Walking barefoot can improve health and lead to the proper development of the feet and body. The type of shoes that you wear and how often you wear them matters to the health of your feet. Learn 10 benefits of going barefoot outside including; the healthy development of the feet, proper foot mechanics, kinesthetic awareness, sensory stimulation, fine motor control, and foot strength.
There are many benefits of walking barefoot that help me feel confident about allowing my kids ample barefoot play time.
Yup, I’m that mom… The mom that lets her little scallywag of a child storm the playground in her bare feet.
To your surprise, you will hear me happily proclaim, “sure” when the children in my care ask to take their shoes off while on a hike or to jump in a puddle.
Why? …Because walking barefoot is a great way to help the feet and body grow and develop properly!
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Benefits of Walking Barefoot Outside
There are many reasons I allow my child to go barefoot. Well researched barefoot health benefits that you may want to consider before you tell your little one “no” when they ask to take their shoes off.
As a Kinesiologist B.Sc., I spent an entire year learning about the structure of the foot. The foot is the foundation of the body. A poorly constructed foot will result in a poorly constructed body. Your body needs a strong foundation just as much as your house does.
I was fortunate enough to work for the Los Angeles County Fire Department as an ocean lifeguard for 20 years. Running around barefoot all day saving lives saved the life of my feet.
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My late grandmother suffered from terrible foot problems and had many surgeries. I inherited her foot structure but have not suffered in the same way that she did. She made the mistake of wearing pointed high-heeled shoes in her younger years, while I ran around in the sand barefoot all day lifeguarding.
Because of my grandmother’s choice of footwear, she was not able to walk for the last 6 years of her life. I was able to strengthen my feet while she tore her foundation apart.
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Barefoot Health Benefits: 10 Reasons Walking Barefoot is Good for Children (and Adults!)
1. Proper Development of the Foot and Body Can Happen Naturally When Children are Allowed to Go Barefoot
One of the most important advantages of walking barefoot is proper foot and body development–our physical foundation. Remember, your body needs a strong foundation just as much as your house does.
Walking barefoot can help develop and maintain an appropriate range of motion in the foot and ankle joints, in addition to adequate strength and stability within the muscles and ligaments of the feet and body.
Conversely, forcing children’s feet to conform to the shape of a shoe will most likely result in permanent changes to the shape or construction of the foot.
A poorly constructed foot (foundation) can alter one’s gait and lead to a malformed knee, hip, or pelvis. Sometimes, it will be a domino effect through the knee, hip, and pelvis and can even affect the spine and lung cavity (core) as the child grows.
The last thing your feet need is a big bad shoe making them conform all the time! Tell your shoes to go stuff themselves and go for a walk outside barefoot every once in a while.
2. Going Barefoot Can Help Strengthen the Feet and Body
Walking barefoot is the best way to strengthen and maintain the full function of your feet and body. For example, strong feet and leg muscles can help support the back to reduce or eliminate back pain in both children and older adults.
Because the shape and density of the bones and muscles in your feet is a direct result of the loads placed on your body, poor footwear can affect the way the bones and muscles in their entire body develop, and, lead to improper musculoskeletal development.
In other words, improper footwear can weaken foot and leg muscles and cause a loss of strength in the feet and body that will more than likely lead to physical pain over time because so many functions of our feet are altered when wearing shoes.
In the past, the prescription for flat feet was to walk barefoot in order to strengthen the feet. This is why it is so important to allow your children to strengthen their feet and body by allowing them ample barefoot play time.
3. Walking Barefoot Can Lead to Better Foot Mechanics
Overprotective footwear can interfere with movement patterns. Walking barefoot allows for better control of foot position when it hits the ground while stabilizing modern footwear can interfere with the development of a child’s foot strength, ankle stability, and movement pattern.
If a child wears shoes that help them stabilize their foot how will the child ever learn to stabilize their foot without the shoe? Avoid deformity, weakness, and loss of mobility by allowing your children to go barefoot every once in a while.
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4. Walking Barefoot Helps Develop the Fine Motor Muscles in the Feet
Children become more adept at using their feet when they are allowed to roam barefoot. When allowed to go free, the feet can become sensitive instruments and tools. Otherwise, they become the forgotten appendage forever bound within a shoe.
Could you imagine if we wore shoes on our hands? How would we develop the fine motor muscles in our hands if they were constantly bound? The feet have fine motor muscles that need to develop too!
Barefoot kids can improve fine motor muscle control, and learn how to use their feet the way they were meant to be used!
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5. Walking Barefoot Can Help Children Improve Kinesthetic Awareness
Going barefoot can help improve kinesthetic awareness. Kinesthetic awareness is the knowledge of where our body is in space and how we move. It is also known as muscle memory.
When our feet are in direct contact with the ground it is a lot easier for children to develop their kinesthetic sense. Increased kinesthetic awareness can lead to improved body awareness and help children learn to navigate the space around them safely.
Kinesthetic awareness, proprioception, and the other sensory systems in the body work together to help us move properly from the inside and from the outside of the body. Walking barefoot can help these important systems in the body develop properly.
6. Going Barefoot Can Help Improve Proprioception
Proprioception is the sense of the relative position of body parts in relation to the other parts of the body and provides us with information about our joint and muscle sensations.
In other words, it refers to the inner messaging of the body that tells us where one foot is in relation to the other foot, or where the feet are in relation to the head. When children are allowed to walk and play barefoot, they can improve their proprioceptive sense.
7. Walking Barefoot Can Help the Brain and the Sensory Systems of the Feet and Body Develop Properly.
Walking barefoot can help brain development as children learn to balance and develop all of the other sensory systems in the body including proprioception. When we place shoes on our children’s feet we reduce the amount and quality of sensory information the child is getting about their environment and body.
Feeling the earth beneath their feet allows children to develop their somatosensory, proprioceptive, and vestibular sensory systems in ways that are not possible with shoes on.
Our sensory system helps us perceive our body within the outside world through sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound; while our proprioceptive sense helps us develop a relationship to our own body in space, and, kinesthetic awareness tells us where our body is in space.
All three of these systems in the body are benefited by walking barefoot outside and all work together to improve the overall health of the brain and body.
8. Going Barefoot May Be Able to Stimulate the Reflexology Points on the Bottom of the Feet
When children are allowed to walk around without shoes the reflexology points on the bottom of the feet can stimulate every major organ in the body. This is good for the healthy development of the whole body. (source)
9. Walking Barefoot Outside can Help Us Connect with Nature and Literally Ground Us.
When bare feet touch the earth they come in contact with negative ions. These negative ions have been researched to have a healing anti-inflammatory effect on the body.
When we wear shoes we are creating a shield from the earth and restricting our exposure to the greatest antioxidant source in the world.
Earthing (also known as grounding) refers to contact with the Earth’s surface electrons by walking barefoot outside or sitting, working, or sleeping indoors connected to conductive systems, some of them patented, that transfer the energy from the ground into the body. Emerging scientific research supports the concept that the Earth’s electrons induce multiple physiological changes of clinical significance, including reduced pain, better sleep, a shift from sympathetic to parasympathetic tone in the autonomic nervous system (ANS), and a blood-thinning effect. The research, along with many anecdotal reports, is presented in a new book entitled Earthing
. (source)
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10. Walking Barefoot Outside can Help Kids Stay Safe.
Barefoot kids are safe kids!
I know what you’re thinking… Walking barefoot can help my child safe!? But what about glass, bees, dog feces, and other hazards?
Going barefoot outside can help keep children safe because they will have more control when climbing, running, playing on the playground, etc. They will have more control because their feet will be in direct contact with whatever surface they are on.
You’re right… They will have to be on the lookout for glass and other hazards, but their feet will be tough and able to handle most everything else.
If disease and contamination are what worries you about walking barefoot outside, try the barefoot shoes listed in “recommended shoes for children” below.
Or, allow your children to go barefoot only in areas that you feel are safe enough for your children’s bare feet to run around in. Even if the only place you allow your children to go barefoot is in the comfort of your own home.
I don’t know about you, but I feel a whole lot safer knowing that my child is able to feel the tree (or rope) that she has her foot on instead of struggling to keep her sole from slipping off of it.
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Walking Barefoot Outside Can Help Children Develop Properly
The advantages of going barefoot are many, and I have personally witnessed a massive transformation in one child’s foot health as a result of walking barefoot outside.
When I ran childcare in my home many years ago, I had a one-year-old child in my care with clubbed feet. This is where one or both feet rotated inwards and downwards. In her case, it was both feet.
This sweet little girl traveled 2 hours once a month to be poked a prodded by doctors and specialists that said she would never walk normally.
At that time, we lived on a 1-acre lot with lots of uneven terrain and secret places to explore. It was a wild acre with one massive oak tree in the middle, and at least 10 other large trees and bushes growing around it.
On most days, weather permitting, I allowed the children plenty of barefoot playtime both inside and outside.
After spending 8 months in my care, the doctors and specialist claimed that this little girl was “cured.” They called it a miracle and asked her parents what they had done to make such a dramatic improvement.
When her parents explained the barefoot play therapy her daycare provider had given her they were shocked, but not surprised. Of course, they said… That makes perfect sense. “Going barefoot helps the feet develop properly!”
Shoe Recommendations for Barefoot Kids
Even though there are lots of advantages to walking barefoot outside, shoes are necessary and wonderful additions to anyone’s wardrobe!
This article was not written to encourage everyone to abandon them completely and run for the hills like a bohemian army–lol!
However, stiff and compressive footwear may cause weakness, deformity, and loss of mobility. Improper footwear can also cause bunions, hammertoes, and other foot deformities over time.
What children need are shoes that can allow them to move and grow as opposed to shoes with too much structure and rigidity. The most helpful shoes allow the foot to both breathe and move properly.
Look for shoes that are durable, flexible, and have plenty of room to grow. Have a look at our favorite shoe recommendations, including barefoot shoes, listed in the next section.
Should kids be allowed to wear high heels?
Whatever you do, please, please, please keep your children far away from high heels.
If they must be worn, reserve them for only very special occasions… And make sure the feet get plenty of barefoot freedom (or at least comfortable shoe freedom) before and after the event.
Why are high heels bad for girls?
Although the structure of the foot is developed by 2 years of age, the bones in a child’s feet are not fully developed and hardened until they reach adulthood.
Wearing high heels before the age of 18 can decimate the feet.
Just ask my grandmother.
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Recommended Shoes for Children
Baby’s and pre-walkers do not need shoes for any other reason than to provide warmth and protection if they are worn at all. Look for flexible shoes or booties that do not bind the feet and allow a full range of movement like THESE.
Toddlers and children need a flexible, lightweight, and well-ventilated shoe. Some popular shoe brands that make excellent shoes for kids can be found below.
- Birkenstock–of course, you knew I was going to say that didn’t you?
- Momobaby
- Keens
- PediPed
Barefoot Shoes
The most recent innovation in shoe design for healthy feet is barefoot shoes. Barefoot shoes have also been labeled minimalist shoes.
We love barefoot shoes because they are designed with enough support to provide stability and protect the feet while allowing for movement and flexibility. They mirror the natural shape and design of your feet while allowing important sensory feedback, proper foot mechanics, and body alignment.
Unlike bare feet, barefoot shoes have the added bonus of a sole that won’t leave you vulnerable to whatever may be laying on the ground. Even barefoot kids need barefoot shoes sometimes!
A few of our favorite barefoot shoes for kids (and adults) can be found listed below. Mom and dad need barefoot shoes, too!
Barefoot Shoes for Kids
Barefoot Shoes for Adults
- VivoBarefoot Mens Barefoot Shoes
- Xero Men’s Barefoot Shoes
- VivoBarefoot Women Barefoot Shoes
- Xero Women Barefoot Shoes
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Barefoot Benefits for Kids
The type of shoes that you wear, and how often you wear them, matters to the health of your feet. Walking barefoot can improve the function of the feet and can help the feet and body develop properly.
Give your child’s feet and sensory systems the opportunity to grow properly by allowing your children to go barefoot once in a while.
If walking barefoot outside is still NOT your thing, please don’t look at me like I’m a terrible mother that should make her children put her shoes on. I’m not giving you sideways glances about the fact that your child has their shoes on am I?
As parents and caregivers, we are all entitled to our own choice. I am confident that you will make the choice that feels best for you and your family, just as I have made mine.
You may also be interested in 15 Reasons to climb a Tree and Other Benefits of Risky Play, and this amazing collection of outdoor learning ideas and nature activities for kids.
Learn more about Rhythms of Play HERE!
If you liked The Benefits of Going Barefoot, You May Also Like
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Nell has over 20 years of experience working with children and is the founder of Rhythms of Play. She believes in the power of the imagination, learning through play, making this world a greener place to live, and getting outside in all seasons! Learn more…
Harriette says
atGreat post. Very informative, yet concise. Beautifully illustrated!
nell says
atThanks Harriette! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
twitchetts.com says
atI am always barefoot and my kids are too. As long as they aren’t doing anything athletic, I just teach them to watch where they step! I never knew there were so many great reasons to back it up, I just always hated shoes. My mom could never keep them on my feet!
nell says
atThat’s great that you have spent most of your life barefoot and allow your kids to do the same. I think kids instinctively know how good it is for them to go barefoot and that’s why it is so hard to keep them on their feet. I never even bothered battling my daughter about it. I just allow her to make her own choice. She knows when mama tells her to put her shoes on I have a good reason for it so she doesn’t fight me on it. She did at first, but now she knows I only ask her to put them on when she has to and that’s that.
Lula West says
atI totally agree with your article. I grew up in California and was always barefoot. Now I live in the midwest, and I even run outside to take the trash out or get the mail barefoot in the snow (it’s a quick trip but I still do it!) I have told my granddaughters that they need to feel the earth when they go barefoot (their mom doesn’t let them much). When they ask if they can take off their shoes when they are with Grandma, and I say sure!, it’s like a big event for them, and they love it! Gotta love those negative ions! I let the girls play in the dirt and dig for worms, barefoot, of course! They love being at grandma’s!
nell says
atI’m so glad that your grandchildren have the opportunity to get wild and free in nature with their grandma! So glad to know you appreciate the great outdoors and are instilling that love with your grandchildren. 🙂
S.T. says
atI love when people are able to give me solid, scientific reasons to back up their choices. Between the time when I read the title of your post and the time I finished reading, you absolutely changed my opinion on this matter. What wonderful information, thank you!
nell says
atThank you! I love it when people are willing to open their minds to another point of view. I don’t wish to point any fingers or claim that those that make their children keep their shoes on are doing anything “wrong.” Nor do I want people to think that those that choose to allow their children to take their shoes off are doing it “right.” There is no right and wrong in matters like these just like there is no right or wrong in any parenting decision that we make. It is just parents making choices that are best for their family.
Amy @ Around the Thicket says
atThis is fantastic! I can’t find basic, leather shoes that fit my 15 month old, and don’t want to put him in shoes with hard/rubber soles yet, so he is barefoot all the time. We had a day out over the weekend and he spent ages stomping in a mud puddle. What a rich sensory experience!
nell says
atSo glad you like it Amy! So glad your son was able to soak up the full sensory experience of that mud puddle. That’s how the best learning takes place. 🙂
Nick Deutschmann says
atI wish I would have known the benefits of being barefoot years ago! I started going barefoot in my everyday life a few years ago, even some of my employment I’ve been able to work barefoot! Now my feet and legs and even my back have been so much better off! No more aches and pains ! The tactile feedback and textures is a sensory delight! Thank you for a great artical!
nell says
atHi Nick! So glad to hear that going barefoot more often has changed your life for the better! Keep taking those shoes off 🙂
Fer says
atHi, I love your post. I am a Family Child Care provider and wanted to ask if I could quote you in my parent book with some info from your post. I have a few families that worry very much about their child playing outdoors barefoot, your words might help them see it from another perspective.
Thank you.
nell says
atThank you, Fer.
I am so glad that you have found this article about the benefits of going barefoot useful.
As long as your quote does not copy the entire article, and, you use my full name, Nell Regan, this website, Rhythms of Play, and the website address where this original article can be found, I am absolutely fine with that.
Thank you for asking,
Nell
Erta says
atI love being barefoot. It makes my feet feel so much better to walk with my shoes off. Shoes trap fungus from sweat and make stinky feet… So I prefer to go barefoot!
Nell Regan M.A. says
atMe too, Erta!
I’m so glad you enjoy the feeling of walking barefoot, and of the benefits, including better smelling feet!
Suzanne Brons says
atLove this! My kids play barefoot and my husband can’t stand it! I knew there were benefits!
Nell Regan M.A. says
atYay! I’m so glad I could help Suzanne! There are many people that I needed to write this article for. My father, for example, doesn’t get the barefoot thing at all! This helped him keep his negative opinions to himself. 🙂
Bettie says
atMy kids go barefoot all the time, but it has taken some creativity to get the other moms in the neighborhood to realize barefoot is best. For example, our new next door neighbor’s son became best friends with our boys almost as soon as they moved in, but she refused to let him play barefoot even in our yard. Well, I guess I had to follow her instructions, right, unless I had a really good reason for him to go barefoot? So, about a week or two after they moved in, a heavy rain turned some new flower beds in my back yard into deep mud. Somehow, somebody suggested the boys should go have fun in the mud. My boys were soon happily squishing the mud between their bare toes, but for some reason their little friend was holding back. I could tell he needed some encouragement, so I picked him up and carried right into the middle of the muddiest bed before I would put him down. He kept trying to say something about shoes, but my boys were making so much noise I couldn’t really hear. I realized my mistake when I looked down and saw his shoes sinking ankle deep into the mud. That little boy has never worn shoes to our house again!
Nell Regan M.A. says
atOh my! What a fun story about taking the shoes off. I’m so glad he is now able to play outside barefoot over at your house. There are so many amazing barefoot health benefits for the developing child.
Bettie says
atShe and I both home school our kids, and we live in a small town in central Florida, so shoes really are optional until they start playing organized sports. She just grew up in an apartment in Boston, so it took her a while to get used to the idea that her children didn’t need shoes. The lightbulb finally went off for her when she was at that point in her third pregnancy that getting a four year old and two year old into shoes was just too much bending over, and it wasn’t long until both were going pretty much everywhere around town barefoot. Once she gave birth — to twins — the shoes were pretty much completely forgotten.
I kept her kids when it was time for her to go to the hospital, and as a little experiment, I decided their shoes should stay behind at my house, just to see how long it took her to notice they were missing. She never did, and to this day, their little shoes are still somewhere in my closet. ; )
Nell Regan M.A. says
atI LOVE all of your wonderful stories about walking barefoot! Going barefoot is such a pleasant way to walk and there are so many health benefits!
Bettie says
atThank you, Nell! I love your website and have gotten so many great ideas for my kids reading your posts. My neighbor’s oldest boy is now 6, his sister 4, and the twins 2, with another baby on the way. I can’t help but giggle a little when I see her whole brood barefoot in the Dollar General or Publix, and I remember how just a couple of years ago when they first moved here from Boston she looked at me like I was crazy when I told her that kids’ shoes were too much bother for no good reason. Her little twins literally have never worn shoes, and I can’t imagine she could manage to keep them in shoes even if she wanted to!
Nell Regan M.A. says
atThank you, I appreciate the vote of approval. It’s nice that your neighbor and her children have you as such a positive influence in their lives. “Stay gold!” 😉