50 Ways to Get Kids Hooked on the Outdoors

[fgoodwin]

50 Ways to Get Kids Hooked on the Outdoors

 

 

 

Feel the wind on your face, plant a garden, jump in a pile of leaves - just get outside!

 

March 2008

By Dyanne Fry Cortez, Wendee Holtcamp and Bernadette Noll

 

Kids don't develop a relationship with nature by watching it on the Discovery Channel. They need to feel the wind, smell leaves and wildflowers, run their fingers over rocks and make personal contact with other living things. Pristine wilderness is not required: Ask any of today's dedicated outdoorsmen, and you may find that his favorite childhood memory involves a backyard tree house or fishing in an irrigation canal. Encourage children to get outside wherever they can, as often as possible, and start building their own memories. Here are 50 [actually 48] ideas to help kids reconnect with the outdoors:

 

Build a sand castle

Walk in the rain

Make mud pies

Jump in a pile of leaves

Look for shapes in clouds

Open windows

Watch fireflies

Go barefoot

Explore a mini-landscape

Harvest fruit or nuts

Have a picnic

Play old-fashioned games

Go swimming

Go fishing

Fly a kite

Find art in nature

Have a campfire

Go camping

Build a dam

Attend an outdoor performance

Relax in a hammock

Dig a hole to China

Litter scavenger hunt

Sensory walk

Use your inside games

Make a boat

Plant a little garden

Go orienteering or geocaching

Cook outside

Use a pocketknife

Target practice

Bike course

Sidewalk games

Make a whistle from a blade of grass

Build a fort or treehouse

Wade in a running stream

Get an early start on birdwatching

Start a collection

Nature treasure hunt

Butterfly garden

Take a hike

Stargaze

Engine-free travel

Learn how to hunt and fish!

Climb a tree

Volunteer

Contests!

Skip stones

Walking stick

Go digital

 

[excerpted; see the full article for a description of each activity, and additional resources].

[Mike F]

fgoodwin,

Excellent!

Here's a suggestion for #51: Unplug the X-Box, Cable TV, and Computer. After mindlessly wandering around the house for a few days looking for electronic stimulation, they'll eventually stumble through a door, temporarily blinded by the sunlight.

[Stosh]

My momma always used to say, "Go outside and blow some stink off." She didn't care what we did as long as it was on the other side of the door. We figured it out, a lot of mom's had the same idea.

 

By the time I was scout age, it became more and more difficult to get me back in the house for supper and/or darkness. :^)

 

Stosh