It's Time to Play Outside

“I don’t want to go outside!”

“There’s nothing to do out there.”

Ever had either of those gems tossed your way? Odds are, if you are at all involved in the care of young children I just sent shivers up your spine. Hey, of course they don’t want to. Why should those kids want to go outside anyway? The house is climate controlled. The closets are stuffed with battery operated toys that do the moving and thinking so the kids don’t have to. The TV is inside, not outside. As are the video games. And, unless you’re raising your kids in a frat house, there’s probably no couch on the front porch for them to loaf around on either. It’s OK. Breathe easy. Your kids are normal. It takes more energy and motivation to play outside. Even though it’s called playing, your children’s bodies are working while outside. It’s much easier to stare blankly at the pretty lights in the box in front of you while munching cheese curls than it is to run, jump and play outside with the cold wind on your cheeks. Innately you know it’s better for your child to get outside from time to time, but why is it so hard? You know this little person will never again experience a time in life when he will have this much free time to wander through nature, enjoy the sunshine and listen to the birds. It won’t be long and he’ll be spending at least 7 hours a day sitting in a desk learning followed by 30 years in a cubicle! Now is the time. Today is the day. Get that little person excited about the world outside.

The purpose of this book is to give you 101 ways to get your child excited to play independently outside. I’ve only included activities that can be set up by you in five minutes or less. Believe me. I know that time is precious. You may have a job, bills to pay, laundry to try to play catch up with, return phone calls to make, not to mention feeding your crowd three meals a day. The last thing you have time for in the day is thinking of ways to get your child to want to play outside. This, in fact, is the very reason this book was born. I sent my young children out on a beautiful day to play outside and they came back in several minutes later declaring there’s nothing to do out there. With a frozen roast tucked under one arm, a basket of clean laundry to fold in my hands and three bills stuffed in my back pocket I peered out the window and drew a blank. Really? Nothing to do out there, huh? The best I could come up with in the moment was “look again”. Weak, I know. I really wanted them to enjoy this beautiful day but my head was so full of how I was going to get everything accomplished today that I just couldn’t think of anything for them to do out there either. This book will help you switch from defense to offence. You now have 101 proactive ways to take your children by the hand and in five short minutes set up a creative play activity outdoors. It’s important that you come back inside while they play and play and play the day away.

Winter Blocks

Materials: muffin tins, paper cups, Tubberware containers, ice cube tray

Children innately love stacking things. The only thing that might be more gratifying for the young child busy stacking a pile of blocks is knocking them down and watching the whole tower go crashing to the floor. That is, unless older brother was the one who crashed the tower to the floor. Then it’s not so fun anymore. Solve that problem on an especially drab, winter day by surprising all your children with a new set of winter blocks for each of them. Before going to bed the night before simply fill up some muffin tins, paper cups, mugs and ice cube trays with water. Do you have any five gallon buckets hanging out in the garage? They make spectacular blocks but also require a bit more freezing time if you don’t live in the tundra of Canada. Set the dishes outside to do the work for you over night. By the time your children are up the next morning and ready to play, a new set of blocks will be waiting to be popped out of their containers and played with. To easily pop the winter blocks out of their holder simply take the dishes inside for the length of time it takes to bundle your children up in their winter gear (in my world we’re talking about 38 minutes because invariably someone always has to go potty again after the last zipper has been zipped and we’re all standing there sweating buckets!). The warmth of the house will melt the outermost edges of each block allowing it to be easily slipped right out of its container by simply turning it upside down. No chiseling or prying required. Give each child her own set of blocks and send them outside to build and create with their new blocks. These blocks can be used to construct a beautiful ice palace, a warm igloo for plastic figurines to ward off the winter winds, or a tall tower waiting to be smashed to the ground. When play is done for the day this time Mother will pick up after you. Mother Nature that is. Now if we could just talk her into unloading the dishwasher from time to time as well.