© Terri Seymour 

There are so many wonderful and fun ways to enjoy the outdoors with your family and spring is one of the best times to get started!

Bird watching - Educational and fun. Doesn't take a lot of money. A pair of binoculars and a bird guide are helpful but not necessary. Birds can be found in your backyard, in the park or deep in the woods. Keep a bird watching diary and see how many species you can come up with and take note of the differences. Make it a challenging, learning experience for you and your kids!

Picnic - Picnics are great fun and very relaxing. Go to the park, the lake, hike into the woods, etc. One of our favorite things to do is to pack a cooler full of goodies, get in the car and see what new things and new places we could find to explore. When we got hungry we would stop and picnic! Great way to spend a family day.

Fishing - Kids love fishing! Pack a lunch, drive down to the lake or river and have a day of fishing. Make a contest of it just to add to the fun. Whoever wins gets to pick out the family movie and whoever loses has to make all the popcorn - simple incentives to add to the sport of it. ;-)

Nature Walks - Get out your backpacks and get on the trails. Teach your children about nature and the importance of treating it with respect. Watch for wildlife, birds and interesting plants, trees and other wonders of nature. There are so many!

Outdoor Games - Croquet, horseshoes, badminton, baseball, and even bubble blowing are all fun and healthy activities for your whole family. We started bubble blowing with our first son every spring and it has become a Seymour family tradition. Something about all those bubbles in the spring makes for a very fun time! ;-)

Start that Garden - Learning how plants grow and growing them themselves is a wondrous hobby for kids to partake in. Have a small container garden or windowsill garden if you have no yard room. Let your child decide which plants/vegetables whey would like to grow!

Boat Rides - Get out the row boat or canoe and take a relaxing ride with the family. My older son and I would take the row boat and Terry and our younger son would take the canoe. We would have races, play follow the leader, and many other fun things. ( Of course, the canoe always won, but we had fun trying!) And we always made sure we had our life vests on!

Rock Climbing - Be careful with this one. You want to start out with the smaller rocks and do not climb any dangerous rocks without experience or safety equipment. We have had many exhilarating times climbing rocks, even though we never got into the "dangerous" ones.

The world is a beautiful and wondrous place. You can relive this wonder every time you do something with your children. This is a great gift to give your children as well. So get outside and be amazed at the world and everything in it!

Terri Seymour and her husband Terry own Seymour Products. Thousands of home gifts, home decorating tips, resources and more.
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