Children need to move and be active every day. It is an important part of their development and helps maintain healthy habits later on. Moving is good for them and it's good for us, their parents, to follow along and play with them as much as we can.The outdoors provide lots of possibilities for active fun, specially in summer time. You can obviously do all sorts of sports, but It doesn't have to be all organized and prepared in advance. Summertime calls for slowing down a bit and be impulsive. Let the weather determine what to do - if it's really hot it's probably better to settle for a picnic in the shadow of a big tree than run a marathon!Here are five ideas for fun summer activities for kids that you can do at no cost:
A bike ride together on a bicycle path where there are no cars can be a really nice activity for the whole family and something most active preschoolers will love - specially if they can ride their own bikes. Take your time and stop once in a while to sit in the grass, pick some wild flowers, watch for bugs or collect beautiful leaves and stones etc.
If you live near a beach a walk in the sand or on the rocks is another great activity in all sorts of weather. Watch the tide and observe the sea with foam crests when it's windy and the quiet waters on a calm sunny day. Collecting beautiful shells and stones to bring home is a lot of fun and can turn into a little treasure hunt or game of who will first find a round stone, a blue shell, a white stone etc. Save the collected stones for a rainy day when it will be a fun indoor activity to paint the stones and make them into small art works.
When the weather is nice, a picnic is always great for children. Let everybody help preparing the food. Toddlers and preschoolers can make small easy sandwiches, put cherry tomatoes, pieces of cucumber and sweet peppers in containers etc. Bring berries, biscuits and small boxes of raisins for snack. Remember lots of refreshing water. Once lunch is over you can play hide and seek or tag, and when you're all tired of running just lay in the grass and watch the clouds in the sky - it's OK to do nothing when you have played actively.
A trip to the playground is always fun for a toddler or preschooler and it's specially fun to explore new play areas. This is another great destination for a bike ride, but if all the playgrounds are to far away, take the car and bring some sand toys and a ball with you.
A walk in the woods is great at all times and once you're there why not challenge the children to play I Spy. Give them a list of things to find that are: soft, rough, smooth, cold, hot, dry, wet, slimy, heavy, light etc. Let them find all at once or give them one challenge at a time and see who first finish the list or find an object with a specific characteristic - this can also be a fun activity on the beach where the challenge will be to find stones in different shapes, shells, seaweed etc.
It's a good idea to have a bag ready by the door with the essentials for a trip outside: napkins, sunblock, sunglasses, a towel, maybe some snack bars, dry raisins or small bags of biscuits, and of course bottles with water in the fridge ready to grab - then it's super easy to head outside whenever you feel like it.
Showing posts with label OK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OK. Show all posts
Thursday, November 14, 2013
7 Frugal Outdoor Activities For You and Your Family
When the spring starts shining outside and the cold weather is gone, it's a great moment to think about outdoor activities that can keep you all healthy, happy and more energized. And I am not talking about Hawaii trips that will cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars. There are plenty of frugal activities that are just as good as the expensive trips, sometimes even better.Here are seven good and all time green ideas for frugal outdoor activities:Picnic
Going to picnic is one of the simplest things you can do. Just pack few backs, get into the car (or be green and use the bus) and go to a natural place near you - a forest, a small hill or just into the park.There are very little costs involved in a picnic - just for transportation and food. And I would even exclude the food costs from the calculation because you will anyway have to eat - even if you don't go on picnic.Just one picnic weekly or monthly is enough to refresh yourself and your entire family for a lot of time ahead.Hiking
If you are more active and prefer to experience some reasonable physical loading, go to the closest mountain and do few hours of hiking. You don't need to climb peaks, just walk on broken ground for few hours and the mountain will recharge you in a way that nothing else can do.You don't need special equipment - just make sure you have comfortable shoes,a raincoat and a working cell phone. Don't go into areas that are not appropriate for tourists, don't overestimate your skills and walk with the speed of the slowest in the group. Family hiking should be fun - don't turn it into competition. Make sure to bring enough food and water with you.Having no mountain near your place is no excuse - you can hike on smooth ground too. It's not that exciting, but it's much better than staying in front of the TV. And is a pretty cheap activity too.Backyard Games
If you have a backyard, it's not hard to install a basketball basket, a volleyball net or a small door for soccer. Playing sports in the backyard is good for your and your kids health and helps the family spend more time together. It's also very frugal activity - once you install the net, basket or door and buy the needed balls you basically need nothing else.Paintball
Paintball is not cheap if you want to buy all the needed equipment and play in the backyard. But there are many places where you and your family can play paintball paying only a hourly based fees that usually aren't high.The kids and teens tend to like paintball a lot so it's a great idea to take yours on such venture. It can be even more fun if you take your neigbor's family and form bigger teams.Jogging
Want something even cheaper? Then try jogging - you can do it in the nearest park and need nothing except comfortable shoes and light clothes (assuming the weather is warm). Jogging is great for groups of 1-3 people, but even if you have a large family it's OK to go all and run together.Just like with hiking some people turn jogging into competition and pain. Don't do it - you are there to have fun and keep your family united.Biking
Biking is even more fun than jogging and is believed to be just as good for your health. Going out with bicycles can also turn into small expedition, because you can check places that are 10 - 20 or more km. away from you.Biking requires bigger investment in the beginning, but once you buy bicycles for everyone, they can be used for years with very small ongoing costs (much smaller than your car requires).Outdoor Swinging
A lazy but still active way to have fun outdoor is to swing in the backyard. Installing a family swing set requires some money at the beginning but there is almost no maintenance after that. And you can use the outdoor swing for more than ten years (depending on its type and quality).Just make sure that the swing set has enough seats for everyone (at least for the kids) so it don't cause wrangles between them. Remember, having fun is most important in everything you do.
Going to picnic is one of the simplest things you can do. Just pack few backs, get into the car (or be green and use the bus) and go to a natural place near you - a forest, a small hill or just into the park.There are very little costs involved in a picnic - just for transportation and food. And I would even exclude the food costs from the calculation because you will anyway have to eat - even if you don't go on picnic.Just one picnic weekly or monthly is enough to refresh yourself and your entire family for a lot of time ahead.Hiking
If you are more active and prefer to experience some reasonable physical loading, go to the closest mountain and do few hours of hiking. You don't need to climb peaks, just walk on broken ground for few hours and the mountain will recharge you in a way that nothing else can do.You don't need special equipment - just make sure you have comfortable shoes,a raincoat and a working cell phone. Don't go into areas that are not appropriate for tourists, don't overestimate your skills and walk with the speed of the slowest in the group. Family hiking should be fun - don't turn it into competition. Make sure to bring enough food and water with you.Having no mountain near your place is no excuse - you can hike on smooth ground too. It's not that exciting, but it's much better than staying in front of the TV. And is a pretty cheap activity too.Backyard Games
If you have a backyard, it's not hard to install a basketball basket, a volleyball net or a small door for soccer. Playing sports in the backyard is good for your and your kids health and helps the family spend more time together. It's also very frugal activity - once you install the net, basket or door and buy the needed balls you basically need nothing else.Paintball
Paintball is not cheap if you want to buy all the needed equipment and play in the backyard. But there are many places where you and your family can play paintball paying only a hourly based fees that usually aren't high.The kids and teens tend to like paintball a lot so it's a great idea to take yours on such venture. It can be even more fun if you take your neigbor's family and form bigger teams.Jogging
Want something even cheaper? Then try jogging - you can do it in the nearest park and need nothing except comfortable shoes and light clothes (assuming the weather is warm). Jogging is great for groups of 1-3 people, but even if you have a large family it's OK to go all and run together.Just like with hiking some people turn jogging into competition and pain. Don't do it - you are there to have fun and keep your family united.Biking
Biking is even more fun than jogging and is believed to be just as good for your health. Going out with bicycles can also turn into small expedition, because you can check places that are 10 - 20 or more km. away from you.Biking requires bigger investment in the beginning, but once you buy bicycles for everyone, they can be used for years with very small ongoing costs (much smaller than your car requires).Outdoor Swinging
A lazy but still active way to have fun outdoor is to swing in the backyard. Installing a family swing set requires some money at the beginning but there is almost no maintenance after that. And you can use the outdoor swing for more than ten years (depending on its type and quality).Just make sure that the swing set has enough seats for everyone (at least for the kids) so it don't cause wrangles between them. Remember, having fun is most important in everything you do.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)