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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I haven't read all the replies so I don't know if this has already been mentioned but there are thousands and thousands of people in the UK that get together to play Pokemon Go. A lot of the player are adults but there are plenty of kids who play too. Groups are usually geographically based and they use platforms such as Discord, Whattsapp, Facebook or messenger to coordinate meet-ups.
The game is brilliantly designed, everyone is playing their own game but you need other people to help you if you want to do certain things. There are lots of different styles of play and the game allows for this.
We have players of all ages in our local group including several families with younger kids. It's very social and it gets you out and about exploring your area in all weathers.

Another plus is that you don't have to spend any money if you don't want to.

I think it is quite hard to get multiple households organised but if it works out it is great fun.

I think it's a great idea. Kids should be able to socialise and make more friends than just those they have at school etc. My kids are quite shy so it can be a bit of a challenge at first but when they start enjoying the activities they start to feel more comfortable with the others and have made some lasting friendships this way.

We have a great neighbourhood & a fabulous set of friends who we go camping with, plus other mums in school loves the idea of swapping ideas for activities that all the children can get involved with and it lets the children have fun, mix and learn how to respect and get along with other people.. It's so much fun, especially through the holidays

It sounds a great idea , especially for people who have recently moved to a new area. We tend to do all this kind of stuff with family and older friends.

What a lovely idea - I would definitely choose local families because that way it's a network we would be more likely to continue. My preference would be something that doesn't cost a huge amount - so meeting at a local country park for example, with perhaps some children's activities laid on.

Ugh, no. Strictly to be avoided!

OK, so meeting up with friends and their families sort of worked when the boys were younger but they're secondary school age now and that aint never happening!

I love doing outdoor activities with other families such as walking and visiting places. It not only keeps the kids entertained having other children to play with but it is brilliant for the adults too to have other people to talk to and make sure that we don't get mushy mummy brains.

Our local community has a parents social Facebook page and we regularly arrange get togethers including park outings and walks which has been a great way to get out and meet local parents.

Would be nice to see parents whos kids go to the same school as yours to know them all

I love the idea of arranging to do outdoor activities with other families, however, I rarely do it myself. I like the socialisation aspect of it for kids but it can be difficult to arrange when families are busy.

Encourage your kids to join beavers or something similar. That way you are always involved with other families

I like this idea and used to do something very similar with my sons Football club. He has moved to a new club now that doesn’t organise events and so would love the chance to meet new people and get outdoors with thefamily

It's not really something we would really need as my children have an age gap of 14 months and enjoy doing stuff together so none of us really need anyone else there. A group geocaching may be a nice idea. Or if you need a group to play rounders in the park, cricket on the beach that kind of thing might be nice.

i normally meet up with other members of my family with young children. My sister and i meet up regularly to take my lil boy and my niece out for the day. Normally to the park or for a walk around our local national trust park. x

I love this idea, but for us it might not be feasible. My son is autistic and getting him to socialise on someone else's terms is tricky. However, he does take part in social activities outdoors, and his "thing" is rock climbing / climbing walls. Luckily, the teacher at our local climbing club is autistic himself, so him and my son get on great, and they have a mutual understanding. My son has completed his NICAS qualification atLevel 1, and he's working on Level 2.
I think whatever works for you and your child.....embrace it!

I enjoy group activities but, as others have posted, it can be a challenge to find something to occupy and entertain the whole group!

I think it's a brilliant idea, meeting up in the park and taking it from there, picnics , playing games etc.... great fun

I’d only want to meet with existing close friends, and preferably for a walk round the park, trip to nature reserve or visiting sculpture park etc.

It sounds fun as long as everyone is in agreement about how the day is going to be and the families ideals are similar. It's not something I'd like to do all the time as I do prefer to do our own thing sometimes

We just did a great obstacle course for a local charity. I say we... actually only one of my daughters was brave enough to do it! It was really fun though as loads of families that we knew were there and to be honest it's made us think that will do more of these types of events. When you look for them they're everywhere! In terms of organising things ourselves, then yes we do sometimes meet up with families we know but it's not really a particularly wide circle!

It's a great idea! It would be good for things like playing football, rounders etc where it's better with a bigger number of people - and for local events, plus days out where things are more suited to children of a certain age and other kids could get bored - if they have other kids of their own age around it'll keep them entertained better!

Yes, we really like meeting up with friends at outdoor places - National Trust places, arboretums etc - the kids always seem to run off happily and play together, regardless of how long it has been since we've met up. The fresh air is good for them and space to run around and let off steam. Also means most of the time we can take a picnic, which works well.

I don't know of anything organised in our area that connects 'strangers' together over these type of activities. I would have been interested in it when the kids were younger and we were making friends but probably not now they are at school full time.

I wish more organised walks or trips out/nature trials were available. I am really good at keeping up with any local activities or childrens groups especially keeping them busy in the holidays. I know it is hard for people to commit to such things on a regular basis but what a great way to meet new people, build childrens confidence and get some exercise. If things were available it would need great advertising and maybe funding or help from authorities. After all it will benefit peoples health and wellbeing :)

We go out often with our close friends and take each other's children. We'd love to meet other families alike to share our family days with.