Physical play is an important aspect of our lives and especially the lives of our children. It’s not only fun, but it improves our heart, lung and mental health. Physical play is also vital to brain development and it allows kids to learn problem-solving, conflict-resolution skills and creativity.
But sadly, most of our children aren’t playing enough to stay healthy. In fact, only one in four kids in the US are getting the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity per day. And it’s having a dramatic impact on their health. Children without access to play, such as public playgrounds, are 26 percent more likely to be obese. This is particularly challenging in our community, with 14 percent of Missouri children and 36.4 percent of Greene County adults suffering from obesity.
To encourage play, it is critical that children have safe places to play within walking distance of where they live. However, only 55 percent of Springfieldians live within a half-mile of a publicly available play space.
This fact, combined with the high rate of obesity in our area, is why the Springfield-Greene County Health Department and partners are working to provide greater access to play spaces throughout the community with The Playspace Project.
The Health Department is reaching out to organizations with play spaces on private property – such as local churches – to implement open-use policies and is applying for funding to develop new play spaces in areas without them.
Our goal is to increase public access to play spaces by 10 percent to meet one of the objectives in the Springfield Community Health Improvement Plan, developed by the Healthy Living Alliance, which is available online at health.springfieldmo.gov/chip.
So far, Brentwood Christian Church (1900 E. Barataria), Weller Community Church (1624 E. Blaine) and Drew Lewis Foundation@The Fairbanks (1126 N. Broadway) have agreed open their play spaces to the community.
If your organization is interested in opening your playspace to the community or you are interested in applying for funding to create a new publicly accessible play space, please contact Julie Viele at jviele@springfieldmo.gov or 417-864-2077.