Children Benefit from Being Barefoot
There are benefits to being barefoot at a young age, as this is the time young feet are growing and developing. When children are born, their feet contain more cartilage than actual bone. Without constraints of shoes, children’s feet can develop normally strengthening the arches and preventing flat feet. Their gait patterns, balance and tolerance of touch in the feet benefit which goes towards developing fluid bodily movement.
Going barefoot also strengthens ankles and makes children’s bodies more agile and less injury prone. This is due to the fact that children learn to pay more attention to their surroundings and develop their proprioceptive sense; i.e., they know what their feet are doing without looking at them.
Being barefoot allows children to feel the ground beneath them and offers sensory stimulation as they walk over different surfaces such as grass, bark, rocks and sand. Whilst we promote the benefits of children playing barefoot, our Arkie educators are always mindful of the weather conditions and children are monitored at all times for their level of comfort and dressed accordingly.
