Mumsnet user share how they get their family to explore the outdoors with HONEST® Kids drinks

[EllieMumsnet]

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With modern day technology making up a fairly large part of most families lives nowadays, it can be difficult to find ways to spend quality time together in the great outdoors. HONEST® Kids would love you to share your top tips for getting your family to put the technology down and get out and about.

Here’s what HONEST® Kids have to say: “We all love the great outdoors but sometimes it can feel a little daunting thinking of ways to make the most of what is on the doorstep whilst being suitable for the whole family to enjoy together. Our great-tasting, organic drinks combine organic fruit juices, water and natural flavourings to provide simple drinks that your kids will love and in the same way we want to encourage simple, organic family time together.

Giving mums and dads peace of mind, the HONEST® Kids range contains no added sugar, is low-calorie and sweetened only with fruit juice. Keeping children’s playtime refreshing and fun, it is available from selected Tesco stores nationwide."

Do you schedule a walk with the family once a week to ensure you all get that bonding time outside? What about planning different games to play outside, in order to engage the young ones more? Perhaps you make the most of your garden by getting your DC’s playing outside, doing a bit of gardening or even just relaxing with a good book in the fresh air?

Whatever your tips are, share them on the thread below in order to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

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It’s much easier in summer when we often have picnics in the garden - the kids love that, or we’ll put a blanket down and take lots of toys out and just spend the afternoon out there. When it snowed we also spent a lot of time running around playing in the garden so that was great too. We live in a very busy area so can’t easily get to countryside so have to make the most of the garden.

Having a picnic in the outdoors often encorages the family into the outdoors environment. Or even waliking to the local park could encorage them as well..

Mine are 10 and 14 and to be totally honest , I get them outdoors with the promise of a cafe visit when we're done exploring

Bribery usually comes into it... Let's have a nice long walk in the country and yea we can get a hot chocolate / ice cream at the end. Or allowing them to take phones and play something like Pokemon Go which encourages walking. We also make sure we're doing something they enjoy, a day playing on the beach is never refused.

My daughter loves our garden. It is fully enclosed- she loves having races and playing with her sand.
We also like walks and we do the FB rock painting/ hiding and finding and she loves going out looking for stones.

I just let my kids do what they want in the garden they tend to just potter about. Dd doesnt really like playing in the gatden but she loves a day out to a park or nice walk somewhere fun . Ds will potter in the garden for ages.

We are walking the 102 mile Cotswold way in 6 mile stages, once a month. Its a massive challenge, but we are all loving it. Watching the seasons change is one of the nicest things, apart from just spending that one saturday a month doing something all together.

We were lucky to be in a position to move to a house with a huge garden, which gets them out a lot!

But before we moved, I got mine out on dog walks, always trying to explore somewhere new and exciting. I found nature reserves with 'extras' for kids, be it a woodland assault course or climbable sculptures. We also made the most of the national trust's event days, a kite flying one was a particular success!

Recently, we've started hunting for decorated rocks, which is brilliant for getting them out exploring our new world. The weather recently has helped a lot! The kids love it when the pup drags them around the garden on their sleds!

We have lots of garden toys - trampoline, climbing frame etc which means they love playing out side. Then bikes and scooters too so we can go out expl

*exploring

Camping in areas with no internet! Its like a digital detox and once the boys ( and adults! ) have got over the shock everyone really enjoys themselves, we take picnics out and explore the surrounding areas and this not only gets them into the fresh air and away from the wifi, it also teaches them things which they can't learn through books or screens!

We make good use of out national trust card. That gets us out in lots of beautiful locations quite regularly.

We go on dog walks to the local woods and the kids bring their Harry Potter wands and pretend to be in the Forbidden Forest. Amazing how much further they will walk when they are putting spells on each other!

Geocaching with a picnic is also a family favourite in the summer.

I took up geocaching in order to persuade my children into going for a walk. Telling them we were treasure hunting got a far more enthusiastic response than ”let’s go for a walk”

We enter a magical world! We find a wood, field, beach, park...anywhere and pretend we are fairies, elves, knights, dragons, wolves etc and just set our imaginations free. Sometimes we make potions, build secret hide outs, leave trails or secret messages. Today we entered Narnia in a snow covered wood. It was beautiful!

Me and my 4 year old do Junior Park Run together every Sunday morning. I have never run before so doing 2k is challenging for me too! To keep us going we shout slogans all the way round; "We Can Do It" "We Never Give Up". And we either run like rocket ships or trot like slow horses. Great fun!

Pokemon go has been a game-changer for us, as it combines both technology & being outdoors. The DC will walk for miles & not complain when chasing Pokémon.

However we don't use it on the 1-mile school walk & it is painful: DD whinges/faffs the whole way.

We have a dog. Job done!

We're super lucky to live on a military camp which is obviously enclosed and means my two boys can roam free with their friends around the woodland, football field and children's play areas.
They love to play outside and make dens with their friends in the woodland just by our house.
The recent snow has added a whole new adventure to their play as they searched for the best hills to go sledging, only coming home when they couldn't feel their toes!

We have a park just across the road, and very near to the school. Loads of the kids and mums go to the park after school.

We've also got some fab nature areas around - aquadrome, forests etc. Loads to explore and many offer guided walks.

I look out for litter picks as, bizarrely, my family live them. It's a cross between a treasure hunt, doing a good deed and taking a walk. We went to one this morning. It was called off due to the snow but we were in a lovely place for a walk so at least we got of the house.

We are lucky enough to live in seriously rural wild west Wales. From the age of about six my DC have freely wandered the nearby fields, bringing home blackberries and elderflowers. I occasionally get a few handfuls of sorrel, which grows like a weed in the back field and makes some lovely meals for us.

Probably firstly having the clothes to match outside and activities. Whether that is looser clothes for summer time and running around or wellies and snow suits for wet or bitterly cold weather. You know they're dressed correctly do can relax into activities and not have to end them sooner than you would like.
Food Gardening is soooo good. Something to look after, investigate and preferably eat to at some point!!
Games - cheap sets from Primark or something so if they do get lost/destroyed it's not the end of the world whomever fault it is, or accident. Games like badminton rounders things like that.

Oh and bubbles! Definitely cannot go wrong any time of year with them. Giant ones to.

We write a "treasure hunt" list of things to find on a walk. Getting my ds to write the list helps get him interested.

We have good waterproofs so that the weather is no barrier to being out and aim for a least one walk every weekend, outdoor sport (hockey) on a Sunday morning and we have a camper van so try and hit the coast/forest etc. whenever the weather allows