No matter if you love being outside, live in the middle of a busy city, or have a cozy home in the suburbs, we probably all want to help our kids play outside more. There’s a lot of research on why outdoor play is so important for young kids, but honestly, the benefits don’t stop there. Teens, adults, and really anyone can gain so much from spending time in nature. Being outside matters at every age.
Here are some of the reasons it is important to help kids play outside more:
You get natural vitamin D. Did you know 1 in 4 U.S. adults has low vitamin D (source)? We all need vitamin D to help with bone health, heart disease, depression,and even weight loss. While some people resort to taking supplements with Vitamin D, it can also be obtained naturally – by spending time outside! According to the National Institutes of Health, Vitamin D cannot be absorbed from a window (source).
Being outside decreases anxiety, stress, and depression. There is a direct correlation with time outside and a decrease in anxiety levels. If your children or teens are experiencing any feelings of stress and anxiety, encouraging them to go outside more could have a positive impact on their mental health. According to a study published in the National Library of Medicine, “participants who took nature walks had a significant increase in positive emotions and a decrease in negative emotions following the activity” (source).
Time outside encourages children to stay physically active. This is important for their overall health and well-being. When children are outside, they are more likely to run, jump, lift, etc. This type of exercise is incredible for promoting physically healthier children.
Time outside leads to longer attention spans. If you’re a parent, I’m sure you’re incredibly familiar with the (selective) short attention span of children. Sometimes it is incredibly hard to get children to focus and concentrate. Did you know that spending more time outside can help kids have better focus? According to the Attention Restoration Theory, exposure to nature actually helps us concentrate. Instead of fatiguing our minds with distractions from urban settings, nature provides a restorative role, aiding in focus (source).
How Do I Encourage Kids To Want To Go Outside
Volunteer Doing an Outdoor Event
From Great American Cleanup and community gardens to wildlife surveys and tour guides, there are an incredible amount of opportunities to help your kids want to go outside!
Plan outdoor events around good weather
This is a beginner tip to help encourage your kids to want to go outside. If going outside is out of your kids comfort zone, try planning your time outdoors around good weather to start! This is a fun way to remove a barrier and help them more easily enjoy their time. When the weather feels too hot or too cold, it may be harder for kids who do not enjoy being outside to have fun. Planning your outdoor time around mild temperatures is the best way to help your child begin to create a connection with the natural world, and even if they don’t want to go outside at first, they certainly won’t mind as much.
Utilize outdoor facilities
From new parks to nature conservancies, there is an exorbitant amount of outdoor facilities to help encourage kids to want to go outside. Depending on the age of your child, they may be too young or too old to just go outside in play on their own, so this is a way to have more structured time outdoors. Some of my favorite places to take the kids outdoors include the zoo, parks (of course), and community pools. These, of course, will vary as the colder weather sets in, but bundle up and go for it! You can even try places like farmers’ markets and outdoor malls/shopping centers. Bonus: these places almost always have outdoor games and outdoor space for kids.
Make it fun with outdoor scavenger hunts
I’ve create a few nature scavenger hunts for different age groups! Whether you’re looking for a comprehensive nature walk guide complete with an outdoor scavenger hunt, or just an easy scavenger hunt to do in your neighborhood, I’ve got you covered. Check out these options on my Teachers Pay Teachers store!
Invite others along with you
I call this the accountability buddy! This is an especially helpful tip to encourage kids to want to go outside if you have an older child – invite others along with you! Whether that is other family members, neighbors, some friends/classmates, or even just a friend for you to chat with while you child plays. Inviting others along with you is a great opportunity to hold you accountable to make sure to stick to the commitment of getting outside.
Check out Social Media and Facebook groups to find play groups or groups with similar interests to your child
Use social media to your advantage by finding Facebook groups to find groups of people you can connect with on your journey to spending time outside. I’m incredibly new to using Facebook groups in this way, but I’ve found it so helpful! Whether you’re looking for outdoor adventures for young kids or just looking for things to do to get your kids away from sitting in front of a screen, Facebook groups can offer you a plethora of options.
This summer, I recently connected with a Facebook group for toddlers 2-5. We went to new places we had never experienced, met new friends, and had so much fun on play dates with kids the same age as mine. Even though this example is for my younger kids, there are still opportunities for older kids through Facebook groups. Especially if your kids have a particular interest or hobby. Use that as a way to search for groups to join. Another great way to use social media to your advantage to encourage kids to go outside is to use the events tab on social media platforms and enter a keyword. You can also search using hashtags!
Create a reward at the end
This helpful tip works great for older kids and younger kids who don’t spend much time outside, but may need some encouragement to get outside. Is there something your child can look forward to when they get back inside? Or perhaps something you will do after your time outside. For example, perhaps after your time outside, your child can have screen time or play video games for a period of time. During the summer, I use the incentive of getting a cold treat. My children and I will walk to the nearest store and the reward is them being able to pick a snack at the store. If we’re doing an outdoor event, perhaps we’ll get icecream or an icee after the event concludes.
Romanticize the time
I’m all about romanticizing my life. When I reflect back to my childhood, I realize my mom encouraged us by romanticizing the things we may not want to do, but we needed to do for whatever reason. Romanticizing is a great way to make a task that kids may not want to do, like going outside, more appealing and exciting. Here is how I would suggest romanticizing outdoor time to help kids want to go outside:
Use the 5 senses to talk about what the child will experience. What will the child smell when they are outside? What will they see? What will they hear? Will they be able to taste anything when they go outside?
How long will your kids be outside? Perhaps you can mention that you will set the timer for 30 minutes, and when the timer goes off, you all will come back inside and move on to another activity.
Talk about how your child will feel after getting outside. Use mental, physical, and emotional feelings they may experience.
Dress appropriately for the weather/season
Whether you’re going to a nearby park at a local playground or spending time in a big yard, dress appropriately for the weather/season. This is especially appropriate for inclement weather such as rain, snow, extreme cold weather, etc. Although this tip may seem obvious, it is a simple idea that is often missed and can drastically contribute to why a child may not want to spend time outside.
Last week, temperatures changed drastically, and we still wanted to go on a nighttime walk. My husband was going to let the kids go outside in the same clothes they had been wearing around the house. I knew that if they were dressed appropriately,y they would start complaining and want to head back inside before we got a decent walk in. So I took the time to dress them appropriately before we went outside, so everyone was more comfortable and could actually enjoy this time. Sometimes this means bringing “just in case clothes” that you may need to add or change your child into.
Just sit outside
Okay, this is super low-hanging fruit. Literally, just sit outside. This is an effortless idea to encourage your kids to get outside. During my own childhood, I remember hating to go outside. Between the bugs and the humid Virginia weather or snowy Connecticut weather, I much preferred the controlled temperatures of indoors. To get me outside, my mom would just encourage me to sit with her. She would tell me to grab a book, grab a drink, and just come sit. Although I didn’t necessarily look forward to it initially, I eventually began to not only enjoy that time, but also look forward to spending time sitting outside with my mom. It usually turned into conversations, discussions, and a bit of a bonding experience.
Take the inside, outside
Encourage your kids to go outside by bringing the inside outside! Here’s what I mean: if you don’t have outdoor toys for your kids to play outside, bring some toys from inside! Although it is always great to have toys made for the outdoors, you don’t have to have the latest swing set or picnic table to spend time outside. Bring the same items you kids play with inside, outside!
Eat outside
This is such an easy and effortless way to spend more time outdoors. I find this especially helpful for older kids. Take your child out to lunch or on a coffee date and sit outside and enjoy your food. Even though this may not be a great outdoor adventure, it does allow your child to be able to experience some time outside a building and get some fresh air and (hopefully) sunshine!
Unstructured Play
If possible, encourage unstructured play. Again, my kids are young, so I do have to be there to supervise a bit, but I like to give them parameters – don’t go past this or this, everything else is fair game. I sit back and let their imagination run wild! If necessary, I will introduce items like sidewalk chalk or outdoor toys, but usually I let them enjoy imaginative play.
Kids can get so creative and imaginative if we give them to space to do so. I am fascinated by the way my kids will create their own rules and the games they create when I sit back and let them do their thing.
If your child struggles to join sports (like me!) or participate in extracurriculars, unstructured play may be for them! Remember to try not to intervene too much and allow them to put their minds to work.
Make it a family thing
Similar to romanticizing spending time outside, make it a family thing! Instead of your child feeling like you’re forcing them outside or forcing them to turn off their devices, change it into a “this is what our family does”. This may look like a routine – on Saturday mornings, we go for a walk, or after dinner, we have our dessert on the back porch. This can also look like once a month we go on a bike ride, or each family member gets to take turns picking an outdoor activity for the family.
Encourage Your Kids To Get Messy
As an environmental educator, I always try to add fun to lessons and activities. This often includes water, dirt, and general messiness. While most kids love it, there’s the occasional kids who clearly were not allowed to get dirty at home and refused to do the activity or asks to wash their hands immediately after.
If you’re looking for a way to encourage your kids to get outdoors, let them get messy! Turn on the house, go outside in the rain, make dirt patties, and let them enjoy themselves. Spend less time worrying about the mess and allow more time for self discovery and free play.
Take a hike
There a bit of a difference between a hike and a walk. Hikes are a bit longer and can include changes in elevation. Hiking takes a bit of a commitment because it is typically a bit harder than a causal walk, but when I’m hiking I feel so much more submerged in nature and my natural environment. Get on some comfortable shoes or hiking boots, find a trail or nature park and get out for a hike. You can even incorporate games like scavenger hunts, I spy, twenty questions, etc. to make it even more fun.
Take the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge (source)
Have you heard of this challenge? It’s an awesome idea to challenge families to spend more time outside and less time on screens. According to research, children are spending 1200 hours a year, on average, on screens (source). In order to help to match some of the times students are spending on screens, the 1000 hours outside challenge was created.
Download the free tracking sheet and get outside! I love the idea of this challenge because it makes it a bit of a competition. How many hours can you do? Can you beat the amount of hours you did last year? Maybe you can even set milestones and rewards once you hit a certain number of hours outside.
Resources To Know About That Will Help Your Kids Want To Go Outside
Read Raising An Outdoor Kid In an Inside World
This in an inspiring book helping to encourage you to get outside and enjoy the beauty of nature. The author is both knowledgeable and motivating to help you create your own relationship with nature. Although the lifestyle of this author is unique and may not apply to everyone, the principles mentioned in this book still help to cultivate an appreciation for our natural world.
Try a Green Hour (source)
- In an effort to increase outdoor experiences for kids and parents, the National Wildlife Federation creates new activities and tips each week to encourage kids to want to get outside. Although most activities can be completed in 15-30 minutes, it is encouraged to spend at least one our doing these activities, hence the “Green Hour”. One activity I’m loving for the current colder weather is how to look for signs of winter. I love this activity because it fosters curiosity and has so much room for expansion depending on the age of your child.
Understand nature-deficit disorder
Nature-deficit disorder was termed by Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods. According to Louv, elements of our urban settings has caused us to have less time (or time!) in nature. He states this has occurred in both adults and children (source). Activities that have contributed to this change include fewer natural spaces, a car-focused culture, more screen time, changes in the perception of risk, less leisure time, and increased time pressures from work or school (source).
Based on the lifestyle most of us live in, it is so easy for us to resort to spending more time indoors. However, this is why it is even more important for us to make sure we are doing our best to connect with nature and get outside! In order for us to have empathy to protect our environment, we must create our own relationship and love ofr it.
For more information on Nature-Deficit Disorder, check out Last Child In the Woods by Richard Louv.
Patience is Key
Accept that if you child currently doesn’t like going outside, this won’t be an incredibly easy task at first. Just like in adulthood, there are things we just don’t want to do. Sometimes in life, we have to do things begrudgingly.
Regardless of their dislike of going outside for whatever reason, it is still our job to encourage kids to want to go outside. Not only for the benefits of getting your child outside, but also because it is important to create a routine in which children feel a part of nature.
Please leave a comment below to let me know your best tips!
