15 Activities For Outdoorsy Kids For When They Just Cannot Be Contained Indoors Any Longer

When my kid said he wanted to learn to shoot a bow and arrow, I happily bought him one of those plastic toys and thought that would be the end of it. Surprise! That was not what he had in mind at all. It turns out he wanted to really learn how to do it.

We were lucky: for a while, we were living in Oakland, California, and he was able to go to forest school through Trackers Bay. Once we moved away to a smaller town that lacked an archery program, we were stuck … until we found out that our local 4-H program offered one!

If your kid is into pretending to be Legolas, Katniss, or both of them, archery is definitely the way to go. The sport is surprisingly hard, and it definitely takes skill. Plus, it's something your kids can do forever, and it's even in the Olympics. Win-win.

I love a good scavenger hunt, both for myself and for my kid. It's an easy way to get your kid running around outside and there's a goal! Hello: It's a dream for a parent. You can set up the hunt at a local park, in your backyard, whatever, and then turn your kid loose while you read a book, flip through a magazine, or scroll through Instagram. Plus, your kid gets to feel accomplished after successfully completing the hunt.

Working on a garden together might sound like a chore to your kid, but I promise it's really a lot of fun. Our son has loved every version of a garden that we've ever had. We've had porch gardens when we lived in apartments, and backyard gardens when we've lived in houses, and nearly everything in between.

You can start by visiting your local hardware store or plant shop and asking what you should think about planting this time of year. Then, go home and make a plan: Do you want to grow food? Flowers? Both? There are so many possibilities.

This is also a long-term activity. You'll need to get the space for your garden ready, plan out the best way to plant everything, and then tend to the garden as it grows. Your kids will come away from the experience with a sense of ownership and they'll be outside. Wiiiiiin.

If you have a kid who loves the idea of living outside, shelter building is a great activity to introduce and to help nurture that outdoorsy spirit. You can keep it restricted to only materials you can actually find outside, but that means you might need to go beyond your own home.

If you live near a natural area, load up the car and head over. See what kind of shelters you guys can come up with when you only have trees, rocks, and logs to help you figure it out.

If you're staying closer to home, you can add a few materials like tarps or sheets that might make it easier.

Of course, after you've played around with building your own shelters in your backyard, you might as well camp in them! My siblings and I used to camp in our backyard all the time. It's fun and exciting, and even a little scary, but you're still safe at home and it's easy to check in with your parents when you want or need to.

If your kid doesn't want to build her own shelter, you can totally just set up the tent in the backyard, get some s'mores ingredients, and go to town.

A great daytime activity for outdoorsy kids is skipping stones. You'd be amazed by how many kids don't know how to do it these days! Of course, you'll need to be near a body of water, but just about any river, lake, or even a stream will do. Grab your rain boots and keep your eyes peeled for rocks that will skip well.

I have a great story about mud pies. I have three siblings: two younger sisters and a younger brother. My brother is the baby of the family, and growing up with three older sisters was, I'm sure, a total delight for him.

We were extremely into making mud pies as kids, and he was extremely gullible and into eating them. We once made several mud pies and told him they were chocolate, and he totally believed us … until it was very clear that we were liars. I don't remember what happened next, but I bet it wasn't pretty.

But besides that … mud pies are really fun. Your kids could set up a whole mud dessert bakery!

When our son was 3 or so, we would use recyclable items and create "music gardens" for him. These were literally items we would otherwise put in the recycling bin: milk cartons, glass jars, and metal cans. We hung up each item from a tree in the backyard, sent him outside with metal spoons, cooking utensils, and wooden spoons, and let him go to town. He loved it, and it was always a big hit with older kids, too.

This idea might make you laugh, but I can guarantee it will wipe your outdoorsy kid out by the time he finishes. You can go log turning anywhere that you can find logs. One of our favorite spots is a nearby walking trail that borders a reservoir.

Of course, you want to make sure you're not disturbing anyone who is living inside or underneath the logs. We like to turn them gently, just to check out what kind of bugs might be underneath.

By now, you have probably seen someone suggesting sun prints elsewhere online, and for good reason: they're super fun. They're also super easy. Plus, you can make sun prints of anything that will fit on the piece of paper, which can make for some really funny prints … especially if your kid is anything like mine. Sure, you'll get your standard leaf print, maybe a print of rocks, but you might also get … all kinds of results.

I once blew my 4-year-old's mind when I made chalk ice on a sunny spring day. We were living in an apartment at the time, so we took our chalk ice down to a safe spot in the parking lot and had a blast.

Making chalk ice is easy. You need 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, 4 tablespoons of water, sidewalk chalk (it does not have to be brand new), and an ice cube tray. You'll want to make your chalk ice the day before you plan to use it. But basically … you pop it out of the freezer and start drawing with it. It melts quickly, so you don't want to try in the middle of summer.

If you've ever seen someone with a giant bubble wand and wished you could make your own, today is your lucky day! It's really not as hard as you might think it is.

My Frugal Adventures has a great guide to making your own bubble wand, and this is totally something you could task our older kid with doing. Here's what you need:

• Wooden dowels
• String
• Screw eyes
• Paint or washi tape
• Bubble solution

For step-by-step instructions (including how to make your own bubbles), check it out.

Painting rocks is a great activity for any kid who loves to be outside, and might especially sit well with kids between ages 5 and 10. I'm not saying older and younger kids won't enjoy it, but it's the kind of activity that is soothing and special in a way that that particular range tends to enjoy.

Of course, that doesn't mean that the designs should be soothing. Your kids can paint any design that they want!

Climbing and bouldering outside is truly an excellent activity for outdoorsy kids. If you're new to climbing and bouldering, definitely read up on the activity before you start. Also, if your kids are used to indoor rock walls, you might want to start small — the real deal is a little different.

Having said that, the real deal is a ton of fun. Few things help a kid exert energy and make her feel like she's awesome and in charge like scaling the side of a boulder, trust me.

I saved this one for last because geocaching is the kind of activity that a lot of people have heard of, but maybe haven't actually tried out on their own.

Essentially, geocaching is treasure hunting. You and your kids will go to a certain spot and look for an item or collection of items that has been left there. Then, you have options. You can be happy you found it, or you can bring something to leave with you and keep the item you've found.

You can find geocaches near you with this website.