How Sunshine Benefits Everyone in the Family

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Quaker Oats for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

As the weather warms up, so does our desire to play outside! We’ve already ventured to the river, taken family walks, gone camping, and the start of summer isn’t even officially here yet! Getting outside, especially with our families, is beneficial to our health and happiness. In fact, sunshine and being outdoors will improve your family life, especially as you take full advantage of summer family fun and keep playing!

Benefits of Being Outdoors

Getting outdoors, especially in the summer time is so great for you! The natural Vitamin D from the sun which is said to help fight off cancer, depression, and heart attacks. When you are outside, you’ll also get more exercise, and we all know that exercise helps raise those endorphins, as well as burn those calories, and strengthening our muscles. Plus, time in nature is said to be a natural stress-reliever, as just a few minutes outside can help lower your heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension (source).

Really, the fresh air does do a body good!

Benefits of Family Fun

Spending quality, leisure time together with your kids and your spouse is also beneficial. Everyday leisure activities, like playing board games, in the yard, and even watching TV together as a family, are said to strengthen the emotional bonds and cohesion between family members.

More quality family time, especially when a father is involved, generally increases a child’s academic performance, keeps them out of drugs and other substance abuse, be less violent, and be more stable emotionally (source).

Combine Family Fun with the Great Outdoors

The great thing about the warm summer months and all that summer entails, is that it allows you to benefit from both the great outdoors and quality family fun!

Move Everyday Activities Outdoors

The easiest way to combine the two is by simply moving your everyday activities outdoors! Cooking and eating outside is more common in the summer months, but think about doing other things too. If you like to read your children books, read to them outside (and read one yourself outside). If you want to do a puzzle, or play a board or card game, do it outside. If you want to draw, paint a picture, craft, do your nails, take a nap, or whatever, do it outside.

Even movies and music can be taken outside with summer drive-in movies and summer concerts at the park. But, even setting up a projector to watch a movie together outside (or even just watching it on a laptop) can be a simple way to move even a more sedentary activity outdoors.

Fun Outdoor Sports and Activities

Obviously, summer is also great for all those great outdoor summer sports, like sand volleyball, swimming, surfing, wake boarding, boating, jet skiing, tubing, fishing, hiking, canoeing, rafting, flying kites, throwing Frisbees, playing baseball, soccer,  tennis, basketball, and camping.

Be sure to play these awesome outside sports and other activities with your family.

Sometimes it’s also fun to invite friends or family to join you in your summer adventures.

Have a Playdate

We recently had a little playdate with some of my kids friends. Having additional playmates, and people to socialize with, helps to keep you playing, and enjoying the great outdoors. The kids and I busted out a new game, Bocce Ball, and tried playing that together.We also set up an awesome bubble machine, kicked around some balls, drew with sidewalk chalk, and more.

And when the kids were getting a little tired, I simply gave them some delicious  Quaker® Chewy® Granola Bars for a little refueling snack so they could keep playing, as they are pretty much the perfect hassle-free, grab-and-go snack. And there’s even 8 grams of whole grains in every bar.

And after my son went down for his nap, the rest of us worked on a puzzle, outside, because why not? When the weather is nice, it’s so great to do those simple indoor things outside (like I talked about before).