Bec Judd: 5 fun activities to get your kids outdoors these holidays

Summer is here, and Bec Judd has some ideas about how you can make the most of it as a family. 

There are lots of lessons to learn from a simple nature walk. Everything you see could be a teaching topic – the weather, seasons, flora and fauna. Nature is all about kids having to use their imagination.

Coming out of lockdown, we’ve had a lot of time to be outdoors as a family. We take the time to observe our surroundings and interact with nature – for example, looking at flowers and leaves on trees. Are they falling? Is it new growth? Are we sneezing because of pollen? It’s easy to string these lessons together when they’re all around you. 

We also love heading to the rock pools near us, where we see fish, crabs and sea stars. We never run out of things to talk about. We turn over heaps of rocks, too. I guarantee you, to a kid, there’ll always be something cool underneath a rock.

You can collect things from the beach and do some arts and crafts. We also look at litter, and discuss its impact on the water and the animals. 

Our family does a lot of bike riding, and it’s a great environment for the kids to experience controlled risks. For example, we’ll go down a hill – I’ll be on one end of our bicycle train, and my husband on the other – so the kids get that feeling of independence and exhilaration.

They’ll process these internal questions like, ‘How fast can I go?’ or ‘Am I going to hurt myself?’ These learning opportunities are great for their development. 

There are plenty of growth opportunities for children at playgrounds and parks – things like controlling their impulses, self-awareness and learning social concepts like turn-taking and problem-solving.

We recently went to an amazing park on Halloween that was full of kids. Lots of them were racing around and being quite rough, and there was plenty of crazy (and potentially dangerous) play equipment. 

It’s important to encourage your kids to have a go. Just watch from afar and make sure they’re safe. These play opportunities are absolute gold. 

Outside play helps children use their creativity and imagination. Once, I encouraged my kids to play in the backyard when they told me there was nothing to do. I watched them come up with their own obstacle course based on Survivor. They had to climb up a tree, jump down, collect some balls and run around from corner to corner. It was incredible.

As parents, you can give your kids some tips on what they can do outside, but let their imagination take the lead. 

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