Spending time outside does not have to just be camping, as much fun as that is, but there are many ways to get the kids outside in the fresh air while spending quality time connecting with your children. Ones that don’t include going to the bathroom in the forest.
Ten Ways to Get Outside and Connect
1. Go for a treasure hunt in your neighborhood. Here’s a short list of things for your kid to look for: a leaf bigger than their hand, a rock smaller than their little toe, and something they can recycle. You can also have them make up the list to keep them interested.
2. Tape a large piece of butcher paper to your fence or outside wall and paint a mural.
3. Sleep outside.
4. Go fishing.
5. Jump rope on a date with your child.
6. Watch a sunset while having a picnic dinner.
7. Wash the car together.
8. String lights in your backyard.
9. Run through the sprinklers.
10. Play cards outside (but not on windy day).
The biggest thing to remember is to prepare for any event that you do. This means everything from planning on what you are going to eat on your picnic to being dressed warmly enough in case it gets windy. Encourage each child to find something in the activity that they connect with. For the expressive child, it might be the beautiful colors. For the athletic child, it might be games you play while running in the sprinkler. Try to connect with each child no matter what way you choose.
How about you? How do you get your kids outside? What are some fun ways you connect with them while outside? Tell me in the comments and you will have a chance to win my book all about connecting called 21 Ways to Connect with Your kids.
We fly kites in the spring and fall. We also have water gun or water balloon fights and my husband is teaching them how to throw and catch a football
This past weekend, my three elder kids and I went to the local Nature Preserve for a star gazing event being held by the local astronomical society.
We garden together. We are just now weeding to prepare for planting. Our little ones enjoy the whole process.
We set a timer so that we have a quit time. Keeps everyone going knowing we are just doing a bit each time.
Now that there’s still daylight outside after dinner, we go on a stroll with our 2-year old. Well, she sits in her push tricycle and we go to the high school nearby so she can run around the track. This has been a routine since she started walking. Our problem is telling her when we can’t go outside because it was dark or when it’s raining.