5 Outdoor Activities For Kids

It's a great attitude improver to get out and about, doing things outdoors, and enjoying sunshine and fresh air. There are many possibilities for outdoor activities for kids, and parents can enjoy watching, or participating as well. Some of them are very easy and impromptu, requiring little planning, and little equipment. Others may require some basic materials. Those activities provided in the following paragraphs are suggestions, a springboard for your own imagining and brainstorming.

Outdoors activities for kids depend somewhat on climate and season, and these will vary a bit from season to season, and more so if you live in an extreme climate.  However, keep in mind that outdoors activities are intended for times when the out of doors is amenable to play.  Don't expect your child to endure extremes of cold or heat in order to accomplish a schedule, but rather, be willing to adjust for bad weather.  Some of these may adapt to indoors, while others must be tabled until conditions improve. 

There is really no end to the number of field and track possibilities for kids to do outdoors. Plan a field day, or let it be a free play approach. Regardless of the degree to which you decide to moderate, kids love inventive races and competitions. Create obstacle courses, invent unusual races, and challenge your youngsters to some oldies, but goodies, as well.

Try a three-legged race, sack race, or wheelbarrow race. If you have a limited number of youngsters playing, try the frog hop race, the worm crawl race, or the butterfly race, where the kids act out the given animal, and race accordingly. I've spent hours on warm summer evenings laughing as my youngest kids ask, "Mom, can we do a _____ race? What's next, Mom?" It's fun.

If you want it to be a formal sort of activity, try awarding medals, ribbons, stickers, or prizes. However, if you just want the kids to enjoy the fresh air, the fact that it's fun is enough.

Adapt to winter and snow, by adding in sledding, saucer paths down a hill, or snow shoveling with a spoon.

Sidewalk chalk is a popular tool for youngsters, and if you have a sidewalk, this is a great way to encourage a combination of outdoor activity, and artistic expression.  Fair weather lends itself well to this endeavor, and at the end of the activity, a quick cleanup is a hose nozzle away. 

My youngsters inevitably reach a point, when visiting Grandma and Grandpa, where they want to go outside, and there is usually a supply of sidewalk chalk at hand, perfect for decorating the driveway.  Sometimes, Grandpa joins the fun, and since his drawing is always interesting, the kids love the activity, all the more. 

If you don't have a sidewalk, look for a piece of concrete, or try drawing in the dirt, with sticks.  Kids are creative, and it doesn't take much suggestion to get them playing in creative ways with the materials available.  If you don't have that luxury of space, concrete, or freedom to decorate, this may not work as well, but if you have a local park which isn't stuffy about sidewalk chalk, then take the fresh air activity to the park.  Just be sure to clean up when you are finished. 

Adapt to indoor weather, by using normal chalk on paper, construction paper, or a chalkboard.

The intrigue of fort building particularly spurs the interests of boys, but girls love to be involved, as well, and this is a great imaginative pursuit in the out of doors.  If you can devote some yard space and materials, as well as some time to help with simple construction, the kids will take it from there.  Older kids may be able to create from simple wood scraps, but if this is permitted, adults must supervise and check the work for hazards and sturdiness.  For younger kids, save big cardboard boxes for such an endeavor, and let your youngsters piece them together as they choose. 

Alternatively, your kids can get a great deal of outdoor pleasure from a children's tent, or even a full sized tent, erected in the back yard.  A card table, and a couple of blankets can serve this purpose if you don't have a tent.

Adapt this to indoor play during inclement weather, with cardboard boxes, or a children's play tent, or the cardtable and blankets.

There is lots of fun to be had with a trampoline, and not only will the kids use their energy jumping, but will also find this a great place to sun themselves after a swim.  Furthermore, during the summer, children love to have a chance to sleep under the stars, and a trampoline is an amazing venue.  Do some stargazing with the kids, and sleep outside with them.  Just be sure the sprinklers are off!

A picnic is always a fun outdoors activity for kids, and usually for adults, too.  No major planning is needed, just make lunch, and set it at a children's picnic table, or on a blanket in the grass.  Make sure the pets can't get to the food, though. 

Take it down the street to the local park, and make a playdate of your picnic.  Take it on the road, and visit the mountains, or drive through a national park such as Death Valley, or Red Rock Canyon.  When the weather is pleasant, eating outdoors is fun, and this is one of the easiest ways to get the young ones outside, and yourself, as well.