It’s spring! Days are getting longer, and the temperatures are getting warmer—it’s a perfect time for some fun outdoor activities.
Here are some activities that are affordable, easy to do in most areas, and will keep you and your family entertained while you enjoy the spring weather.
1. Jump rope
Most of us remember jumping rope as children, both for fun with our friends and in our PE classes for fitness. In addition to some childhood nostalgia, it’s excellent exercise, and easy to do just about anywhere.
All you need is a jump rope—you can take it to a park or just outside your door for a workout in the fresh air.
2. Go bird watching
In the past few years, bird watching—or, ‘birding’ as the cool kids call it now—has become a popular activity. And it’s not just a grandparent hobby anymore; it really has become cool.
During the pandemic, a lot of people (including younger ones) took remote classes. Many of them found that they were interested in learning about the birds in their area, and have continued to enjoy birding as an easy and rewarding way to spend time outside.
3. Plan an outdoor scavenger hunt
With a little bit of planning, a scavenger hunt can be hours of fun in your own neighborhood. All you need is a few people—ideally enough several teams of 2-4—and a list of things they need to find or achieve. (If you’re planning a hunt with children, you’ll want to make sure each team has an adult for safety.)
The list can include common items like a yellow flower, as well as harder-to-find things that teams may need to knock on doors and ask people for, like a concert ticket stub. You can also have random activities on the list, like singing the chorus of a particular song in front of a library (which teams would need to record with a smartphone as proof).
The hunt ends at a designated location that all the teams need to get to by a certain time. Then, the team that has collected the most items on the list wins the hunt.
4. Hit the court! (Basketball, tennis, or pickleball)
Outdoor sports are always a good option to do something fun while getting some exercise. You will need to find someone else to play, but if you do it’s easy to find public tennis, basketball, and pickleball courts in most areas that are free to use.
If you need rackets or a ball, sites like Craigslist are always a good source for really inexpensive sporting goods.
5. Geocaching
Ever wanted to go on a treasure hunt? That’s basically what geocaching is! You can find hidden caches all over the world, using just the GPS on your phone.
When you find a cache, it could be anything—even actual treasure, like rare coins. But usually it’s small, inexpensive things like yo-yos, jewelry, or other trinkets. You take an item, and then you leave one in return. Caches are usually stored in a waterproof container, and have ‘geocaching.com’ written on them to help non-participants know what it is.
It’s easy to get started—you can use any smartphone, as long as it has GPS. Go to geocaching.com, and download the app. From there, you can start finding geocache sites near you.
6. Parcourse
In the 70s, a fitness trend called parcourse swept the nation. It was basically a set of exercise stations spaced out along a nature trail. Parcourses still exist today, and they’ve come back in vogue lately. They’re kind of like a retro version of CrossFit!
The stations on a typical parcourse include things like a chin-up bar, climbing rope, and balance beam. There are also stations dedicated to stretching, and each one has instructions for how to do each activity. If you think it sounds interesting, you can find a parcourse near you and check it out.
7. Go fly a kite
Remember flying kites when you were a kid? If you do, you might realize that it’s something you haven’t thought of in years. If you don’t, then it’s a perfect time to try it!
It’s hard to explain, but there’s something strangely satisfying about launching an object high into the air and keeping it aloft. You have to pay attention to the wind currents, and try to move your kite to catch them. It can be a lot more hands-on and engaging than it sounds.
8. Urban exploration
Exploring a city is always an interesting activity. It can be a city you’re not familiar with, or even the one where you’ve lived all your life. Make it interesting by playing tourist—look up visitors’ tips and guides online, and find local things you’ve never done or seen before.
Another way to make it interesting is with photography. Make a themed list, like finding the letters of the alphabet in objects. (They can’t be actual letters, like in signs, but letters made up of architectural details in a building, like an ‘O’ in the form of a round window.) When you focus on finding things like that, you’ll be amazed at all the new details you discover—even in things you walk past every day.
9. Go fishing
If you live near a pond, lake, or even the ocean, you might enjoy a fishing excursion. You do need a little gear to get started with this one, but it’s pretty minimal. You can find a set with everything you need—pole, reel, fishing line, hooks, and weights—for $25-$50 at Amazon or Walmart. Then you can just dig up some worms and get started. And if you catch something, then you’ve scored a free meal!
10. Play frisbee
Frisbee is a classic, simple sport. It isn’t much fun by yourself, so you will need someone else to play with you, but just about everyone can pick it up quickly.
If you don’t already have one, frisbees are very inexpensive to buy. You can find them at Amazon or most local hardware stores or drugstores. As an added bonus, it can be very good exercise—especially if you and your partner aren’t very good at it and end up chasing errant frisbees!
