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

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Given the poularity Of Park runs (inc the junior versions) a sporty/exercise angle is a good place to start. My son isn’t especially sporty though (😳) so the whole running thing doesn’t appeal. I’d love to see an on masse organisation of circuits/junior assault courses maybe. He wouldn’t get on with team sport s but something like this would allow him to work at his own pace but bring lots of kids with different abilities together

Yes I think it's a good idea. Either through an app or just through various locations having regular dates - 2pm last Saturday of the month kind of thing.

This would be great - I think regular, monthly or fortnightly events, with no prebooking or limits on numbers, possibly organised through a local Facebook group, might work well. A kind of low-pressure ‘meet at x, have a walk, come for a coffee after if you fancy it’ type thing.

Me and my mum friends meet up the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month, between Jan-November, the group of 6 we each in turn organise the location and activity, normally 10:30 to 1, It could be a trip to the community run library for story time , or a baking activity morning at one persons house.

No desire whatsoever to do this. Dh can organise it. Which he would (he's an outdoorsy sort) if he wasn't also antisocial.

I agree that it's hard enough to get my family organised to leave the house, without organising others or activities etc. It'd be great if events were already organised that we could just turn up to... like the ones described above (parks, woods etc in the summer, maybe activities at museums and galleries in the winter).

I love the idea of this in theory but find it very hard to make the logistics work in reality.

I like the idea of it being non committal eg we're going to X place on Yday and Zo'clock if anyone else wants to join us.

I like meeting up with friends and kids for a picnic and a wander, this time of year is so much nicer for free, outdoorsy meet ups and I do think it's so good for everyone regardless of age to have that fresh air and social time.

we occasionally meet up with DS's school friends during the holidays. Usually one of the parents just posts on Facebook that they're thinking of going to the park or wherever, sets the date and time and everyone turns up if they can. It works well for us.

We frequently meet up with other families at the local forest for walks, games and bike rides. The children seem to enjoy doing things together more than they would on their own. It's also nice to meet in the Summer for picnics.

I'd be less sure about joining up with other families that we don't know - not because I'm particularly unsociable but because when we do have free weekends we tend to try to catch up with friends.

We often holiday at a resort with a sports club and activities for adults and children. You can just turn up which works for us rather than having to book a holiday club as such.

That’s a good idea. We’ve done this with friends. Met for lunch and then gone for hide and seek in the woods or a walk. I would definitely meet up if there was something like a planned trail to follow or someone leading a family walk. The National Trust do good trails for kids round their properties - so something like that would be a good idea.

We've always done this, group picnics in the park, family walks with several families, etc.
It gives the children others to play with, is a cheap way to socialise and gets us all outside.

I quite often do trips out with my sister. We have 5 kids between us all quite close in age so it's easy to find things that everyone wants to do. Mostly we go to the beach. I think it becomes more of a party atmosphere if there's a group of you and as a single parent it's nice for me to have an adult to talk to. I would love to join a walking group as I love walking but I don't think the kids would be so keen.

I think this is a great idea, I don't know many people in the area so we usually just do things as a family, it would be great to meet up with other family's too

We go for walks with other families about once a month. The numbers involved and type of walk vary, according to who is up for it and the ages involved. They range from beach walks to forest trails, and a picnic/tea shop/ice cream/pub is often involved at some point, weather depending.

I think this is an excellent idea, not only does it give the children a chance to make new friends and join in on activities, it allows parents to get together, chat and have fun too. Meeting to play good old games like rounders/cricket or even going for a walk gets everybody active. I don’t believe there is enough of this nowadays. Kids tend to be indoors on technology and parents struggle with getting them outside. A large picnic where families bring different dishes would be an excellent way for all to enjoy.

This is a great idea. We currently attend disability groups that go on trips to theme parks and holidays where we climb sail and zip wire. It would be great to connect with other family's with children without disability that are excepting of disability. It would be nice to have the group accessible to all.

There's a fab Park Ranger local to us that does organised walks - dawn chorus, bat hunts, bird watching, bug hunts, butterfly walks etc. They're quite popular, but mostly amongst adults. Our DD (10) loves them, I wish they were more frequent.

My boys and I love spending time outdoors when the weather is good. We luckily have a park with a little playground only about 5 minutes walk away so go there a lot and sometimes take a picnic. It’s a nice cheap way to entertain kids and it’s close to home

In the past I've organised activities for families with young children who share the same ethos as I do in the parenting styles, environmental concerns and how we live our lives.

It was great fun but really hard to please everyone. As our family has grown we tend to spend more time with just one or two families now dipping in and out as we want to.

We have three children and friends have three children so it is rarely sensible to be anywhere else but outside! We are so lucky to have lots of events organised by the wildlife trust and our county council that mean we can all meet up and know that the children will be occupied from the beginning. The woodland trust is a good place to go to to find a nice woodland to explore, children rarely need any help learning how to do this and it's usually the adults attention that wanders before the children's. Anywhere with access to toilets, snacks and hot drinks. A friend created an amazing website, playmapp.co.uk that documented all the playgrounds in the south west and that is a brilliant resource.

eastdevon.gov.uk/countryside/countryside-events/

I love doing outdoor stuff with my own family, but the honest answer is that when we try to do it with friends, it always gets very stressful.

Children have different needs at different times -my kids will walk for miles, other friends' kids need to stop frequently. Some families give their kids snacks and drinks constantly - this doesn't work well for us and means everyone needs the loo.

Beyond picnics in the local park, which are nice all together, I'd rather socialise with friends at home / their home, and do the outdoor stuff as a family unit, where we can do it at our own pace.

We have met friends for National Trust walks. Would like to arrange a BBQ now the weather is getting warmer and kids games in the garden,

I love doing things with other families, though the logistics can sometimes get complicated.

we join lots of local groups

Fantastic idea,! Always easier to entertain with other people