Children’s Favorite Outdoor Activities
The kids still need to be entertained while they are home from school this summer. Playing outside is healthy. Sunshine is needed by children and adults since vitamin D plays…
14 April 2022, Lower Saxony, Schillig: A father and his son play beach tennis on the North Sea beach of Schillig in beautiful weather and sunshine. Photo: Mohssen Assanimoghaddam/dpa (Photo by Mohssen Assanimoghaddam/picture alliance via Getty Images)
The kids still need to be entertained while they are home from school this summer. Playing outside is healthy. Sunshine is needed by children and adults since vitamin D plays a role in everything from helping our immune system to positively affecting our mood.
Exercise is another reason to send your kids outdoors. Playing with neighborhood kids helps children with socialization too. As a kid, I always enjoyed playing Monkey in the Middle, Dodgeball, Hop Scotch, 1-2-3 Red Light, and Simon says.
According to a new survey by Claritin, this is the list (in order) of kids' favorite outdoor activities.
Hide and Seek – 43%
I think Hide and Seek is still fun to play as an adult, I like the updated version Manhunt.
Sacramento, CaliforniaThree-year-old Raheel, whose father Yar Mohammad is from Afghanistan, covers her eyes while playing hide-and-seek with young boys at a park in Sacramento on Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021. Mohammad was in the Afghan Army and worked with U.S. Special Forces before immigrating to the United States. He has seven brothers and two sisters and his parents left in Afghanistan and is very concerned for their safety. The Afghan community of Sacramento is one of the largest in the United States. Many Afghan living in the United States worry about their relatives in Afghanistan and what will happen now that the Taliban is back in control. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Water balloon fights – 42%
This is especially fun to play during the heat wave we are experiencing! Fun for adults and kids!
Plastic toys for sale in Big Lots. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Tag – 42%
Playing tag is a good form of exercise too! I remember being exhausted from a long game of tag.
Schoolgirls playing 'He', 'Tig', 'Tag' or 'It' on a London street, April 1950. Original Publication : Picture Post - 5005 - Street Play and Play Streets - pub. 8th April 1950 (Photo by Haywood Magee/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Going to the playground (slide, swings, etc.) – 41%
My favorite thing at the playground is the slide and my least favorite thing is the merry go round.
This picture taken late on July 17, 2022 shows a man resting on a slide with a cat on his chest at a children's playground in Tokyo. (Photo by Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP) (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
Sports (baseball, basketball, football, etc.) – 40%
I enjoyed playing handball when I was a kid. You did not need any equipment except for a tennis ball to play, and if you did not have anyone to play with, you could play against the side of your house or wall.
MIAMI, FLORIDA - JULY 17: Johan Carmago #7 of the Philadelphia Phillies is tagged by Joey Wendle #18 of the Miami Marlins after attempting to stretch a single into a double during the third inning at loanDepot park on July 17, 2022 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images)
Riding a bike/scooter – 40%
I used to ride all over town on my gold banana bike with streamers on the handlebars. I had a horn on my bike and baseball cards attached to the spokes of my tires so it made a really cool sound. I thought my bike was the coolest ever!
A girl peddles a tricycle at a park, with the Petronas Twin Towers and other commercial buildings in the background, in Kuala Lumpur on July 21, 2022. (Photo by Mohd RASFAN / AFP) (Photo by MOHD RASFAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Swimming – 40%
Who doesn't love to swim? I still swim until my skin on my fingers and toes look like prunes!
Children take a swimming lesson with lifeguards in a mobile swimming pool made from a shipping containers in Hangenbieten, eastern France, on July 13, 2022. - The mobile swimming pool travels travels through towns to give swimming lessons to children, aiming to prevent risks of drowning. (Photo by Frederick FLORIN / AFP) (Photo by FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP via Getty Images)
Snowball fights – 38%
I still like to start a good snowball fight. Nothing like waiting for your husband to get out of his car after a long day of work and nailing him with a few good snowballs.
ANKARA, TURKIYE - FEBRUARY 1: Academic staff and students of Ankara University enjoy the snow by playing snowballs on February 01, 2022 in Ankara, Turkiye. The "Snowball Festival" was organized by the Health, Culture and Department of the University in order to boost morale for the students who are taking the make-up exams and to add color to the semester break. (Photo by Mehmet Ali Ozcan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Running around the neighborhood with friends – 37%
I love seeing our neighborhood kids out and about, it's makes the neighborhood more lively.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - JUNE 07: Local children play football on dirt pitches in a Soweto township on June 7, 2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The 2010 FIFA World Cup kicks off in South Africa on 11th June. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Catch – 36%
I do like to play catch even though I am not always coordinated enough to actually catch the ball!
Toronto, ON- July 30 - Toronto Blue Jays right fielder Teoscar Hernandez (37) makes a catch in the first inning. Toronto Blue Jays play the Kansas City Royals as they host their first home game in Canada after playing in the USA for 670 days because of the COVID-19 pandemic at Rogers Centre in Toronto. July 30, 2021. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
