How to do the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge
Heard of the 1,000 hours outside challenge?
The 1000 Hours Outside Challenge was set up by Ginny Yurich with the intention of encouraging kids to match their screen time with outside time. Its purpose is to help kids connect more with the outdoors and nature as easily as they connect with their buddies on Roblox!
And I am a big fan! Because although on the face of it, it doesn’t seem like a lot, it is enough to present a brilliant challenge for the whole family.
Why did WE do the 1,000 hours outside challenge?
Like I say, I really do love a challenge. But I’ll be honest, when I started this one on 1st January 2022, I really thought it’d be a walk in the park for us.
I know right? How cocky am I?!
As a family who really does get outside on a regular basis, I thought we’d smash through it. But we didn’t and it was a LOT harder than I had originally thought it would be. We achieved 1001 by the 31st December 2022, and that was only JUST.
But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and we learned a LOT along the way!
So you know what? I thought I’d share what we learned about the 1000 hours challenge with you guys and give you some of our lessons learned!
Our Top Tips for the 1,000 hours outside challenge
Here they are. Our lessons learned; our top tips to help ‘successfully’ complete the 1,000 Hour Outside Challenge, starting with the biggest and most important…
You don’t have to be successful…
Now THERE’S a start right?
But seriously. Why are you doing the challenge?
Is it to try and encourage you to get outside as much as possible? Is it to provide you with a motivation to choose outdoors over indoors more often? Because if it is, then who cares if you record 1,000, 877 or 250. If the challenge had a positive impact on your life outdoors as a family, well that’s the goal achieved RIGHT THERE!
How many hours a day is 1,000 hours outside?
Well, it works out as being 2.74 hours outside a day. Or 19.25 hours a week.
To some, that may seem a little, but to others…. perhaps those with school aged kids with jam packed after school timetables like me, it actually seems quite a lot when you break it down.
But DO NOT BE RULED BY THE NUMBERS (Sounds strange with a number based challenge right?!) Some days we were nowhere near the target, but some days we doubled, tripled or achieved nearly 10 times the number of hours required.
Whilst 2.74 is a decent guide, you’ll find it has no bearing on your life’s reality.
Don’t give up…
The last of the big three….
We were well behind on the 500 hours target by the half way point. MILES behind.
But we still made it by the skin of our teeth thanks to the longer Summer days and kinder weather. It’s pretty accurate to say that in the Winter months, with the short days and often brutal weather, you won’t hit the ‘target’ hours, particularly if your kids are in school full time during the week.
So don’t despair and remember the main reason you did this. Keep going, keep enjoying it and check out all of our tips on how to squeeze in as many hours as possible this year!
How to get to 1,000 hours outside in a year
Get the 1,000 Hours outside App
Available on iOS and Android, it’s an easy way to keep track of your hours with badges to collect along the way. Alternatively, you can download a printable from the 1000 hours outside website.
But literally track every hour!
What kind of hours count?
This was the thing that I struggled with to begin with, I wasn’t 100% on what I should and shouldn’t be counting, but what emerged was that there really are no hard and fast rules about it. You do you because this is YOUR challenge!
For us, I tracked all intentional hours outside. So I wouldn’t be tracking time spent messing about with the trollies in the Tesco car park or chatting in the school playground, but I WOULD be tracking hours spent walking, going to the park, picnicking, gardening or sitting in the back garden.
What about school hours?
This was the bit that I struggled with to begin with.
When the kids were at school, sometimes (particularly in the Summer months) I could be spending hours outside (benefits of home working!) The kids would have their playtime, weekly bush craft, cycling lessons and occasionally the walk to and from school, but there would always be a difference between each of us.
So how does that work, when this was supposed to be a family challenge?
Well I took an average. I felt that this was a realistic way of dealing with the disparity. There were days when the kids’ hours outside exceeded mine, and vice versa.
If I hadn’t done this, there was no way we would have met the challenge!
The things we did to extend our time outdoors…
Eat Outdoors…
All year round. Yes, even in the Winter.
2022 was the year I fell in love with hot picnics, and I will never look back!
They are so much more fun than a Summer picnic, and in my opinion MUCH easier to organise. You can check out our blog for Winter Picnic ideas, but this was an absolute saviour to maximising our hours outside, as a hot picnic makes for a longer walk, or a longer play outside!
Play Out
Yup playing a card game outside or painting outside on the garden table count.
In Summer, we did homework outside on a sunny day, read reading books outside and I worked outside too.
If it can be done outside, we did it outside! It was a total change of mindset for us, and it was cool.
We liked it.
Walk to School as much as possible
This isn’t always possible and make no mistake it wasn’t for us either, what with work and other commitments. BUT it does all add up, so whenever it CAN be done, DO IT!
And if you have the spare time, take the long way back!
This is a good way to extend your walk back from school, and works brilliantly when the evenings stretch out and the weather improves. That’s when you aren’t running to and from after school clubs and hobbies of course! But even then, whilst you’re waiting for the dance class to end, take a wander, average the hours at the end of the day and boom! You’ve boosted your hours again!
Slow down…
Because if you have the time to slow down then do it!
When you are out exploring, take more time over it rather than simply getting from A-B. Plan for more time outside too, by slowing down and spending time just throwing stones, examining the flowers, reading a book or building a den.
It can add hours on!
Squeeze in the park…
Love them or hate them, the kids can spend hours down the park.
If you are headed out to visit friends, or see family? Spend a half hour or even an hour at the park and boom. Bonus hour. We were always squeezing in an extra hour or half hour either en route or to break up the day.
Head out after tea….
Sorry, dinner if you aren’t from the North!
Tea isn’t the end of the day! This one again works well in the longer months when you can head out on a bonus bike ride, or a walk around your area. It’s literally about making the most out of every hour!
And in the winter…. Go stargazing!
Yup, heading out with a torch and looking upwards is a top way to spend some bonus winter time outside.
Count the outdoor hobbies
Like football, cricket… whatever outdoor pursuits you love! We counted it all.
And if we weren’t all there, we averaged it like we did with the school hours.
Have a pair of wellies in the car
This is super handy if you find yourself a spare hour or so between life stuff and hobbies! If you can get to the park or spend a half hour wandering and jumping in puddles (and that’s me) then bonus!
Have a plan B in case the weather isn’t kind!
If you have an epic adventure planned, then have a back up plan that packs in the hours too.
The weather is a pain in the butt sometimes here in the UK. I’ve lost count of the number of times our plans have changed because the weather was pants.
But in the true spirit of ‘there’s really no such thing as bad weather’ put on your waterproof trousers and crack on!
Heading to a play barn, or something that’s covered, but outside will count towards your hours. Or simply brave it and go to the park in the wet (slides are pretty white knuckle in the rain!)
Obviously, I am not advocating for you to go and scale one of the Yorkshire Peaks regardless of the forecast for hurricane conditions, because that’d be bloody stupid. BUT keep it simple and where it’s safe, screw the weather!
It doesn’t have to be fancy to count!
Garden time, sitting on a bench, a bike or scooter ride around town, soaking up the sun time, playpark time, jumping over a skipping rope, playing with the next door neighbour outside on the trampoline time…
All counts. So count it!
In fact…. sit outside whenever you can!
This is particularly applicable to pub beer gardens…. Just saying. But if you are eating out anywhere? If you can have the option to sit out, then do it! Grab some extra vitamin D time and breath in the fresh air and add up the hours!
Don’t overthink it…
If all you fancy is driving to the edge of a river and sitting in the sun whilst the kids throw stones and play in the dirt? That’s fine.
Don’t overplan and just go with the flow!
Camping helps….
We had a couple of camping trips and a couple of glamping trips this year.
For the camping, I counted all the hours.
I considered that if you can feel the near zero degrees air temp (no exaggeration), feel the breeze as you get dressed and hear the owls and sheep at night? That’s good enough for me.
For the glamping, that little bit of extra luxury tipped it for me, and I didn’t count the full hours on account of the log burners…. *contented sigh….
You may disagree, but there’re no two ways about it, camping will boost those hours no end. So whether it be festival camping, wild camping, or camping in the back garden, give it a try!
Get yourself to a festival!
If there’s a great way to spend a whole lot of time outdoors, it’s at a festival. Doesn’t have to be a fancy expensive Glasto type festival, a local food festival, bank holiday fair or anything similar will do and it really does make it easy to add on the hours!
Get up an hour earlier
Ok. I am rubbish at mornings. But if you can get out early, maybe make some time before the mad school dash, even if it’s just half an hour, then why not?!
This is much easier in the Summer months (ah who am I kidding, it’s never easy for me) and in the Winter? Maybe try and catch the sunrise if you can.
Have a spare bag in the car
Ok. I am NOT good at remembering spare clothes. But what I AM good at, is having a car full of random stuff.
And sometimes that car full of stuff really comes in handy! Why?
The picture above turned a 4 hour day outside into a 5 hour day. The kids fancied paddling… EXTREME paddling, and under usual circumstances, I would have said no and we would have headed back to the car.
But because I had, by the end of the school holidays, a car full of random items of clothing to get changed into, it meant the kids had an ace time getting soaked and we bagged an extra hour outside!
So be more organised than me and actually keep a bag in the car for an extra hour of spontaneous soaking!
Swim out
Wild swimming is not for all, but it is a great way for getting out and staying out in the warmer months.
It doesn’t have to be fancy, a paddle will do, whether that be in the sea; by the side of a river; or in a waterfall, but the kids will love it and it will mean you can stretch those hours outside!
If wild swimming isn’t for you, then why not try a lido (outside swimming pool). It will all count!
I will not be able to sleep if I don’t point you in the direction of some very wise advice on wild swimming from the Outdoor Swimming Society website . Respect the water, as it can be dangerous. Always supervise children around water. If in doubt do not enter.
So those are our top tips to help up those hours as part of the 1,000 hours challenge!
Essentially…..
Swap inside activities to make them outside activities
Maximise and stretch our every outdoor hour that you can by either eating, playing or sitting out
Average, average, AVERAGE those family hours
Count EVERY intentional hour outside whatever that may be!
AND GOOD LUCK! (Oh, and remember number 1. Always remember number 1!)
Do you have any more? Leave us a comment below!
Want a Yorkshire walk to go with your 1000 hours outside challenge?
Head to our Yorkshire Walks, why not try one in the Yorkshire Dales?
Need hot picnic ideas?
Head to our blog all about the humble hot picnic! A life saver when it comes to the 1,000 hours outside challenge!
