Tell us your thoughts on connecting with other families for outdoor activities - £100 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED

[EllieMumsnet]

Like us, we're sure that the majority of you are relieved to see the end of the cold, dark, and wet months of winter (although it doesn’t quite feel like it yet!) and are welcoming spring and summer with open arms. The arrival of warmer days, bright mornings and longer evenings for many of us means it’s time to get outdoors with the family.

Here at MNHQ we would love to find out your thoughts on being able to connect with other families for shared and group outdoor activities such as: organised walks, visits to nature trails and areas of outstanding natural beauty, and other fun stuff for parents and kids to do together.

What sort of activities would make you consider joining an outdoor network with other families? Would you like to be able to connect with families in your local area or from further afield? Perhaps you have ideas of how this network could be run/organised? Are you already part of a group of families that organise outdoor activities together? If so tell us about it!

Whatever your thoughts are about connecting with other families do to outdoor activities, please comment on the thread below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £100 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

Because the weather forecast is never really overly reliable I tend to just go with the flow and wouldn't want to arrange something with others then it rain and feel then I had to go. It's easy when it's just us to look at the weather and if its nice go out for a bike ride etc

Sounds like it could be a good idea, but requires more organisation than I usually manage (and inevitably if I did get organised it would rain!) We do manage some stuff on the hoof, sometimes with other people, and mostly that works pretty well.

Not keen on joined up stuff. Too tricky trying to make sure everyone is happy! Would rather do big outings as a family and see friends and larger groups at peoples houses! Far easier.

This has the potential to be a good idea.
We love the outdoors and often find the day goes better / easier (less meltdowns from us all!) if we're outside, walking in the woods, playing in the park, running around a field etc.
We do it as a family or with friends - and it is lovely when other children play together.

We go with other families to the park to play football games. We even make it a mini tournament for a bit of fun.

Great idea. Sometimes friends or relatives have prior engagements so this would be useful and I can see strong friendships being formed as a result.

I'm not sure if this is what you mean but my neighbours and I periodically arrange something called a 'street meet'. We set up an urn on the pavement, with some teabags and milk, everyone brings their own mug and some cakes and we spend an hour or so chatting. Some bring garden chairs. We don't close the road, but it is really sociable, informal and minimal effort. It has really improved the neighbourliness of the road and the children love the opportunity to have cake and squash, and scoot up and down the pavement, run in and out of each other's front gardens and even bring out their pets to show each other. I recommend it!

We just use facebook to organise meet ups in the park, nothing massive.

I'd love to be part of a family walking group - slow paced, with plenty of time for little ones to ponder & admire every stick & stone they pass.. as they often do!! I only have one child & we live in quite a rural area - I'd lve to meet up with other families to do some relaxed, group walks & share the experience.
I'd also love to be part of a picnic in the park group - a relaxed group, turn up when you like - meet new people & bring your own food. I know we have parks for this but I lack confidence & know this is a problem for many mum's - drumming up the courage to approach & chat to others. If the purpose was to meet other people it would make it a great deal easier for the socially awkward such as myself :)

We sometimes join in outdoor activities in the community, usually organised by a local organisation. The dc love to meet other children and it's nice to chat to adults from the local area. We also love meeting up with extended family and their children - it gives us a chance to play games that you need a bigger group for.

I’d love this, and have often wondered about setting it up. I have lovely friends, but all the ones who are parents are more coffee and cake type friends, whereas I love the outdoors, so connecting with outdoorsy families would be perfect for me!

think this is a great idea. I only have the one child so sometimes he gets a bit bored doing stuff with just me. We do have a school mums whatsapp group that does a couple of things and there is a local mumbler group but they tend to be for 5 and under meetups. An app would be good or the actual places themselves could do 'make friends' type days where maybe a certain day or session is for those wanting company.

As I home ed my lot, its been vital to be able to find other like monded people who have kids roughly in the same age bracket so my kiddies can meet up and play. We are lucky with where we are as we have lots of woodland, Go Ape, Canal walks, more parks than we can visit in one day, and lots of history. So, we go onto our local page for our village, and get in touch with other like minded home edders to meet up, share educating tips and make new friends, its a massive part of home education and one I really enjoy! x

This sounds great maybe if there was a trail or den building or something and everyone could get involved. I have differing ages children so maybe something older and younger ones can do as well, maybe an easier or a harder trail at same location

I think it's a great idea - I'd like it be local and quite a big group of families so it can still go ahead even if one or two families can't make it on a given occasion, as sometimes it's difficult to commit to a regular arrangement with so many other things going on!

dedicated get outdoors website.like mumsnet or fb.then for each area people can post get together.there could be sections for idea.section for gallery of events been had.
resources and volunteer call outs.
you could get big bbqs and rounders nights.
walks.
an events page.
a forum then for meetups.sort logistics etc.
suggestion all on our get outdoors together site.

Our development has a big green outside our house as well as playing fields, woods, parks and cycle paths across the way, so we are avid fans of cycling over to The Field to see if we can join in with a game of cricket or rounders, or if there's other children that want to do sprint races - my daughter's favourite

I used to meet up with people but don’t really now for many reasons & teen goes off does own thing

I find these things don't need to be organised - the local parks have enough people there that you and the kids naturally get chatting to each other.

sounds like a good idea to me, I'm always up for things like this!

Simple treasure hunts can work well. How many different grasses can you find? Find three different tree leaves. Draw two different flowers.

In autumn nuts and seeds can be collected and sown in pots at home. Today's school curriculums are often so prescribed that there is no room for observing the environment. Naming plants can be a friendly competition.

Put some fruit, sandwiches and drinks in a back pack and go on an adventure. Even in cities there is more wildlife than you might expect.

This sounds great. I agree with other posters that children are easier to entertain and parent when they are outside. We have a great time in Cornwall every year with a group of friends who have children of a similar age. It’s like playgroup on the beach. The children poke around in rock pools, make sandcastles, build damns, run races, paddle and we sit on beach mats and chat! Perfect!
I’d defintely sign up for woodland walks, forest school clubs etc. I’d like to have a person running it and parents there to facilitate the activities. The Eden Project do this kind of thing and it’s really popular.

We rarely meet up with friends never mind other families!! I think as a family we prefer to do our own thing at weekends but would be a great opportunity for people moving to new areas to get to know others.

A Facebook friend of mine often puts up statuses like, “We’re going for a walk at X beach around 4pm and will stop for chips at Y if anyone local wants to join us”, which I think is a low-key and nice way of doing it.

Lovely idea.

As well as walks, perhaps bike rides?