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June is National Great Outdoors Month, and in the past few years, being outdoors has taken on a new and important meaning in our lives.
We have known for a long time how important it is for people of all ages to spend time outdoors, especially children. But with the COVID-19 pandemic, many families found themselves searching for new, COVID-friendly outdoor family activities.
Some of the best include obvious options such as going for a bike ride or a walk, while others are more creative. This list of the top five outdoor family activities also includes tips and tricks for making the most of each. So, put on your tennis shoes and let’s get outside!
1. Go for a Walk, Run, Bike Ride, Roller Blade, and So Much More
It’s the classic outdoor activity and likely the first thing you turned to when the pandemic began: walk, run, or ride around the neighborhood.
There are lots of ways to make this basic activity fresh and fun. Time yourselves or track your movement to see how far you can go. Or try skipping, hopping, and walking backward.
Mix up your surroundings by taking a different route or driving to an entirely different neighborhood and noticing the ways that it is similar (or not) to your own. Stop periodically to write kind messages in chalk on the sidewalks.
Bring along a kite or bubbles, or designate a family leader for the day who gets to choose the route. Take a wagon with stuffed animals and perhaps an instrument or two for a parade.
There are lots of ways to keep this activity exciting and new, especially for kiddos. Whichever method you use, these are still amazing outdoor family activities in which everyone can get some much-needed exercise.
2. Engage in Nature
Beyond your normal walk or ride, many families have also turned to hiking and other nature activities that are COVID-friendly.
It might seem as if hiking wouldn’t be great for young kids, but they love it and they have more stamina than you might imagine. Websites such as alltrails.com organize local trails by suitability for a variety of ages and skill levels, and they will also tell you how crowded trails typically are for extra social distancing precautions. You don’t have to leave home to engage in nature, though. There are many online templates for nature scavenger hunts that you can do in your own backyard. Or encourage children to find a variety of small plants and look them up to see their scientific names. Another great activity is to make your own bird feeder or animal feeder and watch to see what wildlife visits for a snack. The possibilities are truly endless.
3. Do Some Messy Arts and Crafts
Especially once the weather is warm, outside is the perfect place to make a BIG mess, and there are so many ways to do it.
Try a crazy paint project, such as a Jackson Pollock splatter canvas activity. You can even fill small squirt guns with paint for a truly unique item. Find objects in nature to paint with or on, including rocks or sticks and branches. Just be sure to use washable acrylic paint.
Get creative with sidewalk chalk and try to make a stained-glass window effect by covering your entire driveway with shapes and pictures. Or make your own puffy chalk in squirt bottles. In addition, any activity involving clay, dough, or even papier-mache is perfect for the great outdoors, since those always end up making a big mess.
4. Plant a Garden or Make Chores Fun
Planting a garden, and getting everyone enthusiastic about it, is a terrific way to create ongoing family activities outdoors. Have your kids help decide on where to create the garden and which flowers or foods to plant. Then have them help at every stage of the process, from building the beds to harvesting the bounty. Bonus: build wooden flower beds and let your kids paint them.
In addition to gardening, there are a lot of other outdoor chores that need to get done throughout the year that are just more fun when you have some company. Have kids help water the lawn, re-stain the deck, wash the car, and so much more.
5. Bring Indoor Activities Outdoors
Finally, think about things that you typically do indoors and consider whether you can make them outside activities. There are lots of great reasons for this, including the importance of breathing fresh air. Being outside is also much more stimulating for children, who will see animals, other people, and natural elements. They have a much greater opportunity to run around or engage in questions and self-directed learning.
Here is a list of activities typically done indoors that can easily be done outside instead: • Reading: designate a reading tree to sit underneath with good books. Bonus: build a community library! • Coloring • Eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Even better, pack a picnic! • Building a fort, and this time using sticks and other natural elements. • Taking a nap • Singing songs (the louder, the better) • Taking pictures or making videos • Playing games
The bottom line? Outdoor family activities are not only good for your health (and COVID-friendly), but incredibly fun with endless possibilities.
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