Friday Family Fun: Free Play In The Great Outdoors

What child doesn't like to be an explorer in nature?  I remember when I was a child; I loved hiking.  Anything to be surrounded by trees, bubbling streams, bugs, the sound of birds and the gentle breeze were my favorite and still are.  Who said you have to grow up from some things?  This week my children were so happy because we discovered a running river at the end of the property we live in.  It is surrounded by nature, tall trees, birds, sand, all sorts of beautiful and interesting rocks, bugs, flowers, and herbs to learn about.  They can't wait to go  for this exploration walk daily now.  The education they can get by just being in nature is really endless.  By observing the surroundings, we talked about the evidence of a flood that happened.  This led us talk about the geological evidence of Noah's world wide flood.



Then there was the water.  Well, children and water go together.  I tried to refrain them because, I wasn't prepared with clothes, towels, etc.  and I was concern of "germs", ha, ha!  "Just try not to get wet".  As you can guess, we came back home soaked.

 



Children need to have a daily dose of free play outside.  Aside from getting their sun kissed Vitamin D, it allows the to interact with their environment.  They build their physical strength, and encourages to use creativity to solve problems.  I can see their minds turning and coming up with all sorts of adventures.  Danielle started building a raft to cross to the other side.  Noah was fishing with a stick he picked up.  Destiny was fascinated finding interesting rocks that she believed were washed up and deposited here as a result of Noah's flood.  She noticed the layers on the rocks and said they told the story of the Grand Canyon.

Then there is the beach.  Oh, the sand!  Noah and Destiny would run to the sand and roll on it laughing like  saying, "here I am, I missed you".  There is not much to the beach: sand and water.  But my children say that God thought of children when He made it.  They can spend there all day and never get tired.  They get cold, itchy from the salty water and we eat our food with sand all over.  As much as I try to prevent the sand from invading our food, I've not been successful.



 

Then there is the marvelous snow.  How blessed we are here in California, to have all these three, the mountains, the beach and the snow, so close.  It is amazing how they don't get cold.



The best way to kill the creativity in children is to keep them indoors.  No doubt there is a lot we can do indoors to encourage creativity, but there is no comparison.  That is why even in my busy schedule, I make the effort to take the adventure walk in nature with my children.  I get my exercise in, my vitamin D from the sun, homeschooling done by studying what we find, and release stress by enjoying the breeze, birds, and the calmness that comes being surrounded by the giggles of children and nature.  And then, I am so glad I did.



 

I like educating all day long.  And these nature walks are excellent.  We can do scavenger hunts, paleontology excavations, study rocks, recognize wild herbs and their medicinal properties, geology and rock formation, botany, physical laws with water, skipping rocks, collect bugs, interesting specimen we can look under our microscope, build bridges, fish and cook it over a campfire, etc.  The spiritual lessons are always tied because God is the Creator.  This has given my children a love for learning.

Do you take nature walks with your children?  What are some of the ideas you have for this free play?