Kick the Can + 29 other awesome outdoor activities you MUST share with your kids

I’ve come a long way since 2013 when I first wrote about my struggles in getting the kids outside. We moved to the south from the midwest, in part, to take advantage of the extra months of mild weather. Establishing a more outdoor lifestyle was a big family priority for us. Though I completely supported that endeavor, it was one of the more challenging goals to accomplish for this easily sunburned, bug loathing, snake phobic mama. The solution has been an ever evolving list of ideas for outdoor activities for kids.

This summer will mark our 4th anniversary of southern living and I’m SO proud to report that neither girl seems to have inherited or picked up my seemingly genetic aversion to the outdoors. I’ve {mostly} successfully sequestered that avoidance reaction and have managed to help raise 2 girls who love nothing more than to head out into the backyard after school in the evenings.

But soon, summer vacation will be upon us. I will be responsible for many more hours in the day for keeping the kids busy and I do not want the default to become staying inside with screen time and air conditioning.

I’m proactively putting some helpers in place to ensure that getting the kids out in the fresh air has the least amount of excuses for avoiding it.

First, because I need a little nudge and because I’m a total List Nerd, I thought it would be a good idea to pull together all my favorite outdoor activities so we never run out of ideas! (Be sure to get the whole list at the bottom of the post!) I’m going to keep it bookmarked on my phone because so many of them can be squeezed in in-between errands while we are already out and about.

Then, to make sure we don’t get tempted to go back home because of hunger, I plan to stock up my car with a stash of the new CLIF Kid Zbar Fruit & Veggie bars. We’ve tried out all three of their new flavors: Purple Power, Keen Green and Awesome Orange. The current favorite is the Purple Power one.

You can find them at Target stores nationwide as part of their “Made to Matter – Handpicked by Target” product collection of leading natural, organic and sustainable brands. Or, use your Red Card and get free shipping on them straight to your door!

I’m going to keep them in a mini thermal bag with ice cold water bottles for our on the go days this summer so we aren’t tempted to hit the drive thru or waste time going back home when we could be out having fun!