100 Ways to Spend an Hour Outside

​To celebrate Our January Outdoors, here are one hundred ways to get outside with your children. All these ideas are things our family love to do, they require very little set up and most cost almost nothing.  
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​   1. Take a walk around your neighbourhood.
   2. Hang out the washing and let your child play with the pegs or sit in the empty basket.
   3. Roll a ball together
   4. Bounce a ball against the wall
   5. Draw on the pavement with chalk
   6. Paint on the pavement with water.
   7. Make chalk paint with chalk and water
   8. Dig in a patch of dirt with an old cake tin and a spoon
   9. Go fruit picking.
   10. Visit a playground.
   11. Draw with pencils and paper on clipboards in the garden
   12. Fly a kite
   13. Watch the sunrise
   14. Swim in a river
   15. Eat breakfast outside in your pyjamas
   16. Walk through a forest

   17. Run up and down a hill 
   18. Read a chapter book on a picnic rug
   19. Make a tower out of stones
   20. Play in a pile of Autumn Leaves
   21. Water the garden
   22. Meet friends for lunch at a park
​   23. Shop at the farmers' market
   24. Make a leaf crown
   25. Play dress-ups outside 
   26. Make shadow puppets on the wall in the afternoon light
   27. Explore a community garden
   28. Make a cubby in a shrub or bush
   29. Use a vegetable peeler and sandpaper and practice whittling sticks
   30. Visit a local farm.

   31. Slide down a hill on a cardboard box
   32. Climb a tree
   33. Pack a backpack and head outside for a pretend adventure
   34. Play in the rain
   35. Dance in the puddles left by the rain. 
   36. Crack seasonal nuts open with hammers
   37. Count the birds
   38. Paint with watercolours in the garden
   39. Play with beach toys and beach towels in the backyard
   40. Scooter along a walking track
   41. Visit an Arboretum
   42. Make mud pies 
   43. Collect kindling
   44. Light a fire
​   45. Toast marshmallows
   46. Pop popcorn over a fire
   47. Bake cheesy camp-fire potatoes
   48. Fill a wheelbarrow with garden weeds
   49. Pretend a stick is a magic wand
   50. Play hide and seek
   51. Take a nap in the sunshine
   52. Visit a public garden
   53. Drink tea in a leafy courtyard cafe

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   54. Make a fairy garden with flowers and pebbles
   55. Skip with a skipping rope
   56. Plant a tree
   57. Go on a bush walk, looking for wildlife
   58. Jump off a tree stump
​   59. Take musical instruments outside
   60. Climb a mountain
   61. Ride a ferry
   62. Make a driftwood pirate ship
   63. Walk to your local library
   64. Fill muffin trays with water and petals
   65. Do leaf-shading or leaf-rubbing on paper using crayons
   66. Plant strawberry runners in an old wheel-barrow
   67. Dig for worms
   68. Make a garden potion
   69. Throw rocks in a stream.
   70. Build a sandcastle
   71. Lie in a hammock
   72. Race leaf boats
   73. Watch the sunset
   74. Plant seeds in an egg carton
   75. Spread mulch over new seedlings
   78. Shell fresh peas in the garden.
   79. Weave a necklace out of string and seashells

   80. Meet friends to kick a ball on an oval
   81. Make a daisy chain
   82. Make balance beams out of fallen trees
   83. Walk to a friend's house
   84. Climb a haystack
   85. Visit a wetland
   86. Make lemonade
   87. Pick posies of garden flowers
   88. Walk a dog (borrow a friend's dog, if you don’t have your own).
   89. Set up a tent in the backyard
   90. Play hopscotch
   91. Play with dolls outside
   92. Collect rubbish from your local beach or river, make it a treasure hunt.
   93. Go for a bike ride
   94. Have running races on the sand.
   95. Catch a cabbage moth with a net
   96. Scrump summer fruit
   97. Run under the sprinkler
   98. Have an outdoor bath
   99. Read stories on the front steps
​   100. Say bedtime prayers, looking up at the moon.

​Parenting can feel overwhelming.
But it doesn't have to. 
I'm here to help you find a simpler way.
.
​Sign up and take my free workshop,
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and together let's seek a deeper connection and a brighter life. 

With Love,
Hannah Alexander x