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6 Outdoor Activities to Try with Your Loved One This Summer

Writer's picture: Haley BurressHaley Burress

The summer is upon us, and the season is ideal for safely getting out and about to enjoy the outdoors. If you’re looking for ways to connect with your senior loved one as well as to get your teens and younger kids involved with your next visit, we’ve pulled together a few activities you can try. Intergenerational connections are important to older adults and to the kids they have a relationship with, even if it can seem challenging to foster the conversations. Sharing an activity can be the perfect conduit for reinforcing those meaningful relationships.


Pickleball

If your senior loved one is active, try picking up the trending sport of the past few years: pickleball! You can play on indoor or outdoor courts in your community, making this sport perfect for nearly any weather. You just need a few pickleballs and paddles, which you can grab from Amazon for less than $40, or you might be able to rent them from your local parks and recreation location.


Remember to wear stable shoes and sunscreen, as well as to take it easy as you learn the basics. Have fun!



elderly woman painting


Sunrise or Sunset Trail Walk

Beat the heat while still getting some physical activity in by choosing to set the alarm early for a sunrise trail walk with the whole family. Bring along a breakfast spread for a picnic to enjoy after your stroll complete with fruit salad, a thermos of coffee, and bagels with toppings. Prefer to sleep in? Take your trail walk at sunset. Don’t forget to bring your smartphones or camera to capture the stunning sky!


Go Stargazing

Pack your bug spray and head outside past twilight to try your hands at stargazing. You can download a stargazing app ahead of time so that you know what you’re looking at, and contact your local library to see if they have any telescopes you can borrow. But if you don’t have an app or a telescope, you’ll all still have a great time looking up at the nighttime sky. 


Don’t forget to pack snacks and fun accessories like glow sticks or portable, flameless candles to set up nearby.


Make Campfire Treats

You don’t have to go camping to enjoy one of the best traditions of the great outdoors: making s’mores. Set up a campfire in your loved one’s backyard and create a s’mores station where everyone can make their own concoction. Don’t forget to name everyone’s treat and have a taste test!


Build your s’mores station with the traditional graham crackers, chocolate bars, and marshmallows but don’t consider adding in new ingredients like peanut butter cups, vanilla wafers, and gourmet marshmallows.


Journal or Draw

If you know your family will be together weekly for the summer months, consider purchasing everyone a journal or sketchbook. Keep them in a bin in the car or in your loved one’s home. Then, make time every time you are together to sit outside and individually journal or draw. You can provide journaling prompts for everyone to write about (or draw), or you can just let everyone do their own thing.


By the end of the summer, you’ll have books full of thoughts and drawings of the people you love the most!


Senior Living Activities

Finally, if your loved one lives in a senior living community, don’t be shy about attending events and activities with them! Senior living communities plan a variety of events, including outdoor concerts and sports leagues, that are open to visitors to attend with their loved one. Be sure to go to the family meals and special events as well. It is a great time to not only create memories with your loved one, but also to get to know the staff and other residents who are with your loved one all day long.


Looking for a hustling and bustling senior living community for your loved one? Let us help find the perfect one, at no cost to you!



©2024, iNavigate Senior Living Solutions, All Rights Reserved.


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© 2022  iNavigate Senior Living Solutions LLC., All Rights Reserved.

Designed by Colton Weinman. Content by  Laurie Brownlow & Haley Burress.

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