How to Encourage Your Kids to Spend More Time Outdoors by Elena Adler

It is so easy to stay inside and use the excuse of the weather being bad or there not being enough time to get out and explore the world around us. Here are five different ways to encourage your kids to spend more time outdoors, instead of doing the same activities inside every day.

Family Bike Rides
Going on bike rides as a family is a great way to encourage your kids to spend more time outdoors because it is a moment where you are leading by example. Children, especially those that are young, copy what they see the adults in their lives doing, so if you are outside with them, they are more likely to want to go outside. Bike rides are also a way to keep your family healthy because of the many health benefits that come with this form of exercise. If you feel that you aren’t likely to be able to keep up with their energy anymore or are struggling because of health issues you can always swap your traditional bike with an electric one, where instead of just a normal bike repair kit, you will also need a cheap bicycle engine kit. However, this is a great way to keep up with your kid’s energy levels.

Outdoor Activities
Another way to encourage your kids to spend more time outdoors is to come up with different activities that they can do outside. Most of the time, arts and crafts projects can be moved outside, but there are other activities that you can organize. A popular outdoor activity for kids is to create a treasure hunt, with fun clues and exercises for them to complete in order to move on. Similarly, you can organize activities based on the season, so for example you could have a water fight in the summer or a snowball fight in the winter, which will be fun and encourage your kids to be outside more.

Create a Play Area
Having an area set up with some workout equipment is a great way to encourage your kids to spend more time outdoors. It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant, but having a swing or activity frame set up so that your kids have something to play on and use their imagination with will encourage their desire to be outside a lot more. The main thing to remember is that by creating a play area, you are creating a space outside for them that they can use to have fun and at the same time stay active.

Gardening
Get your kids to help you with creating a beautiful garden. Kids like to be involved and this is a project that they can help with and see-through from beginning to end. You can talk to them about what they would like to see in their gardens, take them to the garden center to pick the plants out, then sit with them as you plant them. By gardening with your kids, you will also be helping them to learn about different aspects in a fun way, such as the environment a plant needs to best grow and how to look after something other than themselves. Watching their plants grow and being able to say that they contributed to the view will encourage them to spend more time outdoors.

Explore Nature

Simply taking the time to explore outdoors will encourage your kids to spend more time out there. Nurture their interests if they find a different plant or creature while you are outside, try not to scold them for picking them up or trekking dirt into the house. If they have bought an insect inside to show you, remind them that it wouldn’t be best for the animal to be kept inside and that they will have to let it go so that it can continue to grow. After eating a healthy and quick breakfast, go on nature walks with your kids and point things out to them, explain why different animals prefer different environments, and encourage them to get involved. 

It is so important to spend time outdoors, so hopefully, these ideas will help to encourage your kids to spend more time outside. Whether it is just a run around the garden or going on a nature trail, they need the opportunity to burn off their excess energy.

Elena Adler is a teacher and a part-time writer, she has been teaching kids for 8 years now. She is young and ambitious and does hope to share her knowledge and experience with anyone willing to learn something new. The reason why she decided to become a teacher is that she believes that knowledge is power and she gives her best to educate her pupils.