Summer is here and your family is itching to get outside and enjoy the sun. If you’re looking for a new activity for the entire family, check out this article from last July with five family friendly activities that are sure to bring fresh fun to your summer.
If you’re searching for new and unique things to do as a family this summer, here are five outdoor ideas to add some excitement back into your summer.
1. Take the Trail Challenge together.
This summer, you and your family can walk five of seven designated trails before Monday, Sept. 1, as part of Great Parks of Hamilton County’s Step It Up! Trail Challenge, an initiative designed to help motivate people to reach 10,000 steps per day ““ what’s recommended by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Track your completed trails at stepituptrailchallenge.org and then, on Sunday, Sept. 21, come to the Take a Walk in the Park party from noon to 4 p.m. to celebrate your success and pick up your free T-shirt.
2. Hike for your (and your family’s) health at Cincinnati Nature Center.
Take the kids along to the Cincinnati Nature Center this summer. You can pick up new Hike for Your Health trail passports at the Rowe Visitor Center when you arrive, as well as heart monitors, which are available for checkout. Then, head outside to see the new Hike for Your Health Challenge exhibit and get moving. Once you and your family have hiked all 15 trails at Rowe Woods and Long Branch Farm & Trails, bring your passports back to the visitor center to earn a Cincinnati Nature Center trailblazer prize.
3. Plant a vegetable garden (and then eat what you grow).
Dr. Meghan Markovich, an internal medicine physician and pediatrician with St. Elizabeth Physicians, planted a vegetable garden last summer with her husband and 18-month-old son. “We’d go out every night and water the plants and then eat a tomato,” she said. “He loved it.”
4. Take a walk (or run) on the wild side at Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.
Visiting the zoo on any day is a great way to get some outdoor exercise while also enjoying gardens and animal exhibits, but on Sunday, Aug. 30, you can run or walk the grounds during the annual Cheetah Run 5K Run and Walk. After the main race, children ages 12 and under can participate in a free Cheetah “Cub” Fun Run.
5. Have some “quack-tastic” fun on a duck.
Experiencing a ride aboard a Ride the Ducks Newport sightseeing tour of Greater Cincinnati is a great activity to add to your list of things to do with the family this summer. Fun and music are combined with history and sights on the tours, which take you through the streets and then splash you into the Ohio River.
It’s all part of doing something fun with your family outside.
“Building healthy habits when kids are young is important so they continue to do this when they get older,” Markovich said.
