In 2020 I was looking for a different outdoor challenge for my daughter and I. I came across the 1000 Hours Outside and thought it was perfect for us. I knew we spent a lot of time outside, but I was curious to see how much.
In the days of technology it is important to remind children and adults that importance of being outside. So why 1000 hours? As explained on the 1000 Hours Outside Website, “Our original foray into extended nature time was influenced by a friend who was influenced by Charlotte Mason. Charlotte Mason was a British educator who lived from 1842 to 1923. She had many philosophies about children and education that still stand strong to this day. Mason recommended that children between the ages of zero and seven spend 4 – 6 hours outside every day. This amount of time is backed time and again by research that shows the astronomical health, social, and developmental benefits that accompany time in nature. Four to six hours a day, three to four days a week puts us right around 1,000 hour outside within a year - which gave way to the challenge!”
We printed off a tracker and and joined the Facebook group and started. The colder months were a little difficult to get in 2-3 hours a day, but we got creative with skiing, hiking, sledding and playing in the snow. One of our favorite things to do in the winter was to go for a hike, build a fire on the ice and have a hot dog or heat up some hot chocolate. If we were able to build a fire, we could bring out our MSR Pocket Rocket Ultralight to heat up a drink.
As we came into the warmer months and social distancing it became easier to get in the outside hours with yard work, playing sports in the yard, biking riding, swimming and exploring local trails, One of my favorite hikes we did was Honey Hill in Swanzey.
Since we were not able to travel we decided to treat ourselves to an inflatable hot tub. This provided hours and hours of outside fun. This was perfect for our preteen and her friends.
With not being able to travel many places we started on some home improvement projects that kept us inside more than I hoped for the spring and summer months. Despite the home improvement projects we were still able to get some exploring in around New Hampshire and get more outside hours in. My favorite getaway was to Waterville Valley which provided an array of outdoor activities.
I found when we were home we were spending more intentional time outside either going for walks, having meals or reading outside, spending time in the garden, doing workouts or enjoying a campfire. My daughter and her friends spent a lot of times with the pool, hot tub or playing around our yard.
As the fall and winter months approached and we were back to remote learning it was even more important to get outside time in. Everyday after school/work we would spend a hour or two outside to help us unwind and step away from the screens.
I do admit that when the time changed happened it became more difficult to get outside, but we still managed an hour or so a day.
In the end we did not make the 1000 Outside hours. My daughter got 920 and I got 864. Even though we did not get the 1000 hours I am proud of the time we did spent outside. Having a preteen is not easy to convince to go outside all the time. With all the extra time on technology I feel this challenge really helped us get outside and get creative with our time. This was also a great way for my daughter and I to spend quality time together and have some great conversations.
I highly recommend this challenge for anyone who wants to spend more time outside. Even though my family and I spend a lot of time outside this has been a good challenge for us to see what we can always show improvement.
