Whatever happened to kick the can?

Study says kids aren’t getting enough unstructured time to make their own fun

Naomi Brookner⁄The Gazette Juan Lamy, 6, of Germantown leads the way as his father Mauricio holds Emily, 9 months. Juan's sister, Gaby, 4, follows along in a walk along the edge of the lake at Seneca Creek State Park in Gaithersburg on Monday.

‘‘Me, my sister and my brother like to run around and we like to tag each other and goof off,” she said. ‘‘We like to have fun, play together.”

But Neha and her siblings may find fewer friends on the playground, according to some parents and recent studies that say children are spending less time involved in both unstructured and outdoor play.

Many parents say their kids are more involved in structured activities and camps rather than free play around the neighborhood.

‘‘When I was a kid we’d be outside all day long and come in after dark,” said Bethesda resident Michele Giroax who was at Seven Locks Swim and Tennis Club last week. ‘‘I would go play in the woods all day and build things and play kick the can.”

But in recent years, fewer children are spending their days outside, research says.

According to a study by University of Maryland professor Sandra Hofferth, there was a 50 percent decline from 1997 to 2003 in the participation of children ages 9-12 in outdoor activities, such as walking, hiking, fishing and going to the beach. In 1997, 16 percent of the age group participated in these activities. In 2003, 8 percent participated. Organized sports were not included in the study.

Spending less time outdoors could be detrimental to children’s understanding of the world around them, Hofferth said.

‘‘If you spend all your time indoors you won’t understand where our food comes from, you won’t understand animals and bugs,” she said. ‘‘It just increases a person’s knowledge about the world around them and that’s very important for an educated person in our society.”

Still some parents say they don’t need to encourage their children — at least the parents of younger children — to get outdoors and run around.

Janet Levine, of Germantown, was at Bohrer Park in Gaithersburg on Monday with her two daughters, ages 4 and 6, and two nieces, ages 9 and 11. She said it’s not an issue getting the girls outside, where they enjoy playgrounds, and riding bikes and scooters. Levine’s husband also just finished building a play set in the couple’s backyard.

‘‘They like to play outside,” said Levine, who also pointed out that she has no specific rules about TV viewing or computer time. ‘‘They just love to play in the yard together.”

But for some parents, getting children to play outside isn’t always as simple as pushing them out the door.

Susan Shipley brought her 2-year-old son to Candy Cane City in Chevy Chase’s Meadowbrook Park on Monday.

She said she worries about having to turn off the video games as he gets older.

‘‘It’s something we think about as a family,” she said, ‘‘making sure he’ll be outside enough, and that he won’t play games inside all day.”

Many factors contribute to the decline in free play outdoors ranging from watching television to increasing fear for child safety to more parents working, parents said.

Giroax said she takes an active role in making sure her children, ages 7 and 10, get off the couch and into the fresh air. She limits the amount of time they spend in front of the television to one hour at a time and organizes activities and day trips, such as picnics and trips to the Chesapeake Bay, to get her children outside and having fun.

‘‘This summer we’ve been at the pool a lot and we get together with their friends,” she said. ‘‘I’m not big into schedules. We do a lot of little road trips to visit friends and family.”

But for families with two working parents, planning and supervising outdoor time for children can be problematic.

‘‘Now I think there’s a fear that parents have of having their children out there without supervision,” said Linda Barlock, director of the Potomac Community Center, which hosts two summer camps that many working parents take advantage of. ‘‘They don’t know if Johnny’s parents are going to be home, kids get into trouble and there are predators out there.”

Both Potomac Community Center camps were created so that the children spend a few hours outside, usually in the morning before it gets too hot, said Barlock, who added that some parents express concern about their children being in the heat all day and some children have health issues.

Although Hofferth said that free playtime for children to explore the outdoors on their own is important, she also said that organized activities, such as camps, have positive effects as well. It’s all about balance.

They provide learning opportunities and help children interact with their peers and with adults, according to another study by Hofferth titled ,‘‘Leisure Time Activities in Middle Childhood.”

‘‘There are a lot of advantages of the structure, but there is an advantage of some free time and allowing children to explore on their own,” Hofferth said. ‘‘What people fear is that if children are only in things that are structured they won’t know how to entertain themselves when they are not structured. The fear is you’ll have a generation of kids who’ll come home and stare blankly at the television and won’t know how to entertain themselves.

‘‘It has been happening for decades,” she said. ‘‘I think it’s the presence of large houses with many activities inside.”

But some parents don’t see the issue and admit their children like to play in nature as much as possible.

‘‘I don’t usually have a problem,” said Breton Helsel, who was at Bohrer Park in Gaithersburg on Monday with her 5-year-old daughter Natalie. ‘‘She usually wants to stay outside longer than I do.”

Staff Writers Meghan Tierney and Patrick Dunne contributed to this story.