National Go Barefoot Day is an annual celebration during which people are encouraged to shed their shoes, let their feet breathe, and spend as much time in bare feet as possible. While the event is officially June 1, any day works with these fun and educational activities.
Let’s take a look at how to Play on a Barefoot Day.
Clean Out Your Closets
Whenever you choose to mark barefoot day is a good time to get your child to clean out their closet and donate a couple of pairs of gently worn shoes to a local charity. While your child may not exactly consider this a fun activity, it teaches them humility and one way to help others. After it’s done, indulge your child in an activity of their choosing.
Bare Your Soles
Whether it’s June 1, or any day, for that matter, your child can kick off their footwear and indulge in barefoot day activities. They can, for example, create a bit of mud and pad about in it. They can also wade into a body of water, leaving their shoes on the shore. Let your child experience how the ocean floor, riverbed, or lake bottom feels.
You can also encourage your child to stand in cold water and experience the sensation, followed by the welcome release. Another idea is to get your son or daughter to simply wiggle their toes in a soft grassy spot in the park or yard. Your child can also climb a tree or other outdoor structure with bare feet, and experience how that feels.
Also, all kids love to splash and stomp in puddles, so let them have at it! It’s also fun to get them to try to pick up things with their toes and pass them to a pal. Or your kiddo can draw a picture using their toes. Framing the drawing will one day bring smiles and good memories.
You can also have your child to bury their feet in mud, sand, or dirt, then wriggle them free. What’s more, finding a smooth stone and having your child press his or her feet into it at different points is do-it-yourself reflexology!
Also, your kid will likely get a kick from you giving them “low fives” using your bare feet. You can also encourage the kid to indulge in a family foot wash using warm water, good soap, and some old towels. Doesn’t that sound good?
Enjoy The Health Benefits
There actually are several benefits to getting about in bare feet that kids will likely remember and incorporate when they’re older. Those include better foot positioning, improved body awareness and balance, comfortability, better foot mechanics that can ultimately improve the functionality of other body parts, and stronger leg muscles and lower back support.
In addition, To Play in a Barefoot can result in improved posture, relief from footwear restrictions, enhanced dexterity of lower extremities, and progressively increased strength and stability of muscles and joints.
Organize A Shoe Drive
Yet another way to participate in Barefoot Day is teaching your child about giving back. This activity calls for you, your child, and a few of their friends to visit people’s homes and collect footwear they no longer use. Then, drop the shoes off at a charitable organization. To make the most of the experience, you and the kids can Play in a Barefoot walk in a local park afterward and simply celebrate being barefoot.
In sum, our children spend less time outdoors than we did. So, why not welcome the opportunity to ditch the “kicks” and head outdoors for family fun. And while you’re at it, you can do some good for the community and teach your child valuable life lessons.
And, that’s how to play Barefoot Day!
