Camping, Festivals and Days Out. A Summer Spent Outdoors
This year my husband and I have decided that we’d like to spend as much time as possible outdoors as a family.
With so many young people spending the majority of their time indoors on their phones or games consoles, we’re trying our very best to encourage our children to embrace the great outdoors.
Being outdoors has so many wonderful benefits from improvements in mental health and well-being, as well as physical benefits such as improved blood pressure and of course the chance to exercise.
Of course we can’t always be outdoors when the weather is really bad, but a spate of rain or snow shouldn’t keep us indoors.
With this in mind here are a few things we’re aiming to do this year:
- Go on a family camping trip – I have a few places in mind such as River Dart Country Park and the Gower, possibly even Kiln Park as I spent many summers myself as a child camping there with my family
- Go to a music festival – We’re actually going to The Great Wonderfest in August this year
- Go glamping – We have an upcoming trip to a dairy farm where we’ll be glamping and we’re all super excited about this
- Go on days out – These needn’t be paid for days out. A simple trip to the beach with a picnic or to the park etc.
- It’s also simple changes such as walking home from school and going in the park on the way home
- Spending time in the garden playing simple games such as football, hide and seek etc
- Growing our own food and cooking meals using homegrown ingredients to show our girls how amazing nature is
- Simply eating dinner in the garden
These are just a few of the things we’ll be doing this year to encourage our children outdoors. To be honest though our girls don’t need much encouragement to get outside! Of course, they enjoy watching TV, but I think being outdoors trumps TV for them.
What are your plans this summer? Let me know in the comments below.
7 Comments
John Adams
May 24, 2019 at 6:22 am
Well Emily, interesting post as it happens. I always worry the kids spend too much time indoors but reading your list, we do most of those things to a greater or lesser degree. Give me a certain sense of reassurance we’re doing something right! Glamping though, never done that. And good luck getting Nigel under canvass. I want a full, 60 minute documentary about that one. Just before I go, cycling is one that that has worked wonders with out youngest. She’s off stabilisers and now wants to spend every minute on two wheels. Thanks for hosting #thatfridaylinky
Josie – Me, Them and the Others
May 24, 2019 at 8:14 am
Sounds like you’re going to have a great summer, we’ll definitely be camping and growing veg too. #thatfridaylinky
Dave Pearson
May 24, 2019 at 8:22 am
100% agree – we love the outdoors. School term time for us is crazy busy and with the girls dancing an performing on top it can be a struggle to prise them away from the sofa on a rare day off. But come the holidays we are out and about.
I practically grew up outdoors and bad weather didn’t stop me either. Building dens in the woods, damming streams, rope swings, apple scrumping (!), climbing trees (of the non-apple variety), rolling down hills. Those were the days!
#ThatFridayLinky
sam
May 24, 2019 at 9:31 am
Fab tips and my kids love being outside even if I can only afford a picnic and a trip to a park my kids love it X #thatfridaylinky
Enda Sheppard
May 24, 2019 at 10:05 am
Sounds like a great summer in store!! So right about getting them outdoors as much as possible. Good for everyone’s sanity!#ThatFridayLinky
Michele Morin
May 24, 2019 at 12:05 pm
Love your resolve! I try to get my grandchildren outdoors as much as I can when we are together!
Sarah-Marie Collins
May 24, 2019 at 12:58 pm
We are going to be doing #30DaysWild from 1st June. It’s an initiative from the Wildlife Trust to encourage children to do something wild for each day of June. They encourage children to hug trees and roll down hill as well as doing kind acts for nature. #ThatFridayLinky