Help getting my 5 year old outside

[Chiyo666]

My 5 year old is really really indoorsy. I am the complete opposite and I want to get us all outside but she kicks off every time. I bought her a mini explorer kit which worked for a few days but she’s now bored of that. Her bike she got bored of after a few weeks and she now refuses to wear a helmet anyway so can’t go on it. She’s an absolute nightmare for going out and doing stuff and now she’s home she’s starting to get fat.
Has anyone has any great toys their kids absolutely loves that I cloves being outside. We don’t have a garden so needs to be something we can do on a walk.

Scavenger hunt? Look for coloured leaves, feathers, flowers pebbles. She could collect some for a fairy garden or flower pressing

My 8 year old is the same. Sometimes I tell him he needs to earn screen time by going for a walk for a certain amount of time. If we chat about things he likes on the walk then he forgets he is doing something he doesn’t like.

I am going to get him a kids fitbit as he would enjoy keeping track of his progress with that.

How many playing Pokemon Go to make going for walks more fun.

Hi, what’s she doing inside? Mine was the same at the start of lockdown, so I turned the tv off every now and then which helped. I bought a trampoline and tuff tray, we already had a slide and water table, castle tent thing and foam mats. When it’s nice we picnic for lunch and I set up independent play activities as much as I can - paint on the table, play do, chalk etc. Everything we can do inside we just take outdoors. I have an eight month old who is weaning and teething and very demanding, so I was trying to do as much as possible to ensure my 5 yo didn’t feel left out.

Is that Pokemon thing still going?
That was excellent for getting kids out and about when it was all the rage.
Have a look on your app store.
I'm sure my (22 YO) DD was on it recently!?

Sorry I completely missed the fact you don’t have a garden. My post is completely unhelpful!

walking bingo, bring a pen and get her to check things off as you go. roller skates (with knee and elbow pads).
would she use her bike if you both went on a bike ride, rather you walking and her on her bike? If she sees you wearing a helmet then she is more likely to copy.

We’ve done a few scavenger hunts but she’s not interested. Pokemon Go kept he amused for a few days now she’s bored of it. She’s very much like me, she gets bored of things very quickly.

I have a 3 and 6 month old too so I can’t hold her on roller skates etc.

Outdoor stuff that can't happen indoors is the way to go.
Water play, painting with water with big and small brushes, sponges, rollers....
Sand
Mud
Sticks
Try building mini beast houses and see who moves in. Use junk- card, loo roll tubes, mud and sticks etc. That's two activities- building, then putting food in and looking to see if anyone moves in. Loads of science there, too.

My good weather holiday rule was no screens unless they'd been outside for 30minites. We also don't have a garden, so walk, park etc

she wouldn't need to necessarily be held on roller skates if she has the protective padding on. it will take practice but if she holds onto the buggy at the start, she will get the hang of it

She’s not on screens btw, she’s just happy playing with her toys.

I think there are two issues really.

1. is getting her out of the door.
2. is finding something she wants to do.

In order to get her out of the door, I would make it a set part of the day. Not negotiable. I find that once something becomes a set part of the day, it is much easier, and they (eventually) stop protesting. Lots of cheerful no nonsense, 'time to go for a walk' are we ready, quick sticks, get your shoes on, etc etc. Ignore all the fuss, and just repeat and work towards leaving until you are out of the door. Easier siad than done I know, but persevere. You coudl even say - we HAVE to, look school/government etc says we all need to be healthy and go for a walk, so we're going out every mornign after breakfast. Putting it in after a meal does mean she hasn't got engrossed in another game too, so there isn't such a change of activity necessary.

For entertainment, I would do a different thing each day. You can have a plan in the back of your mind so you aren't scrabbling to come up with something every day, you don't need to tell her. Some ideas.

1. Counting - Ask her to count things as you go along. You can have a check list - can you find 5 cats, 3 green trees, 4 gardens with red flowers etc etc
2. make up funny names - as you walk past cars, look at the last letter and make up a funny name for the car, eg G - grubby groucho W wild william. The funnier the better, compete to see who can think of the funniest names
3. Collect things, either a treasure hunt, so you have to find all the things on the list (feather, flower, piece of grass, stick, stone etc etc) or talk about a picture to make at home and collect things for the picture. If you have a spare bit of wall, you can put a strip of paper up, and gradually build a picture on it with every treasure hunt walk, so collect grass and stick it on the bottom, collect twigs and selpotape them on for trees. Stick on a feather and then add eyes and make a funny bird. If you do it as a straight treasure hunt, she might like ticking off what she has found, or have a prize at home if she found all of them. Have cute bag/basket to put things in.

1. have a bike day. So only get the bike out once a week, and then it is novel again. Does she have a little basket to put stuff in? Is she a dolly person? Does she have a little dolly seat? My dd always took teddy for a ride, in the basket at the front. When you go out with the bike, can you find a gentle hill and cycle up and free wheel down a few times. Make teddy a matching cycle helmet out of the bottom of a plasric bottle.

1. Play eye spy as you walk. If she isn't ready for the letters, do it with colours (I spy something that is red)

1. Jump the cracks on the paving stones, the cracks are fire and so don't burn your toes! depending on where you are, you can go further, avoid the pavement, walk on the wall/grass/kerb etc, obviously this depends on where you are and what is safe. dd1 used to hop and jump all the way home from school, as black tarmac was lava and grey tarmac/paving slabs were OK.

1. Tell me a story - make up a story as you walk. You say one bit, she says the next bit, you add on another bit and so on. (Make it about a girls of her age, who does fun stuff outdoors?)

Finally keep it the right length. 20 minutes of fun is better than 30 minutes where the last ten is a whinge all the way home.

IS there anywhere you can go and feed ducks or similar?

Some sort of role play where she is a princess escaping from baddies?

Yeah we have 2 large duck ponds but she’s so over them

I think we’re just going to have to risk driving somewhere that’s a bit different. We have so much here but she’s just so bored of it (and tbh so am I).

I feel for her. I've always found that going for a walk for the sake of going for a walk was pointless. Perhaps you ought to get a dog, then there would be a reason to go out.

Mine are the same, it's awful. A couple of things that have helped recently - collecting stones on a walk, painting them at home then hiding them for others to find on your next walk. Or sticks, pine cones.. quite a few kids round here are doing it, so hunting for painted stones also works.

Also we have been baking, and taking cakes or biscuits round to friends who live in walking distance, leaving on the doorstep, step well back and have a shouted conversation if they answer the door ( if not I message the parents so they know something is there). Not for everyone, but works well for us.