Things to do outside when bored

Small ideas for a park, a backyard or your own street. Put your phone in a pocket and leave it there.

About these ideas

Most of these need nothing more than a patch of grass, a bench or the street outside your door: count the colors in the sky, rest your hands on a tree, hunt for small details on the houses near you. Two are for wetter days, when the rain is light. Dress for the weather, and keep to places you know.

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All 23 things to do outside

5 minutes

Stand barefoot in the grass (outdoors · alone · low energy). Step into a backyard or park patch without socks or shoes. Stand still for five minutes. Feel the cool, damp earth and the dew under your feet.
Find the moon from your doorstep (outdoors · alone · low energy). Step out onto your doorstep, balcony or back step and look for the moon. Notice its shape and where it sits in the sky tonight, then go back inside. If you can’t find it, it may not have risen yet, or be hiding behind clouds. Either way, the night air counts.
Count the colors in the sky (outdoors · alone · low energy). Look straight up into the open sky. Count how many subtle gradients of blue, gray, white, or apricot you can identify before you look away.
Rest your hands on a tree (outdoors · alone · low energy). Find a mature tree. Place both hands flat against its trunk. Feel the deep ridges, lichen softness, and solid stillness that has stood through decades of weather.

20 minutes

Listen to birdsong and whistle back (outdoors · with someone · low energy). Sit under dense branches. Listen closely to bird calls. Try quietly whistling back or guessing what bird species is answering from the canopy.
Gather fallen treasures (outdoors · alone · a little energy). Walk a block or garden path collecting small fallen items: an acorn cap, a dried pinecone, a feather, a striated pebble. Arrange them on your windowsill.
A short walk in light rain (outdoors · alone · a little energy). Put on a raincoat and boots and walk around the block while the rain is light. Step around the puddles, or into them. Stay in if there’s thunder or lightning, and come home to a dry towel.
A pocket notebook in the sun (outdoors · alone · low energy). Take a small blank pad and pencil to the steps or patio. Write down five mundane things happening right now that will never happen in this exact way again.
Sit on a park bench and watch (outdoors · alone · a little energy). Sit on a wooden bench under a tree. Watch dogs sniff grass, children chase leaves, and cyclists glide past. Hold no judgment, only gentle curiosity.
Skip stones at the water (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Search the shoreline together for smooth, flat slate stones. See who can achieve four gentle skips across the glassy surface.
Sit and watch the sunset (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Walk to a westward-facing hilltop or park bench 15 minutes before sunset. Sit side-by-side in silence watching the sun slip beneath the skyline.
Share an umbrella for a slow walk (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Walk together under one umbrella while the rain is light, in step so you both stay mostly dry. Head home whenever you like, and stay in if there’s thunder or lightning.

An hour

A neighborhood details hunt (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Stroll through a residential neighborhood together. Spot stained glass windows, wrought iron gates, sleeping cats on porches, and vintage door knockers.
Watch clouds from a hillside (outdoors · alone · a little energy). Lay a blanket over a patch of grass. Look up at the cumulus clouds shifting, dissolving, and reshaping over the horizon. Let your eyelids grow heavy.
Plant seeds or bulbs together (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Dig small furrows in the earth side by side. Place tulip bulbs or sweet pea seeds into the soil, cover them with earth, and water the garden together.
Sketch what’s behind each other (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Sit facing each other in a park or courtyard. Without showing until the end, spend 30 minutes sketching the background scenery behind the other person.
Lie back and stargaze (outdoors · with someone · low energy). Wrap yourselves in warm sweaters after dusk. Lie back on a dry tarp in the backyard, or sit together on a balcony or step, and look up into the night sky. Find a constellation you know, a slow-moving satellite, or a shooting star.
A thermos walk (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Fill a metal thermos with hot coffee or ginger tea. Walk with a companion without phones. Find a scenic stoop or log to share the hot cup and warm conversation.
A walk with no destination (outdoors · alone · a little energy). Leave your phone on the kitchen table. Step outside your front door and turn left or right entirely on whim. Walk slow enough that a snail wouldn’t feel rushed.
Weed a garden bed by hand (outdoors · alone · a little energy). Kneel in the garden bed or planter box. Pull intrusive weeds roots and all. Smell the dark loam on your hands and water the root crowns gently.

An afternoon

A picnic on a wool blanket (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Pack simple provisions: sharp cheese, crusty sourdough, grapes, and cold cider. Spread a woolen blanket under an oak tree and eat with your fingers.
Follow a creek or shoreline (outdoors · alone · a little energy). Follow a creek, river path, or shoreline on foot. Listen to moving water bubbling over stones. Stop to skip three flat stones across a still eddy.
A slow farmers market wander (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Walk slowly through an open-air market. Smell ripe peaches, run your fingers over artisan wooden bowls, and pick up fresh wildflowers together.

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