8 Simple and Fun Spring Outdoor Activities
As the rise of the sun at dawn, spring has come with a new breath of life. The smell of fresh air greets your first step outside. You take a deep inhale once again — the aroma of wet grass brings back your spirit that was sleeping inside the fur blanket. It was magical and full of the joy of beautiful creatures rising from their hibernation along with the flower seeds that began to appear on the ground. Colorful scenery will soon be a part of your daily routine.
Spring is the blessing season. The period of days that you should thank for. It could be a new beginning for everything. If you live in a rural area, you know that it is the best season for people around there. They can revive their field that was buried under the coat of winter. But the joy is the same if you are living in a big city. It is time to stretch your body because you will take off your thick jacket inside the wardrobe.
What to do next? You are asking yourself. Thinking of the clear day that is waiting for you outside.
Your aspiration is still congealed, and you need a list of fun things to do during this season. Don’t worry! I will help you with a list. Just continue reading because I will freshen your brain up with 8 simple outdoor activities that help you more productive and joyous.
1. Picnic at The Park
Eating food outside is a natural mood booster. Sitting in an open area while enjoying delicious food always provides well for you. The spring breeze that caresses your body will turn your appetite on, and it is perfect for your mental health.
Perhaps you remember the story of a young boy who believes he can not walk since he is always inside the house? And only after his cousin pushed him to be more alive after persuading him to the garden is he finally able to walk. Yes! This is a story plot from a spirit-lifting novel called The Secret Garden published in 1911(There are also movies adaptation from this novel with the same title).
If you recall your feeling the first time you read this novel, you will understand why a picnic is very beneficial. It cures your blocking mind and relieves your stress at the same time. As picnic is often done with the whole family or friends, you will do the social activity and increase your social skill while improving your relationship with them.
Picnic time also means you have to prepare your food before you go. Usually, you will cook your own food at home, or you can cook it at the spot like a barbeque picnic. Cooking your own food also means healthy food. You know the whole ingredients that you put in your food. This is one of the easiest activities that you can do during the spring.
2. A Routine Cycling Around
Do you want to possess a desirable body and stay healthy at the same time without paying for a member card in the gym? Cycling around is the answer. This is a simple exercise that can help you reduce your body fat—a cheap and beneficial activity during springtime.
You don’t have a bicycle? You can rent for free or pay a little money for using a public bike. If you live in a big city, there will be a bicycle station for people who want to use a bicycle. Usually, the stations are on every block of the road. Or you can buy one — you never lost anything for just buying a bicycle since you can use it for a long time with no gas money — I can say this is a good investment.
The weather is amiable during the spring season, is not too cold and not too hot as summertime. You can use your regular clothes and produce a little sweat, enough for refreshing your body system. While cycling around, you can enjoy the slice of life around you — that is why I encourage you to do cycling outside rather than with the stationary bicycle. You will miss the aspiration that is waiting for you.
3. Running on Hill Track
Running can be everywhere. But nothing can beat running on a hill track during the spring season. ‘How’ you say?
Running is also the best and cheap exercise to make your body fit—one of the activities that help you refresh your system. It is the same as walk only faster and has strong steps on the ground. Many people run for intervals during their busy weekdays. It helps them maintain their healthy weight, relieve tension, and doesn’t need expensive equipment to start.
However, we are talking about running on the hill track now. Running on the flat track is indeed easier and fast, but if you want to spend more time enjoying the spring day and also get your body goal faster, you need spices — a challenge — you have to try to run on the uphill ground. It is not going to be easy, but you don’t have to hurry. For a start, it is okay to take your time. It doesn’t matter how long you will need to arrive at the top of the hill because you will not regret your effort.
During the spring, the trees that were bald before are starting to grow new leaves. Many plants are growing too during this season, but certain insects do not emerge yet until summer — that means, when you are running near the shrubs area on the hill track, you don’t have to worry much about insect bites. When you get to the top, the exhausted body will be rewarded since you can enjoy the view from up there. Not as hard as when you were running uphill, you can enjoy the gravitation that helps you down the hill. Believe me — this is worth trying.
4. Photo Scavenger
If photography is your hobby, then this one is the thing that you can do in spring. No activity can beat your hobby, right? The season change is a precious collection that you should have in your project.
Even though you are not familiar with photography stuff, you can always try this activity. Photo scavenger means find interesting things and capture them using a camera. You don’t need sophisticated tools to do this, just using your smartphone if you don’t have a camera. Smartphones nowadays have improved so much and can also produce valuable pictures in the right hand at the right moment. But if you have one, then what are you waiting for?
You can hunt for photos in the park during a picnic, walk in the forest, or stroll in the city center. During spring, you will catch many colorful pictures of nature. The blue sky that replaces the gray of the winter can be a great background for the picture, flowers that are slowly blooming, or trees with green color. If you don’t like nature, you can try taking a picture of people in a crowded area. It can be one of your projects — spring clothing; people will start to wear colorful and varied clothing styles outside since they no longer need their winter coats. Also, you can hunt pictures of seasoning fruits and food.
If you are the type that loves games and competition, you can join with photo scavenger group in your town. It’s always nice to have a healthy competitive day with a group of people that also have the same goal as you. Create a small challenge for your group to go hunting for the best picture of spring — you can make any theme that you want. After that, you can share your pictures on your social media.
5. Fishing
Booorrrriiinnngggg….!
The word that is often spoken by a person who never tries fishing. Yes! If you are one of the people who think the same, you should try to go fishing.
Fishing is a lifetime skill and can be enjoyed by people at any age. It is a valuable ability to help you when you are lost in the jungle or when society collapse (I hope it will never happen). When you try to go fishing for the first time, you never know what you will get. You probably think that you can’t stand or sit for too long glaring at the water, but believe me, you can. The first time a fish bites your hook, you will know that you will always miss this feeling, and certainly, you will do it again.
This activity can be done every season, but the most important thing is you should avoid fishing during extreme weather, too hot or too cold. The weather is usually stable in spring, so it is one of the best activities you can do this season. I suggest you go during the afternoon or early evening since the water is warmer, and fish are eating a lot. However, you have to learn further and do some research about the best time to go fishing during spring and where to go.
I could say that the best fish I have tasted is the fish which I fished myself in the sea. It doesn’t need any seasoning, you just need fire to cook your fish, and you know that even the fish from 5 stars restaurants will never taste the same.
6. Throw a Backyard Spring Party
In China, there is a spring festival that is usually held at the beginning of February. It is a traditional festival and most known as Lunar Chinese New Year. The meaning behind it is to celebrate the new year and celebrate the spring season’s beginning. For many countries in East Asia, especially in a rural area where people mostly live as farmers, winter is almost equal to death. That is why spring is assumed as reborn and the start of new life that needs to be celebrated.
Not every country has the same tradition. However, the spirit of the new beginning is worth celebrating. Throwing parties with your neighborhood in the backyard is a good way to spread joy with your community. It is the season of refreshing and sharing, such as food and togetherness. Reflecting gratitude on our ancestors that have to try so hard to survive in the winter.
If there is no such thing as this party in your neighborhood, you should try to suggest this event to your community because the first person who will help you when something bad happened is your neighbor. The spring party could be the way you get to know people who live next to your house, fix your relationship, and build a strong community bond.
7. Forest Bathing
Forest bathing is indeed perfect for people who want to spend their day during this season in nature. As well as bathing in general, you take a shower when you think your body is dirty, right? You might not realize it, but the same as bathing with water, your body also needs forest bathing.
A long time ago, humans were very close to nature. We live as one and respect every soul that we see in there. Periodically, we are evolving and then think that we are safer inside a cave than sleeping on the forest floor under the trees’ shade. However, gradually — we lost the connection since the forest we are familiar with are now skyscrapers.
In springtime, you should try to find your connection with nature again by forest bathing. According to Qing Li in his book Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness, spending time in the forest can reduce anxiety, stress, anger, and depression. He researched the effect of spending time in the forest and concluded that walking in the forest improved people’s spirits, quality sleep, and reduced fatigue.
The best time to walk in the forest during spring is in the afternoon since the weather will be warmer than in the early morning. If you spend more than 20 minutes in the forest, you will find the connection, and you can feel your soul unite with the nature around you. Let go of your urban life for a while, enjoy your walk, don’t use your cellphone, also you can try to meditate or camp in the forest (please check first if it’s legal to camp in the forest you visit). Give it a try and hear the plants growing around you.
8. Start Gardening
My mother said that; food prices will fluctuate every time, but when you have your own garden, you have one less thing to worry about.
Yes—gardening. If you think it is still dangerous to go outside during the pandemic and do all the activities above — gardening is the answer since it is still counted as an outdoor activity, but you can safely do it on your property.
Spring will not be complete without gardening. This is one of the activities that can be learned easily by everyone. Besides helping you with mental health, gardening also means promoting healthy living to you and your family. Since you can not be healthy without eating a vegetable, and the fresh one you only can get from your own garden.
As the change of our lifestyle since 2020, we have to consider growing our own food since we will never know what would happen in next year with the recent condition. You can start by researching what kind of plants are easy to grow for the beginner and which plants are suitable for this season.
Gardening can give you the feeling of fulfillment when you manage to see your seeds growing and produce something good. A lot of studies stated that gardening provides a wide range of health outcomes, such as reductions in depression, anxiety, and body mass index, as well as increases in life satisfaction, quality of life, and sense of community. Then what are you waiting for? Just start your own garden now, and soon you will receive the fruits of your hard work.
Last but not least… Have fun for all of you in this new season!