WITH their distinctive spikey green shells and shiny brown nut interior the conker is one of October’s simple pleasures. But childhood experts claim that with a growing number of children not only clueless about the traditional game of conkers – where two players each with a conker threaded on a piece of string take it in turns to hit each other's nut until one shatters – but also unable to recognise a horse chestnut, the need to ensure children play outdoors is more urgent than ever.

Play experts are calling for all parents, schools and decision makers to join the fight to reserve the tide that sees children opt for computer games and screen time over time outdoors playing traditional games like conkers as well as other endangered outdoor classics like skipping games and hopscotch.

Surveys suggest three-quarters of UK children spend less time outdoors than prison inmates and an ever-growing body of evidence links everything from childhood obesity to mental health problems to the ever-diminishing time children spend outdoors.

In response there has been an increased interest in solutions such as forest schools for nursery children, outdoor education for primary and secondary levels, and community-led "play streets" where local roads are closed to cars for a limited hours to encourage parents to let their children out to play. Yet the stats show the problem is still growing.

Earlier this year research by Glasgow Caledonian University, which compared play experiences of children in 1987 with 2017, found that children not only spend far less time out of doors but had fewer hours to play and fewer playmates. Although 65 per cent of adults in 1987 said children spent "far more of their play time outdoors than indoors" now 65 per cent say today's children spend “far more time" indoors than out. Almost one-in-three of today's parents say "a lot or most" of their child's play time is electronic.

According to data from the 2016 Scottish Household Survey 2016, released last month, the average age parents allow children to play unsupervised on their street is nine. Over half (52 per cent) of parents living in the most deprived urban areas said it was not safe for their child to go the park on their own and 61 per cent of all parents said their child could not access a wooded or natural environment by themselves.

Experts argue that the very words children need to describe the natural world around them are disappearing. In 2015 50 words connected with nature – including conker – were removed from the10,000-word Oxford Children's Dictionary.

Marguerite Hunter Blair, director of Play Scotland, said: "Classic playground games such as conkers, skipping ropes, balls, hoops and chalk – underpinned by rhymes, rules and repetition – are rich in social and language development opportunities, as well as physical literacy and fun. Also a lot of traditional games were played outside.

"If children don’t play these games and substitute them for more solitary, sedentary, and indoor play a lot of their social and communication skills will be under developed and so much joy missing from play time. Social and interactive experiences allow for negotiation of rules and social norms. Learning to take turns and adapting your behaviour so you can take part in the game, are essential life skills."

Tim Gill, author of No Fear - growing up in a risk averse society, and advisor on childhood play, argues that traditional games are valuable because they rarely needed equipment or skills and allowed all children to join in. Most are also played outdoors and gave children more exposure to the natural world.

He said: "We should be worried about the question of why children have very little experience of the natural world. It should be part of the diet of a healthy childhood experience."

Several factors were responsible for the cultural shift, he claimed.

"There is the time spent on screens and online, there are changes in parents working patterns, even warmer houses. This trend is a side affect of social changes so the question is how do we respond? The fact that kids know don’t about conkers is a symbolic of these changes and it should prompt us as a society to react."

Gill said it was important that the issue was not used as "another stick to beat parents with" and suggested they aim for low maintenance ways to include child-led outdoor play into family life, and also "demand more of decision makers" in terms of creating more child-friendly neighbourhoods.

Emily Cutts initiated Glasgow's Children's Wood in 2011 at a local West End gap site adjacent to the North Kelvin Meadow. It is now used by dozens of schools and nurseries, it runs a playgroup, as well as after-school and gardening clubs.

"Many people don't know what a conker is," she said. "I was hunting for them for my children Lauchlan and Jessica and an adult and child stopped to ask me what we were doing and why were doing it. They had no idea about conkers and it really took me aback."

Conkers:

Where to find them: Horse chestnuts are native to Europe and introduced to Britain in 1600s. They have been widely planted in public parks, streets and gardens. Search them down in Glasgow's Pollok Park, or Southbrae Drive in the West End. In Edinburgh try the Botanic Gardens or London Road near Leith Walk. Linn Mill in South Queensferry or the Newhailes estate in Musselburgh are also good bets.

The game: The first recorded game of conkers was in 1848 on the Isle of Wight but the earliest mention of the game is as far back as 1821 when it was played with hazelnuts. The Scottish Tweed Valley Forest Festival holds its annual Scottish Conker Championship on October 21.

How to play: Two players take it in turns to hit each other's conker, until there is one conker left. The first player holds out their conker at arm's length, hanging down, ready to be hit. Be warned, the string should be wrapped around the hand to stop it being dropped.

Tips: Conkers will float in water when rotten so test them first. Storing last year's conkers and baking in the oven or pickling in vinegar can produce a tough conker but beware – this is cheating.

Other things to do outdoors this October week (one for each day of the week)

1. Helicopter noses: A gentler alternative to conkers. Peel back the sticky side of a sycamore seed (where the sap is) and attach it your nose. You can now go to battle to knock the "helicopter nose" off your friend.

2. Play giant pick-up sticks: collect a pile of sticks and try to pull them out one by one without moving the others.

3. Make fairy houses: find door-like hollows at the base of trees and decorate them with whatever you can find. Note: acorn cups are perfectly-sized for fairies.

4. Create some Andy Goldsworthy spirals: unleash your inner environmental artist and create giant leaf spirals that take in the amazing spectrum of autumn colours

5. Meet a tree: one person is blindfolded in a circle of trees. The “helpers” lead them to one tree and allow them to explore it with their hands before leading them back to the middle of the circle. Take off the blindfold and ask them to guess (by returning to touch the trees) which one they met.

6. Build a den: It could be home in the woods, a space shuttle or a secret spying base. Let your imagination run wild.

7. Jump in piles of leaves: You also bury people in them (pulling a snood or similar over your face can help) and let them jump out to hilarious effect.

The tradition games that kids still play

Chasing games: From old school Kiss-Chase to Confusion Tig in which everybody is “it” at the same time – yes it’s aptly named – these carry across cultures. Signs for “time out” are international.

Hide and seek: another classic with plenty of twists, such as Man Hunt, basically hide and seek in reverse. Optional rules can see the addition of “enemy lines” and subterfuge tactics to throw the other side off the scent.

Clapping games: these still rule in many playgrounds. “A sailor went to sea, sea, sea” may have been replaced by “tic tac toe, bunny got hit by a UFO” but there is still a simple joy in the co-ordination of the rhymes and actions. (Kids bonus tip: you can do the rude ones silently even when the teachers are watching).

Collecting games: it used to be marbles. Recent playground crazes include Pokemon cards and Shopkins (expensive bits of plastic inexplicably designed as animated pieces of food). They are just as likely to get banned from school as ever.

Making chains: not many kids use daisies now but making bracelets is still a big thing. From loom bands – little bits of rubber that are probably responsible for eradicating several species from the food chain – to friendship ones made with coloured threads, these are still a way to show your pals you care.