I am now putting together a plan for my own children to start doing this. Why spend hundreds of dollars on marketable plastic, when we are surrounded by things that can be used for play?

Just like the author, I had never given much thought to my children playing. Or the quality of play they engaged in, so this book is really a definite "wakeup" call. But its purpose isn't to say "You have been doing this wrong." But rather, to create a sense of awareness in ourselves and our kids that we can have fun outside with just a little imagination.

The book covers all the different types of play that children can engage in, including risky play. By understanding how kids play and the enjoyment they can experience out of creating with loose parts found around the home, parents can change their views of how to engage with their kids.

I loved the practical ideas provided by the author such as building a mud kitchen, building a house with sticks, or using a rope with a bucket. There is also a list of materials to gather for each activity so that you can start doing these things with your kids.

This book is a priceless gem I'd definitely recommend as a means to strengthen the connection with your children in a way that plastic products and digital devices can't do.

[Joanna Jast · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and very needed book in the era where kids spend more time in front of various screen and grow up to be unhealthy adults.
The author shares his experience as a dad to two kids, raising them to play outdoors with inexpensive items, using strategies that are proven to help children develop mentally and physically.. The book is very practical, presenting what you can use, how, where to get it etc. It also challenges us, as parents to get up, go out, think outside the box and reconsider our understanding of 'risky play'.

A valuable book for any parent of young children.