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5 Easy Tips For Getting Your Kids Outside

​Learn from Outdoor Educator Katie Biddie​

Access to nature will vary household to household, but it’s important to find and embrace the nature that you have.

• Watch birds from your balcony or open a window for a few minutes to listen to them sing
• Look for worms that come up on your front sidewalk on a rainy day, jump in puddles on your driveway
• Virtually connect with nature using live streams like this bird feeder live stream​

Tip #2 - Start small and work your way up

• Start with a quick challenge (e.g. let’s go collect 10 sticks to make math sticks, but we can colour them inside)
  
• Do things you’d normally do inside but take them outside instead (e.g. read a book outside, have an outdoor picnic for your lunch break)
  
• Gradually introduce more outdoor time in each day

Tip #3 - Use positive language about spending time outdoors

• Tell your kids that it’s ok to get wet, dirty, messy 
• Instead of “ugh it’s raining again” try “what a great day to look for worms!”
• “It’s chilly out this morning, we can see our breath. That means we need to wear our coats outside!”

Tip #4 - Follow your child’s interests

• Pay close attention to the parts of nature that your children are interested in and then use that to engage them in their learning goals
  
• Some of the best outdoor experiences are unstructured. Let the kids lead the way!
  
• It’s Ok to not know all the answers. If they ask a question you don’t know the answer to, use that as a launching point to good research skills and meaningful learning
  

Tip #5 - Look online for resources

• Check out our be prepared infographic​
  
• Check back regularly for new resources​ from our outdoor education experts
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