Some of us spent our entire childhoods being told to “go play outside.” Our parents frequent cry of “outside!” wasn’t because we’d been in front of the TV, computer, or video games. But time spent indoors was usually considered idle time, while outdoor activities were “real” play time, and the thing kids ought to be doing.
Many educators (and parents) believe that kids don’t spend nearly enough time outdoors, but are instead kept inside by hours of television, video and computer games, and the Internet. Once a child is in the habit of spending hours of free time glued to an electronic device, it’s a hard habit to break, but the time spent doing these things can be cut back gradually until it’s at a more acceptable level. If you get started when your child is very young, however, you can get them used to spend more time in the fresh air doing outdoor activities, and never let time-eating TV or computer habits take hold. You’ll be improving your child’s health, and your own, by making sure there’s lots of active play and exercise, and you’ll all be having fun, too.
Walks are a great way to get outdoors and get some exercise. Walks through park trails or woods are especially good for kids because there’s the opportunity to talk about types of plants, flowers, trees and any wildlife you might encounter, like squirrels. Pine cones, seeds and leaves can be collected for arts and crafts or display, with a trip to library or an Internet search giving you lots of possibilities for these found treasures. Even if you only venture as far as your own back yard there’s a lot to explore there. A magnifying glass can help children see the insects in the grass, and binoculars can help them see a bird in a neighbor’s tree.
Gardening is a great way to get a child interested in outdoor activities. The act of digging a hole, planting a seed or start, then tending it and watching it grow is something that always seems to fascinate children. Plant a few flowers and maybe a tomato plant—a dinner at the end of summer complete with tomatoes that your child helped plant and take care of can be a point of pride for your child, and will make him or her that much more eager to do it again and maybe even plant something new next year.
Winter is a great time for outdoor activities, too. If you get snow where you live, snowmen are a childhood favorite. If there’s not enough snow to build a snowman, you can use food coloring and water in squirt bottles, all things you can purchase cheaply, to make snow paintings and outdoor art. And the snow is a great medium for animal tracks, making them much easier to see. It can be fun to try to identify the animals with pictures of tracks in books or online.
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