Summertime Play – Staying Safe and Cool | Health Trend in Early Childhood – June 2025

Educators, health and mental health professionals, and other child advocates agree that this trend has significant adverse effects on young children’s health and development.

Here are several reasons why young children are not experiencing enough outdoor play*

• Increased use of TV, computer games, DVDs, smartphones & tablets with digital media
• Adult fears about crime and safety
• Child care arrangements with limited free time
• More time spent indoors in structured activities
• Loss of natural habitats

_{*Clements, “Status of Outdoor Play,” 68; Hastie and Howard, “Prescription for Healthy Kids”; Thigpen, “Outdoor Play: Combating Sedentary Lifestyles,” 19–20.}

Stay Safe and Cool During Outdoor Play:

Integrating more outdoor play time during our summertime routines requires planning ahead for the heat.  Temperatures are rising, but heat-induced illness is preventable. Using cooling strategies and shade elements will protect both children and adults while outdoors.   

Particularly, children need even more protection from heat, because:

• Children do not adapt to extremes of temperature as effectively as adults during heat stress.
• Children produce more metabolic heat for their body weight than adults when walking or running.
• Children have a lower sweating capacity and cannot dissipate body heat by evaporation as effectively as adults. (See CFOC reference)

Environmental conditions and surroundings, such as paved concrete or asphalt play surfaces, can be 50–90°F hotter than shaded surfaces during a sunny day. Adapting outdoor play areas to create more green spaces, such as adding trees, gardens, grassy areas and shade elements, can reduce hot temperatures to keep everyone safe.  (May 2025, Better Kid Care): Keeping Your Cool: Heat Awareness and Solutions — News — Better Kid Care)

Safe cooling strategies to counteract heat stress include but are not limited to:

• Always ensure children and adults have abundant access to clean, sanitary water, and encourage children to drink water during active play; don’t wait for children to say they are thirsty to offer water
  • Share this poster with families called, “Water, It’s a Great Choice.” Here are some tips about offering water throughout the day.
• Be flexible and modify routines – schedule outdoor playtimes during cooler hours of the day
• Keep tabs on outdoor air quality, heat and weather alert services, go to airnow.gov to download phone apps AirNow Mobile App | AirNow.gov and fact sheets: Protect Yourself from Smoke and Extreme Heat | AirNow.gov
• Provide extra protection from the sun, especially between the hours of 10:00 am and 4:00 pm
• Wear sun-protective clothing: wide-brimmed hats, lightweight clothing with one layer of loose-fitting absorbent material for better evaporation of sweat, which has a cooling effect
• Wear sunglasses with at least 99% UV protection. Look for youth-sized sunglasses with UV protection for children: Sun Safety: Information for Parents About Sunburn & Sunscreen – HealthyChildren.org
• Use sunscreen (always with parental permission): What’s the best way to protect kids’ skin from sunburn? – HealthyChildren.org

Clements, Rhonda. “An Investigation of the Status of Outdoor Play.” Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 5, No. 1 (2004): 68–80.

Dewar, Gwen. “Newborn Sleep Patterns: A Survival Guide for the Science-Minded Parent.” Parenting Science (2008–2017).

Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “Millions of U.S. Children Low in Vitamin D.” Einstein (Aug. 3, 2009).

Ginsburg, Kenneth. “No Child Left Inside: Reconnecting Kids with the Outdoors.” Testimony of Kenneth Ginsburg, MD, MS Ed, FAAP, on behalf of The American Academy of Pediatrics to the Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands and Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans, May 24, 2006.

Hastie, Kyla; Shani Howard. “A Prescription for Healthy Kids: Nature & Play.” AthensParent.com (March/April 2007).

Keeler, Rusty. Natural Playscapes: Creating Outdoor Play Environments for the Soul. Redmond, WA: Exchange Press, 2008.

Louv, Richard. Excerpt from Last Child in the Woods: Introduction. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin, 2008.

Sennerstam, Roland B. “Absence Due to Illness Among Toddlers in Day-Care Centres in Relation to Child Group Structure.” Public Health 111, No. 2 (2007): 85–88.

Thigpen, Betsy. “Outdoor Play: Combating Sedentary Lifestyles.” Zero to Three 28, No. 1 (2007): 19–23.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “For Kids with ADHD, Regular ‘Green Time’ Is Linked to Milder Symptoms.” ScienceDaily (Sept. 15, 2011).

White, Randy. “Young Children’s Relationship with Nature: Its Importance to Children’s Development & the Earth’s Future.” White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group, 2004.