“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”
John Muir
Getting outside and enjoying nature is good for us. The exercise is good for our bodies. The stimulation of the senses is good for our brains. The restorative quality of nature is good for our emotions. The wonder of nature is good for our spirit. The variety and beauty of nature inspires our creativity. I could go on but you get the idea.
Interacting with our natural world is good for us. We know this.
And yet, many of us aren’t in the habit of spending time out there in the non-air-conditioned, insect-laden, world. Want a little motivation to spend more time interacting with nature this summer?
Try this 30-day challenge to help you spend more time enjoying nature.
I’ve organized the thirty activities into categories so you can pick and choose which ones work with your schedule and the weather. How many can you complete in one month?
Outdoor Nature Activities
Close to home
- Sit outside for half an hour and listen to bird calls. How many different calls can you hear? Bonus points for identifying the birds you hear.
- Watch a sunrise or sunset.
- Observe the moon. Look for it the same time each night for a week or more and observe how it changes.
- Walk the neighborhood or a local park and count how many different plants you can find.
- Play an outdoor game.
- Watch the clouds go by and take turns deciding what they look like. (A rabbit? A mouse face?)
- Walk the neighborhood or a local park and count how many different animals (including bugs) you can find.
- Go to your yard or a park and identify as many plants as you can. (Trees, flowers, shrubs, weeds)
- Walk the neighborhood or a local park and pay attention to the aromas and noises around you. Pay special attention to those not man-made.
- Get your hands dirty. Build a sandcastle, make mud pies, dig in the garden.
- While on a drive or running errands, notice the different types of clouds you see. How many types can you identity?
- Walk the neighborhood or a local park and see how many different types of rock you can find. Vote on the prettiest, most interesting, most colorful, most jagged, and smoothest.
- Find a quiet spot outside and spend at least thirty minutes in silence. Pray, meditate, or simply close your eyes and listen.
A little farther away
- Go to a nearby park or forest and enjoy a hike (30 minutes or more).
- Visit a nearby area of natural beauty that you haven’t been to in the last five years (or ever).
- Pick a clear night, find a dark spot, and stargaze. How many constellations can you find? (A local state or county park may have decent stargazing spots.)
- Visit an outdoor nature exhibit such as a self- guided nature trail.
- Go wading. In a creek, lake, ocean or some other body of water.
- If such things are open in your area, visit a nature-themed attraction such as a zoo, natural history museum, planetarium, farm, or vineyard. If you can’t visit in person, visit one virtually.
Indoor Nature Activities
- Read a book or article about a plant or animal you find fascinating.
- Identify the plants (real or fake) in your house. (Don’t forget the ones in pictures.)
- Watch a nature documentary.
- Pull out photos of a past vacation and reminisce about the beautiful nature you saw.
- Cook and eat (or at least taste) a plant you’ve never tried to cook before.
- Watch a documentary or movie about exploring a harsh environment or surviving nature.
- Read a poem or children’s book about nature.
- Watch a Dirty Jobs episode that involves farming or animals.
- Plan a theoretical vacation to enjoy nature. Research at least three awesome hikes or other outside activities to do there.
- Create nature-themed art. For example, doodle, paint, or enjoy an adult coloring book.
- Find ten or so plants from the kitchen and take turns trying to identify them by their scent. Try a mixture of fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Or, if you’re a foodie, try identifying all the herbs or spices in your spice cabinet by smell alone.
Bonus Activity
Do a Photo Scavenger Hunt.
Go outside and see how many of these items you can photograph in a specified period of time. For optimum fun, work in teams and offer a prize to the winners.
Snap a photo of the following:
- Nut or seedpod
- Single-lobed leaf
- Multi-lobed leaf
- Spider’s web
- Flying insect
- Crawling insect
- Rough-barked tree
- Smooth-barked tree
- 2 different cloud types
- 2 different types of rock
- 2 different types of grass
- Flowering weed
- Bird
- Mammal
- Invasive species
Click here for a printable copy of the 30-Day Enjoy Nature Challenge.
