About halfway through 2022, I saw a bunch of mom vloggers talking about how they were trying to spend 1000 hours outside that year. I saw their updates and thought, “Wow. What a cool idea, but completely unachievable with three kids, a full-time job, two parents who are students, a child in school, and a baby on the way.” As the year drew to an end and I learned more about the benefits of being outside for children in my classes, I decided we were going to try it. It still seemed out of reach to even try given the cold winters and hot summers, but I brought it up and we decided to try.
Last year, 2023, we gave it a go. We really did not give it our best try because we just did not have the clothing and time to. By the end of March, we had barely hit 20 hours. On the days that we did spend time outside though, the kids had a lot of fun, got exercise in, and just generally seemed happier. It also motivated a lot more quality time as a family. I found myself actually participating in running around and making up games and activities rather than just going outside and letting them play on their own. We even ate some meals outside and utilized our kickass grill area more. We started saying “yes” to playing on the playground at school pickup a lot more.
To sum it up, the goal is to spend 1000 hours outside over the course of the entire year. That comes down to over 83 hours outside every month and an average of just under 3 hours every day. Which is an admirable thing to achieve given that many kids, at the detriment of their development, only spend 5-10 minutes outside a day.
Here’s a little recap of our 2023 outside time. The winter months were incredibly underwhelming, as were the few months where I was newly postpartum.
January: 6 hours 18 minutes
February: 4 hours 51 minutes
March: 9 hours 42 minutes
April: 49 hours 20 minutes
May: 64 hours 39 minutes
June: 38 hours 39 minutes
July: 10 hours 18 minutes
August: 14 hours 21 minutes
September: 8 hours 5 minutes
October: 39 hours 19 minutes
November: 52 hours 51 minutes
December: 2 hours 40 minutes
We ended with a total of just over 300 hours outside last year. It set a great bar to measure progress this year and a foundation for us to build this year’s goals. It also amounted to a greater appreciation of family time and being outside. We did not reach the average monthly goal once and only met the average daily goal a handful of times. Overall though, it was a great experience that I highly recommend, especially in our technological age where we get so wrapped up in other things. It is a great supplement to the lack of recess and outside time children get during the school day too with a heavier and misguided focus on standardized testing.
Our small goal this year is to hit 500 hours minimum. It isn’t about meeting 1000 hours for us as much as it is challenging ourselves to spend more time together and get outside to boost moods and children’s development. We have been more than doubling our time outside so far from last year, and it has made a world of difference in all of our moods. When we feel down, we go outside. When the kids are grumpy or otherwise unhappy, we go outside. Anything you can do inside, you can do outside.
I will probably be updating periodically on our time outside and observations. We are currently at 31 hours for 2024.
Now, I challenge you to get outside with your family. Take a walk. Eat a meal. Read a book. If you give it a try, let me know how it goes for you. Did you notice better moods, quality time, or other benefits? Your kids need time outside in nature and so do you.
I use the app “1000 hours” to track our time.