Just 20 Minutes! by Anne Janik

A few minutes outside can work wonders for your kids' stress levels and overall feeling of well-being.  There are lots of quick hacks to get your kids outside for 20 minutes- like hosting a mud party!  (Photo Credit: Shutterfly.com\Christin Lola)

It’s a new school year, with potentially lots of changes for your children: starting elementary, middle or high school, or maybe a new school altogether; figuring out class schedules; getting to know teachers or a new friend group; feeling overwhelmed with assignments and new routines. This time of year can be stressful for young people. Here is a great antidote: 20 minutes outside! 

Our friends over at Generation Wild  (Great Outdoors Colorado) compiled a fantastic list of ideas for quick 20 minute activities to get kids active and outdoors.  A few minutes outside can work wonders for your kids’ stress levels and overall feelings of well-being.

Here are just a few of the 20 ideas for 20 minutes outside from Generation Wild: 

• “Host a mud party.” Get a big bucket of dirt and water and make mud pies, try mud painting, or just squish the mud between your toes. Let your kids’ imagination flow.
• “Add water and chill.” Fill a baby pool with ice and water, then add marbles and try to fish them out with your toes. 
• “Camp in your backyard.” Sleep under the stars, but in the convenience of your backyard. Make s’mores!
• “Go on a color scavenger hunt.” Search for things outdoors that match targeted colors. This could be plants, animals, or whatever else you see outside!
• “Make sun prints.” Place colored construction paper outside in the sun. Make a design on top of it with the things you find in nature—leaves, sticks, rocks and other stuff. Then let it sit out, and in a few hours, the sun will turn it into a wild creation.
• “Go on a safari.” Hide toy animals outside, and let your kids enjoy the challenge of finding them all.

For the complete list go to: generationwild.com/20ideaslist. 
It’s not always easy to get kids to turn off the computer or put down the game controller. So how do you get them to play outside? Here are a few tried-and-true strategies that will actually help get them off the couch and out the back door.

Try relocating their favorite indoor activity to the outdoors. Nudge them to read, draw, or play with their favorite toy outdoors in the fresh air. Being in an outdoor environment is an entirely different experience—it may encourage them to “play” in a new way.

Make outdoor time into family time. Sometimes kids just want to spend time with their parents and other loved ones. Taking walks, having picnics, and making park visits together are all great ways to incorporate Mother Nature into your family routine.

A little variety can spice up outdoor time. We have the best backyard here on the Western Slope of Colorado, so consider exploring a bit farther–farms, forests, mountains, and lakes. This gives kids different ways to experience and think about the outdoors. The same place can be completely transformed during different parts of the year or even different times of the day.

The more the merrier! Kids inspire other kids. Adding a friend to the mix might be just the nudge needed to inspire their inner adventurer to come out. This strategy is especially effective with older kids.

Playing outdoors makes for more capable, knowledgeable, and self-sufficient youth. And, an independent youth is a safer one. Start your kids’ outdoor independence by taking small steps, like playing in the backyard while you observe them. Before you know it, they will be running all over the neighborhood, just like you used to do.

If we all spend a little more time outdoors in our neighborhoods, we’ll make more friends, know more about one another, and create communities that parents and kids feel comfortable in. It’s a simple idea that will benefit everyone.

For older kids and you, time outdoors is invaluable in helping to reset thoughts and priorities and dispel frustrations or anxieties from work or school and recharge yourself. A run or bike ride along a river or a walk with a friend can be revitalizing and a brief escape from troublesome issues. Encourage your teen to engage in an outdoor game like Frisbee golf, Ultimate Frisbee, or try a new outdoor sport like climbing or paddling with a SUP. 

You don’t have to have all the ideas. That’s where Generation Wild comes in. Follow Generation Wild on Instagram and Facebook, and you will get all kinds of ideas and inspiration to get your kids outdoors. Check out “The List” of 100 things every kid absolutely has to do before they are 12 (generationwild.com/the-list). The list has some great ideas for time outside, like digging up worms, dancing in the rain, skipping rocks, tubing down a creek, catching a crawdad, and more. If you are a kid at heart, you may be surprised at how many things you can already check off!

Through Generation Wild, you can also connect with more than 250 incredible partners around the state that host outdoor activities and youth programming. Friends of Youth and Nature’s Provider Page also has a list of providers who engage kids in outdoor programs and environmental education activities by county (Delta, Mesa, and Montrose).

There’s a lot to discover out there. While you are having so much fun playing outside with your kids, think of all the benefits they are getting from hanging out with you in nature.