16/11/2025
Understanding Singapore’s Outdoor Play Crisis
In 2024, OPPI partnered with SunCare SG to survey 1,000 parents of preschoolers (ages 3-6) on playtime habits and beliefs—research that was featured in The Straits Times.
The findings were stark: Nearly 1 in 5 parents reported their child spends only 1 hour outdoors daily. Screen time is displacing the unstructured, physical play that previous generations took for granted.
Why this matters:
When outdoor play becomes a scheduled activity rather than a daily norm, children lose critical opportunities for free exploration and self-directed learning. As digital spaces become the default, children may increasingly prefer screens—not because they’re inherently better, but because they’ve become more familiar.
We’re also witnessing a subtle erosion of social-emotional development. Face-to-face play teaches empathy, emotional regulation, and conflict resolution in ways that screens cannot replicate.
At OPPI, we believe rigorous research should drive meaningful change. Understanding how Singapore’s children play today helps us advocate for the childhood experiences they deserve tomorrow.
Read the full study: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/screen-time-eating-into-physical-playtime-for-pre-schoolers-study