Question of the Day: How much time do you spend outside as a family?
Ah, the outdoors.
It’s a pretty amazing place to be.
Spending time outside in nature truly is the essence of being a playful, peaceful and present parent.
It’s where everyone, especially children, can run wild and free and really just be their authentic selves. The rules about yelling too loud or running do not apply outside.
And, it’s just as great for parents. To breathe deeply and move around unplugged for a while.
If there’s sun, we’re outside. We’re always that crazy family in your neighborhood who is outside more than they are inside — even in the dead of winter watching our breath as we breathe out in the freezing cold weather.
Being outside together, taking hikes and walks and just exploring is one of our favorite ways to slow down, recharge and connect as a family.
But what about when getting outside doesn’t happen so easily? Perhaps everyone in the family is just feeling tired and motivation to go outside is at a low-point — because that definitely happens at our house.
Just not very often. : )
Here are 10 Creative Ways to Get Outside
- Hold a Jumping Contest — Take photos of how high your child can jump in the air. Good exercise. Great photos. Fun times.
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Drink your coffee outside — Not kidding, if you take your coffee outside in the morning and sit, I bet your kids will follow, whether you like it or not.
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Take a book outside — Reading in the same place can get so boring for children. Why not take a book outside and sit together in the grass.
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Eat outside — Take your meals — breakfast, lunch and dinner — outside. This is a mandatory nice-weather activity in our family.
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Scavenger hunt — Create a scavenger hunt of any sort that starts inside but leads the kids — and yourself — outside.
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Create a photo hunt — Give the kids a list of things to find outside and have them take photos of it.
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Visit a park — We love visiting parks since it’s a great way to get the whole family outside at once.
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Explore the Darkness — Some of my favorite family memories are from being outside at night. Searching the star-lit sky, taking a full-moon walk or just sitting around a campfire. Flashlight tag is hugely popular as well. Things are just magical in the dark.
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Start a Nature Journal — I hinted about my nature journal this week. This is a great motivator for ME to want to be outside and to explore new and different places. By ME making this choice, my children naturally want to tag along.
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Build a fairy house — Nothing gets my girls outside more than the hope of spotting a fairy in their fairy garden. They check it every morning and they watch for every bit of evidence that the wind shifted — I mean what the fairies moved — a leaf or a rock or a watering can.
Here are a few great sites to check out for more outside ideas and activities.
Go Explore Nature — and her popular post 50 Ways to Explore Nature in Your Own Backyard or learn how to Build a Fairy House
Be Out There by the National Wildlife Federation.
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