Five Ways To Get Your Family Outside This Summer

AD – These days it often feels like kids are addicted to screens – whether it’s TV, tablets or computers when many children see a screen they find it impossible to resist. But when summer is stretching out ahead of you, you might feel worried that they aren’t going to go outside and enjoy everything that the world has to offer them. Here are some tips on how to pull your kids away from their tablets and reconnect with the natural world.

Plan Some Special Events

Although spontaneity is excellent – who doesn’t love pulling on their wellington boots to go sploshing through some puddles when it rains? – it’s also a good idea to make sure that you have some special events up your sleeve.

Go for a family picnic in your local park one Saturday afternoon, and plan a family BBQ one weekday night for a fun surprise that will get you all soaking up the early evening sun. The summer break can seem like an interminably long block of time, so planning activities like woodland walks, trips to the park, and playing pooh sticks at your nearest river is a good way to split up your time into manageable chunks.

Show Enthusiasm

We all know that kids learn from observation – they’re like little sponges that soak up everything that happens to be going on around them. It’s important, then, for you to make sure that you’re enthusiastic about the prospect of going outside. Don’t start cringing at the thought of getting mud on your shoes or getting your hair wet in the rain.

Your kids take a lot of leads from you and how you react to things, and you don’t want them to start feeling revulsion at the idea of going outdoors and getting a little dirty – likewise, you don’t want them to be afraid of creatures like spiders, frogs and moths. Try to speak about the outdoors as something that holds a lot of fun and adventure instead of a slightly grubby inconvenience. Muck in, go outside with them, and you’ll develop your own love of nature in no time.

Make Your Outside Space More User-Friendly

Take a look at your back garden and consider whether it’s really a space that people enjoy using. Not all of us have huge amounts of outdoor space – in fact if you have a back garden at all you’re doing better than a lot of people! But even if you have just a balcony you can transform it into a little outside haven with pots of flowers and a small herb garden.

If you are lucky enough to have a back garden, it’s great to ensure that you have a big space for your kids to play in. If the soil isn’t great in your area, you could check out a company like New Lawn so that you can get artificial grass laid – perfect for your own little football pitch or picnic destination. Around the borders, try to plant a variety of different things, especially species of plants that attract bees and wildlife so your kids have plenty to look at and explore.

Turn It Into A Game

If your kids aren’t enthusiastic about going outside, you need to make it more fun. Why not make a scavenger hunt? Lend them a camera so that they can take photos of creatures like snails and birds, and instruct them to collect different sorts of leaves and foliage. You could also have a drawing trip where your kids can make gorgeous artwork of their favourite plants and creatures.

If your offspring are more restless, you can take out some plastic bats and balls so that they can play – and you can join in or you could sit in the shade taking the all-important role of referee.

Explore Your Local Area

Chances are, your local area has a lot more natural beauty than you’ve taken advantage of. Even small local parks are worth exploring – they aren’t all old playgrounds with cracked tarmac and rusting apparatus! There might be a small stream with frogs, areas with trees where your kids can collect leaves for the art project, and even cycle paths so you can go on a bike-riding expedition as a family.

Just make sure that you take a backpack with plenty of water in so that you don’t get dehydrated, and cover yourself up with sunscreen.

Getting outdoors and exploring is one of the most fun and inexpensive ways to spend a summer. With a little preparation and research along with plenty of enthusiasm and an adventurous spirit, you’re sure to have the sunniest and enjoyable summer of your life.

*This is a collaborative post