A whole day outside – what would it look like?

For us, we are in Canada, so a whole day outside just often isn’t possible in the winter. But, in winter, some of our favorite activities that we can easily spend at least half a day outside doing:

– snowmobiling. We love snowmobiling out into the fields and forests, and from there we build campfires, lean-tos (life skills!), probably cooking over the fire, go on nature walks through the forest, sliding etc…
– snowshoeing
– cross-country skiing  (and either of the two could lead to the same activities as snowmobiling)
– downhill skiing for a day
– even just playing outside in the snow building snowmen, snow forts, taking nature walks etc…
– ice fishing (I’ve never tried it, but I think it would be fun)
– ice skating on an outdoor rink (whether it’s on ground, pond, river, lake etc…)
– spend an afternoon sliding, then build a bonfire after and roast marshmallows, hotdogs and hot chocolate

For spring, again, our springs can be quite cool and wet, so not necessarily great for spending an entire day outside. It’s not unusual for us to still have snow on the ground in mid-April. So for me, “spring” is really late March to middle of May:

– Nature walks galore to watch earth awakening 🙂
– Fiddleheading/foraging for new greens
– Canoeing
– Spend a day preparing your yard for birds, putting out bird feeders, bird baths, birdhouses etc…
– Clean up project: get the yard cleaned up of debris, old leaves etc… You could extend this into a community project where you clean a park area etc…
– Start a compost and prepare a garden area for planting
– Planting spring bulbs

Summer:

– Nature walks (of course, lol)
– Planting and tending the garden
– Spend a day picking strawberries from a field and then do some baking
– A day at a beach, National/State park, historical site, even just a good ol’ playground
– Animal or bird sanctuary
– Whale watching
– Canoeing
– Swimming in a stream, lake or river
– Do your lessons outside (we have a tree that we love doing our lessons under)
– Go on a bike adventure with a packed picnic and find a place in nature to eat
– Start a perennial or annual garden
– Don’t just limit outdoor time to day time, either 🙂 We often on the weekends will build a bonfire and roast marshmallows, while we enjoy the stars, the children chase fireflies, we go on twilight walks etc…

Fall:

– Nature walk (are you surprised by that one yet? lol)
– Canoeing
– Harvesting the garden
– Preparing the yard for winter
– Planting fall bulbs
– Apple picking
– Pumpkin picking
– Hold a “market”, where they can sell some of their harvest
– Visit historical sites
– Spend a day doing photography, enjoying the fall leaves
– Hunting
– Harvest festivals

–

-mushroom identification
-plant a sunflower house for kids

What a great idea!  They would get plenty of sunshine, fresh air, nature appreciation, and activity that day.  You have inspired me to consider adding this to our schedule.  We already have a separate day each week for errands, dr. appt., library, co-op, etc. and we often spend a few hours at a park.  For us, this day would have its own weekly books which are used only on this day.  I could even leave the books and things for this day in a tote in the van.  I would pack a picnic lunch, snacks, and plenty of drinks.  Most of the time we would be spending the day at a park, but it could include a few field trips for a few hours.  I would go to a different park each week: city, local, state, national.  I would check about where a decent bathroom is and plan some breaks for that, even if it is going over to a place of business.  And I would watch the weather forcast and plan to go on the nicest day.  If you use separate books these days, you could go any day of the week: Tuesday one week or Thursday another week.  I would have a schedule to go by that would vary the activities between active and sitting.  I would make use of audio lessons on the CD player in the van traveling there and back: literature, history, composer music, etc.

Oh… love the maple syrup idea. We’re actually going to a Sugar Bush this weekend! You could easily go scout out a few sugar maple trees and tap them, and boil your own sap.