Playing Outdoors with Your Grandkids

“Nature buffers the impact of life’s stresses on children and helps them deal with adversity. The greater the amount of nature exposure, the greater the benefits.” Wells & Evans 2003

Do you remember playing outside as a child? I remember spending hours upon hours playing in the woods: making elaborate houses with fallen branches, shaping dishes out of the clay we found in the soil, decorating with flowers and leaves. I remember climbing trees so high I got dizzy and had to be coached back down. There were games of hide and seek in the tall grass of an empty lot across the street, and in the winter, elaborate snow forts and all-neighborhood snowball fights. 

Children need nature. And not just seeing it, but experiencing it: the feel of grass under their feet, the sound of the birds in the woods, the smell of wet dirt. Studies have shown that children who play regularly in natural environments exhibit more advanced motor fitness, including coordination, balance and agility, and they are sick less often (Grahn, et al. 1997, Fjortoft & Sageie 2001).

But for too many children, time playing in nature is a rare treat. 

So how can we, as grandparents, help?

It can be as easy as making your yard a safe place for exploration.
A child’s curiosity and imagination will guide them if given the chance. Provide your grandchildren with natural elements for creative play: sticks and stones and leaves and dirt and water. Keep a place for them to dig for worms. Let them make forts in your bushes and move the rocks in your border. Let them climb your trees and hang from the branches. Let them lie on the grass and watch the bugs. Let them pick your flowers and gather your leaves. Let them go barefoot and let them get dirty. Get out and play with them!

While planting and nurturing a garden is one way to introduce nature, you don’t have to do anything that structured. A small spade and bucket and a pile of dirt can often provide more entertainment to a preschooler than a carefully tended vegetable bed. But if you want ideas for ways to engage your grands outdoors (and in!), Camp Granny ​by Sharon Lovejoy has lots of inspiration for you. 

Don’t think your yard is very child-friendly? Check out Molly Dannenmaier’s book, A Child’s Garden, which provides dozens of ways to create natural play areas for children that fit into adult gardens. Find A Child's Garden: 60 Ideas to Make Any Garden Come Alive for Children by Molly Dannenmaier on Amazon.

No backyard? Don’t let that stop you from sharing the wonders and benefits of the natural world with your grandchildren.

Take them regularly to wild places. What counts as wild? Anywhere that lets them explore and experience nature, from pocket parks to nature preserves. Let them climb boulders and balance on logs, let them try to dam up a stream, let them feel the power of a wave. Need help finding somewhere near you? Here are some places to look:

Botanic gardens and arboretums often have spaces designed for children to play and explore. Even those that without children’s areas have plenty of places to roam and engage with nature. Find a public garden near you at at PublicGardens.org.
 
Nature preserves and wildlife refuges are wonderful places to search for lizards or wander through trees and over bridges.  They range from redwood forests to coastal wetlands. Wildlife refuges can be found on the Fish & Wildlife Services website.

National Parks are home to over 17,000 miles of trails and habitat protection for endangered species, and provide bountiful opportunities to explore nature. Find a park here.

The shores of lakes, rivers and oceans are varied and fascinating to children. Sandy beaches provide the chance to dig, sift, and search for different kinds of shells and sea life. Rocky shorelines provide tidepools inhabited by sea stars and crabs. (Just make sure you’ve read our post about water safety!) The Travel Channel has some great guides to beaches on their website.

Aquariums allow kids to see what’s under the sea, and most have touch tanks that let kids see and feel sea life up close. To find an aquarium near you, search here.

Hiking trails can be the perfect place to spend an afternoon. Google “kid-friendly hiking trails near me” to find out what your neighborhood offers.

For children, spending time outdoors should be experienced with all their senses. You can help your grandchildren realize all the benefits of nature by giving them plenty of opportunities for unstructured play outdoors. 

What’s your favorite place to take kids to interact with nature? Please share it in the comments!