Raise the Stakes
As our children enter their schooling years, they hit a phase where they’re growing rapidly and grappling with new energy and emotions they don’t know how to handle. This stage often brings challenges like ADHD, depression, and other behavioral or mental health issues. Time in the outdoors, in many ways, is the antidote. Out in the sun, our kids get a healthy dose of Vitamin D, run and play harder than they do indoors, and even train their eyes to see at a distance, preventing myopia (see “12 Benefits of Outdoor Play,” Parenting Science, 2022). Here are three activities to get dads and kids outdoors together.
Three Activities to Get Your School-Age Children Outdoors
Activity 1: Fire Building
Building a fire with your kid sounds risky, doesn’t it? Well, it can be. But it also teaches your sons valuable skills and the proper way to handle fire before they hit the pyromaniac phase of their teenage years. Experiment with different methods of starting a fire—the teepee, the log cabin, or the lean-to. Try a friction method, flint and steel, or just matches. After some practice and learning, see who can start a fire the fastest. Use your fatherly intuition to determine what’s appropriate for your child.
Your daughters may not find this as fun as your sons, but once the fire’s going, bust out the s’mores and campfire stories to complete the memories.
Activity 2: Shelter Building
As kids begin to gain creativity, they’re typically at the prime fort-building stage. Harness that sense of adventure and budding creativity to show them how to take their fort outdoors. If you have to start by simply building an indoor fort outside, go for it. But take time to teach your kids what goes into a good survival shelter—location, supplies, and more. Lead the way to a true shelter they can depend on.
Once you’ve got a solid design, spend a night in it! Cook dinner and dessert over the fire and have a sleepover with your kids in the shelter. Talk about fortifying the lines—this kind of outdoor time with Dad teaches problem-solving, teamwork, and resourcefulness, while building bonds that last a lifetime.
Activity 3: Fishing-Hook, Line, and Patience
This activity makes “storming the shores” a bit more literal. Ask any outdoorsman, and they’ll likely say they went on fishing trips as a kid. For some, fishing is the most relaxing activity in the world; for others, it’s the most boring and frustrating. Regardless, taking a child fishing helps them learn to find peace in stillness—a skill everyone needs in this overstimulating world.
Dads, this will test you too. Don’t expect to fish much yourself for a while. But if you teach your kid how to fish and don’t do it for them, they’ll learn to solve tangles and handle lost bait. Stick with it, and this can become an adventure you build on wherever you go.
Bonus points if you use bushcraft skills to fish without fancy equipment—make a hook from a soda can or break down paracord or rope for the fishing line.
Lead Through Action
This stage of childhood is perfect for instilling a love for the outdoors. Whether you’re building on a foundation already laid or just now setting the stones, it’s a time when dads can exemplify leadership—the kind that loves, stays patient, and teaches to the individual. This is the time for fathers to lead beside their children, not just from in front. So, dads, have fun with it. Take the lead and let’s Turn the Tide.