Top 10 Tips to encourage your child to play outside this summer.

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Get creative in the garden with my Top 10 Tips to encourage your child to play outside

It can be hard to encourage my kids out of the door to play when they have so may technical devices in front of them. So every summer I try to find something new for them to do. So here are my Top 10 Tips to encourage your child to play outside this summer.

It is not quite the same in this day and age where you can let your children roam the street with their bike or skates. We live on a busy road with no side street’s, so it’s never been quiet enough to let the boys play out the front. It may of took them a bit longer to learn to ride a bike and use a skate board. Saying that my youngest is a lover of the great outdoors. Since he has been in a west end show however it has been harder getting him out as he is either not home or exhausted.

As soon as he had a few days free we invested in some new bits for him to enjoy in the garden or over the park with his friends and they went down well.

I’ve never thought about getting a pogo stick but they are a great little buy for very little investment. There are many to choose form at The Skatehut and at all different prices to suit your budget. It took him a bit of getting used to but I lost him in the garden for a few hours .When his friends came round they all had a go. I think Pogo sticks could be making a bit of a come back, I can still remember my one as a child.

The trampoline has sadly given up the ghost but we may invest in another one as he loved it. He loves his scooter and will trying out his new bike soon when we are off to Centerparcs.

Top 10 Tips to encourage your child to play outside this summer.

So lets turn off the TV and use your outside space for some summer adventures. If you don’t have an outside space nip down to your local park.

Buy a pack of chalk and let your children get creative on the patio, it’s great fun and washes away.
Make a scavenger hunt list 10 things for your child to find such as an acorn, flower, something yellow etc. You could always try geocaching and go abit further afield.
Set up goals to dribble a football around the garden.
Make a picnic for them and sit them in some shade.
Make a hideaway, use cardboard boxes to make a play fort or den in the garden, or build one entirely from sticks. You could even let them camp overnight in a tent.
Set up a sprinkler or invest in some cheap water guns for a water fight.
Start a nature collection, use a book to do leaf rubbings or sketches of plants and flowers. Press mini flowers and create your own nature journal.
Make bubbles! Mix some washing up liquid with water and use an old wire coat hanger to make huge ones.
Get back to basics and make a daisy chain, does your child know how to make one?
Go bug hunting, take a magnifying mirror out in to the garden and finds some bugs. If you find a caterpillar you can keep it in a wide mouth jar with some netting over and watch it turn in to a butterfly. Don’t forget to feed it with some leaves.