Six ways to have fun outdoors with your kids

There are a few phrases that parents dread hearing from their children, and they usually happen at the most inconvenient moments. When you hear one of your kids say “I’m bored!”, it’s inevitably just as you’re starting some tricky cleaning task, batch-cooking meals for the week, or when you need to do some much-needed weeding of your garden.

If the weather is nice, then this is a perfect opportunity to encourage your children to explore the outdoors. It’s also a good time to cherish such perfect times with your kids, too (the cleaning can always wait just one more day, after all). Whether you’re in a new area, or you’re starting to rediscover the joy of the outdoors after spending the past few months out of the chilly conditions, here are some tips on how to have fun outdoors with your children.

Create an Art Project Together

You can create art at any time on any day, with whatever time you have together. For something that’s involved, you can use a summer activity that incorporates nature and the summer sunlight at different times of the day.

You could also have an outdoor chalkboard. Get a layer of wood, then attach smoother wood on top. Spray it with chalkboard paint, and voila! Your children can go out and create whenever they feel inspired to do so.

Build a Fort

If you want to have a long-term project that your children will remember forever, then build your own fort. This may take a lot of work, but it will involve all of your family and can be enjoyed for a great number of years. If you’re part of a nursery or school, then you could also consider commercial playground installation.

Get Growing

Planting a garden of vegetables is a fun activity you can do outdoors — and you get the bonus of fresh, healthy food. Your children will get a kick out of planting seeds so, whichever you select, opt for plants that are hardy and easy to grow: lettuce, tomatoes and squash are good examples. Pick a sunny, sheltered spot, and maybe even add a growth chart so you can see how much the plants grow each week.

Pack a Picnic

There’s something special about spreading a blanket and eating together and you can do this either in your own garden, or in the local park. You can make this easy by choosing ready-prepared foods such as vegetables with dip, fried chicken or even pizza. You can then include whole fruit (e.g. apples, oranges, pears and grapes) plus packaged snacks including crackers and cookies. Add juice boxes and bottled water, and off you go. Then you can focus on playing games with your kids.

Pick Flowers

You can bring the outdoors in by getting some blooms with your children and making bouquets together. You can also teach your child easy tricks to extend the flowers’ lifespan, such as snipping them at an angle and changing the water each day.