Fifteen Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get Out of the House and Connect with Your Kids, Book Review & Giveaway

One of my Green Goals for this year was to spend more time outside with my boys. We had a little taste of Spring over this past week and I am happy to report that we have gotten out 9 of the last 12 days. One of the most difficult things for me is coming up with activities for the boys to do outside. Sure they will run around for a bit or ride their bikes, which is great, but they do get board. Plus sometimes I need something a little more compelling to get them out the door. So when I first read about the book Fifteen Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get Out of the House and Connect with Your Kids, by Rebecca P. Cohen, I thought this would be the perfect tool for me.

"What if you got outside every day, and what if you could get your kids to come along? It sounds modest, but the effects, as dynamic outdoor spokesperson Rebecca Cohen herself can testify, are profound. This inspiring collection of activities gives families an idea for every day of the year, requiring little planning, no expertise and relatively little resources (time, cash, or patience!), no matter where they live. Simple and inspiring, this book is bursting with hundreds of easy ways to get your family out into nature a little bit every day."

I opened this book to start reading and very quickly fell in love with it. The ideas are broken up into months and then there is one listed for each day of the month plus extra tips throughout. What I really like is that the author's ideas are not these big elaborate things that you couldn't realistically do. These are simple activities for you to do with your children from ages 2 to 12. One activity Cohen suggests is to find and track animal prints in the snow. I adapted this a little and instead we found some deer tracks in the snow that we followed. Let me tell you, the kids looking for the tracks. There are also some good gardening with kids tips and activities that I want to try out once Spring really kicks and it warms up here.

I also do not like to be outside in inclement weather so when its raining, snowing or just super cold you normally won't find me bringing my 4 boys out. OK, never. I mentioned getting the kids outside 9 of the last 12 days - well those 3 days that we missed were due to rain. Once I can pick up some inexpensive rain boots for everyone and armed with my book, we can get in a little bit of outside time even on rainy days. Yes Cohen even has plenty of rainy activities like puddle jumping. I realize that puddle jumping might be a parents worst nightmare, but just think how much fun it could be for the kids!

I truly have enjoyed this book and it has already been so helpful for me to get my little men out of the house more. If the sun is shining, they'll eat lunch out on the deck. Or we'll stand up there and count the squirrels we see. Last week I posted about us all going for a hike in the woods. Well that was without a doubt inspired by this book. And just because there are 365 activities in there doesn't mean you have to do all of them. Some may not work for you while others you'll find you can't get enough of. You just need to have fun with it and choose the activities that you know our kids will enjoy. As a great supplement to her book, Rebecca Cohen also has two free downloads on her site: 50 Outdoor Activities Guide for Busy Families, which you can post by your door and Outdoor Classrooms Guide, which may be something you can share with your child's teacher.

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Fifteen Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get Out of the House and Connect with Your Kids is available at Barnes & Noble in paperback or in Nook eBook.

Giveaway CLOSED
One (1) winner will receive a paperback copy of Fifteen Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get Out of the House and Connect with Your Kids, by Rebecca P. Coehn.

Mandatory Entry
Leave a comment telling me what your family's favorite outdoor activity is.

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This giveaway is open to US Residents 18+ only and will end on Tuesday, April 5 at 11:59pm EST. One  winner will be chosen at random using Random.org and will be posted on the Winner's Announcement Page. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. Please leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!

Please note that the opinions and views expressed in this review are my own and based on my personal experience with the product and/or company. You may encounter a different experience with this than I did. I received a copy of the book for review. This post contains affiliate links.