JenG

I read your comment and thought “did she read “the soul of Discipline”? Then you mentioned it 🙂 I love that book! It’s such a wonderful resource

I love this question. I used to run a nature play class for children in your son’s age group and I also need lots of time outdoors for better mental health. My first suggestion is to pick one or two outdoor outings and make it part of a regular routine every week – maybe after preschool pickup, your family always plays at the playground or your family takes a walk everyday right after dinner. When an activity is part of a regular routine, there are less power struggles.

Also, I would suggest looking at your son’s interests and finding ways to bring those interests outside. Toy cars, dolls, and animals can be brought outside (we often draw chalk roads or homes or train tracks for these toys). We bring toy animals or cars outside for play in the snow or with a bucket soap and water, for an animal bath or car wash. Kids who love to build with blocks may enjoy building with sticks, rocks, leaves, etc, or doll homes can be built from these materials. For your son, you may need to demonstrate this play and play along side of him for a while, before he develops independent play outdoors. Or you could model wondering at certain things in nature “look at that bug on the tree! I wonder how it got there” to help him start to wonder and appreciate the things you appreciate in nature.

Each child is different but it may be helpful to limit toys inside that entertain your child instead of your child engaging/creating with it. When kids play mostly with toys that entertain them, they have a harder time with open-ended items like mud, leaves, grass, etc.

If your son enjoys sensory play, moving a bean table outside, or finding a spot where he can dig in the mud could be fun for him.

Some resources that may be helpful for you – Tinkergarten has a wonderful blog full of ideas on outdoor play for kids (I am a former Tinkergarten leader) and the 1000 hours outside Facebook group is for families who aim to spend 1000 hours outside each year. There are tons of ideas in this community group for outside play. Best of luck to you!