7 Ways To Get Kids To Fall In Love With The Great Outdoors
In this blog, we’ve picked out 7ways to get your kids outdoors and start taking family adventures together. It’s time to make some memories!
You’ll find advice on many of the milestones that mark a child’s development. If you want to teach your kid to swim there are plenty of blogs for that. When it comes to riding a bike, you can scrawl through lists of helpful how-to material as well.
What about teaching your kids to enjoy nature though? The quiet art of inspiring them to enjoy the outdoors is tricky. After all, we live in a world of instant dopamine and doom scrolling zombification. So, how do we inspire our kids to step through the front door and soak up what’s out there?
Luckily, most kids have innate interests and curiosities. Wonder develops at an early age, chasing hermit crabs in rock pools, or watching squirrels as they sprint through the back garden.
In many cases, kids will follow their parents’ lead. Let’s say your kid likes to play pretend – how about dressing up as explorers and turning your nearest green space into an expansive world to discover? Maybe your kid likes to ride a bike – why not make a game of seeking out exciting trails to ride.
The emphasis can be on enjoyment in a setting that is less controlled and more suitable for letting your natural creativity run wild. Many would argue that outdoor play is essential to a kid’s development.
Also, kids can dig up a natural affinity for roaming and inventing games when they’re given space to do so. Just look at them all running out into the schoolyard at lunch time, like animals escaping a zoo. That’s a level of excitement to be outside, which is alien to most furrow-browed adults.
If you’re looking for ways to get your kids outdoors it might be best to start with small steps and remind yourself exactly why it is so important.
The Poet’s Example
In the poem ‘Frost At Midnight’ Samuel Coleridge talks about how he was ‘reared in the great city… and saw nought lovely but the sky and stars.’ He recalls his melancholy childhood ‘pent ‘mid cloisters dim’ – when he was trapped in a feeling many of us get after a stint in urban shackles.
Coleridge compared his life to the experiences his kids would have once they moved to the Lake District. ‘But thou, my babe!’ He wrote, ‘Shalt wander like a breeze by lakes and sandy shores.’ There was something triumphant about the way he talked about their escape!
In 1800, Coleridge settled his family in Keswick and attempted to give his kids more access to the calming beauty of nature. What he called: ‘The lovely shapes and sounds intelligible of that eternal language, which thy God utters.’
The Lake Poet made a conscious decision to give his family access to the outdoors and share this world with his kids at the earliest stages of learning. Today, this message of valuing your environment and raising your kids in nature is even more poignant.
In this blog, we’ll explore 7ways to get your kids outdoors and find wisdom with more natural surrounds:
7. Start Small, Walk Slow
First, it’s important to take small steps. Don’t expect your kids to fling in crampons for their first outing. The road to enjoying outdoor activities together might be longer than expected.
It’s important to remember that there will be a stark newness to those early impressions, especially if your play has mostly been staged indoors. Be willing to give it several tries and slowly increase the ambition of each adventure.
This journey could even start with taking your toddler to the local park to spend some time under the sun. You could seek out a nearby pond and watch the little lives that skitter over the water. Maybe a frog might poke its head up from the algae!
6. Visit A National Park Together
National Parks are like theme parks for anyone who gets a kick out of nature. Replace rollercoasters for sheer mountains and lazy rivers for real ones that flow without restriction.
If you want to encourage your kids to spend time outdoors, the wealth of national and state parks (especially if you live in the US) is a resource you can take advantage of. This could naturally lead to pursuits like hiking, bird watching and stargazing. You might just raise a few happy campers while you’re at it!
5. Plant A Garden
Sometimes we forget about the subtle natural processes that are unfolding all around us. Gardening is a great way for your kids to learn about accountability and the life cycles of plants.
Just like raising a pet, you can spark a love of living things among vegetables and flowers. They can discover the intricacies of how a plant grows and what it needs to survive so it doesn’t shrivel up and wither against the soil.
Responsibilities are also gleaned from having to water and nurture the plants under your care as well.
4. Follow Their Lead
When your kids are young you will need to guide them and keep them safe outdoors. They will follow your example as you begin to play outdoors. You can let them decide what games you’ll play, or what new discoveries you’ll seek out, but be mindful of those dangers that are present in the wild.
Conversely, too much structure might also kill the fun. For example, if you kid doesn’t want to ride the swings, you can guide them into less tame surrounds and venture out beyond the confines of the park. Just do so with knowledge of what surprises you might be face around the corner.
3. Cut Down That Screen Time
Screens are everywhere and growing increasingly more immersive. Before we all fall into the abyss of strapping on VR goggles, it could be wise to limit the amount of time your kid spends peering into a computer, TV or tablet device.
Many of us wind up with jobs that fix us firmly into desk chairs and have us hunched in front of screens anyway. Savour those innocent moments when all you need for entertainment is a freshly found waterfall, or a mud slide down a dewy hill somewhere.
2. Get Out For Longer Walks
We talked earlier about taking small steps and this is wise in the early stages of outdoor adventures with kids. Eventually you want your walks to be long enough that you forget the show you stopped watching before you left. You shouldn’t be yearning to go back home.
Maybe you could start the day with a walk to the park after breakfast, or a walk with the dog after dinner. Introduce your kids to those golden hours when the light is rising or falling over your part of the world.
Of course, you can incorporate games into these walks and extend your distances over time to discover new surrounds.
1. Make It Routine
Finally, one of the most important pieces of advice is to make sure your adventures are consistent. One walk outdoors a month is not enough to plant a seed that your kid can carry into adulthood.
You need to be engaging in outdoor play often – ideally daily. This way you will always be reminded of the benefits that are provided for free by flowing water, fresh air and tall skies.
An hour outdoors a day is a fantastic starting point. Then the day might arrive when the young Bear Grylls or Megan Hine you’ve raised will be dragging you outside for your next adventure.
More Articles For Adventurous Families
7 Scenic Hiking Routes For Kids In The Lake District, UK
Hiking with Kids – Tips for Family-Friendly Outdoor Adventures
