How to get your indoor kid, outdoors!

How to get your ‘indoor kid’, outdoors! My son LOVES everything indoors – his iPad, YouTube, cuddling up with his cat, and would spend all weekend curled up indoors if he could. He’s not into team sports, and not really a fan of messy play so whilst he’s an ‘easy’ kid to have around, you may not know he’s there sometimes, I am conscious that he has different kinds of experiences in his life, to expose him to new things.

I think kids have a natural inclination for different types of play, and the quiet, creative kids need as much stimulation as the boisterous, energetic kids. I also think it’s important to continually but gently stretch their comfort zones, to not let them become too comfortable with (in my son’s case) staying indoors all the time as I don’t think it will serve him in the future to be someone who is too firmly ‘set in his ways’!

So to encourage my lad outdoors, we recently did a few fun activities together, to breathe in the crisp air and have a different kind of mother-son interaction than the cuddles on the sofa kind that we also do a lot of! Here’s how I got my indoor kid, outdoors!

Firstly he needs to be warm. He’s like me, we like to be comfortable and dislike getting too cold, so I wrapped him up in this Rannoch jacket from Berghaus which comes from the kids range at Blacks. It is warm with lightweight insulation, has zips that extend all the way up to keep the cold air out and has a lovely hood to keep his head warm. It is fully waterproof so he stays cosy even when it’s pouring outside, and he loves the zipped breast pocket where he could stash his phone safely!

Once we are dressed for the great outdoors, the next step is to do something fun and exploratory. As you can see from the photos, I took him to the park and we did a spot of birdwatching and looked for worms with a magnifying glass (I even brought a jam jar in case he wanted to take one away with him but for him, seeing them in the ground was enough!) We also fed the ducks and he posed with a big foam finger to point out the ones he liked best! Out of all the activities we did that afternoon, feeding the ducks was his favourite. He has a real soft spot for all animals and loves to care for them, to this appealed to his nurturing side.

Whether your child likes duck feeding or not, here are some other ways to encourage outdoor play:

Get out as a family. We can’t expect our kids to just ‘go and play outdoors’ if we ourselves are always inside, so plan a trip out for a family walk, to a local beauty spot to kick a ball about or look for birds, anything to show that being outside is fun and a normal part of family life.

Extend indoor play to outside. We have a fab tent that we can put up in the summer to create a hideaway for the kids to play in within the garden when it is warm out. Even if they just want to play with a iPad or read a book in the tent, it’s still nice to do it outdoors under the sun.

In the warm weather, participating in water play is a great way to get everyone outside! It’s not the sort of activity that can be done in the house, so a paddling pool, squirt guns, water balloons or a bubble maker would be fun ways to engage children outside.

Make outdoor fun into a playdate. Invite your child’s friend or a few pals to come outside with you. A visit to the park where there is a slide or a swingset will encourage most kids to have a run out.

Thank you to Blacks for sending my son the Rannoch jacket. Their Berghaus Kids collection has a great range of jackets for children aged 3-13 and they also have a lifetime guarantee – great news for style and value conscious mums!

How do you encourage the kids to play outdoors? Let me know in the comments!