9 Easy Ways to Encourage Your Children to Spend More Time Outside

These days children are spending less time outdoors, thanks to the rise of phones, tablets and streaming services. But with some simple tips, you can help to encourage them to have just as much fun outside as they do indoors. Keep on reading to find out how.

*Disclosure: Collaborative Post

1. Take the Technology Outdoors

If your children are glued to their games consoles and phones then why not find a way that allows them to enjoy these outside? If they have a smartphone, then it’s likely they have a great camera that they could use to take up nature photography. You could set challenges and a friendly competition and then why not even print and frame the best photos?

For a more unique day out, you could find an escape room based outdoors which is fun for the whole family. Geocaching is another great hobby you could discover together, which is a treasure hunt style game that uses GPS coordinates to find ‘caches’ at various spots.

2. Get Moving

Young children seemingly have unlimited resources of energy so what better way to use this than to exercise? The outdoors offers many opportunities to help make this exercise fun and enjoyable too. You could sign them up to a local sports team to help them develop their skills in their favourite sports. This is a great way to help them make new friends and improve their social skills at the same time. Or you could try something new as a family and take up a sport like padel, which is an easy game to learn and play.

But you don’t have to go far to partake in some regular exercise because gardens are a great location for this. You can find outdoor gym equipment online designed for children which will work on specific areas of their fitness. This should also help them to get into a routine with exercising which can continue as they grow up.

3. Discover Your Creative Side

By taking your arts and crafts ideas outside you will be able to get creative in ways that you can’t indoors. You could use chalks to draw on your brick walls to create murals or create games on the paving stones on the floor. And if you’re feeling brave, why not make some mud pies together too! Once the fun is over, you could use a garden hose to clean it all away or just wait for the rain to come.

4. Find Some Wildlife

Another fantastic way of getting your kids outside more is for them to interact with nature. You can take simple steps to make your garden more wildlife-friendly by adding bug hotels, birdhouses, bushes and birdbaths. You could then record all of the different animals you spot and tick them off your checklist.

5. Take the Inside Outside

One reason why you don’t spend so much time in your garden could be because everything you need is inside. By creating more of a comfortable setup outdoors you’ll be able to do more activities easily. And you don’t have to think outside of the box either, you can bring your regular tasks outdoors such as homework and hobbies. You could also eat outdoors too, which has many benefits for the whole family. But always remember to keep your little ones safe from the sun, whether this is with a sunhat, shade sail or sun cream.

6. Find Some Green Spaces

Whether you live in a city or a quiet village, it’s important to find time to let your children explore local green spots. Let out their wild sides by taking them to a woodland, lake, pond or park and roam the area together. If safe to do so, let them climb trees, build dens and feel completely immersed and connected with nature.

7. Add Some Fun to Your Garden

To help your children get outside daily, it’s a good idea to create an outdoor space they love in your own back garden. You could add some play equipment like a trampoline, climbing frame or swings. If you have a larger space, you could even create a sensory area with different plants and flowers which they can explore.

8. Get Some Green Fingers

Another way of getting your children involved with your garden is to get them planting and growing with you. You could visit the garden centre together to pick the next season’s produce and give them a section of your vegetable patch as their own responsibility. Watching their seeds grow and learning to care for their plants, will be a rewarding process and will result in some tasty homegrown food too.

9. Create Some Shelter

By adding some shelter and shade to your garden you can get more use from it throughout the year. Shade sails are a great option as they are a practical, effective and attractive addition to your garden too. They are particularly useful for keeping your family safe from the sun as most models can block up to 97% of harmful UV rays. The shade sail range at A&S Landscape offers something for everyone, with a wide choice of colours, sizes and styles.

Whether you have young children or older kids, you’ll always find a way to encourage them to get outside in the fresh air with these tips. From having a go at wildlife photography to taking up a new sport, there’s something for every member of the family.

Do your kids like to spend time outside? 

*Disclosure: Collaborative Post

Thanks for stopping by,

Love you all ❤️

Franca  💋

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