Skip to content
Facebook Instagram YouTube Email

Log in.

Scholé Sisters
  • About
  • Podcast
  • Contact
  • Shop
Join Sistershp
Scholé Sisters
Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children

Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children

Author: Angela Hanscom
Tags: #107, #107 Scholé Every Day, #122, #122 Topical Discussion, Brandy Vencel

In this important book, a pediatric occupational therapist and founder of TimberNook shows how outdoor play and unstructured freedom of movement are vital for children’s cognitive development and growth, and offers tons of fun, engaging ways to help ensure that kids grow into healthy, balanced, and resilient adults.

Today’s kids have adopted sedentary lifestyles filled with television, video games, and computer screens. But more and more, studies show that children need “rough and tumble” outdoor play in order to develop their sensory, motor, and executive functions. Disturbingly, a lack of movement has been shown to lead to a number of health and cognitive difficulties, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), emotion regulation and sensory processing issues, and aggressiveness at school recess break. So, how can you ensure your child is fully engaging their body, mind, and all of their senses?

Using the same philosophy that lies at the heart of her popular TimberNook program—that nature is the ultimate sensory experience, and that psychological and physical health improves for children when they spend time outside on a regular basis—author Angela Hanscom offers several strategies to help your child thrive, even if you live in an urban environment.

Today it is rare to find children rolling down hills, climbing trees, or spinning in circles just for fun. We’ve taken away merry-go-rounds, shortened the length of swings, and done away with teeter-totters to keep children safe. Children have fewer opportunities for unstructured outdoor play than ever before, and recess times at school are shrinking due to demanding educational environments.

With this book, you’ll discover little things you can do anytime, anywhere to help your kids achieve the movement they need to be happy and healthy in mind, body, and spirit.

More info →
Buy This Book Online
Buy from Amazon
Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children
Buy now!

Be the first to know when the next podcast is live!

Subscribe to our podcast!

Apple PodcastsAndroidby EmailRSS

Disclosure

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Conversations Galore

Affections Anthropology Apply Faithfully Aristotle Authority Boys C.S. Lewis Charlotte Mason Christmas Classical Classics Community Curriculum Definitions Dialectic Dorothy Sayers Educational Metaphors Habit High School Homeschooling Humility Karen Glass Latin Laughter Liberal Arts Love Motherhood Motivation Multiculturalism Ordo Amoris Parenting Philosophy Plato Podcast Pre-Reading Reading Retreat Rewards Scholé Self-Education Socratic Discussion teaching Thinking Virtue Wonder

© 2025 Scholé Sisters · Scribe theme by Restored 316

  • About
  • Podcast
  • Contact
  • Shop
Search