With my kids getting older it’s clear that screen time of all kinds, from the tablet to video games captures their attention. However, we all know that it’s important to have a little moderation. With teens mental health getting worse over the years, we need to think of ways to help mitigate this. Screens are great for some downtime. However, being outside in the fresh air can do wonders for their overall health. Fun outdoor activities for teens and tweens are really essential for happy kids. If it’s pouring with rain then check out these board games for tweens and teens or other fun activities ideas for all family members!
So here are 100 outdoor activities for teens that will help get your tweens and teens outdoors away from their screens. At least for a little while anyway!
Table of Contents
Water Based Outdoor Activities For Teens and Tweens
Paddleboarding
It often seems like SUP’s are everyone’s new favourite toy when you visit lochs and the coast during the summer! We’ve personally tried paddleboarding on a lagoon just off the island of Coll. It was amazing to watch the seals playing nearby and in the kelp forest below.
Borrow a couple of SUP’s from friends or family (ask on Facebook, someone you know probably has one!) and head out on the water. Don’t forget life jackets too, even for young adults!
Kayaking
If you prefer to sit down and move across the water, then kayaking might be a better option. For tweens and teens it’s a fun way to play on lochs, rivers and the sea. Even if you don’t own one you can join a local kayak and canoe club and borrow one of theirs.
Pier Jumping Outdoor Activities For Teens
A lot of coastal towns have long piers that are great for jumping off at high tide. Check for local recommendations of piers that have deep water to jump into. Definitely make sure that it’s high tide, you don’t want to jump into shallow water and get hurt!
Snorkelling
Snorkels can be bought fairly cheaply online. A great way to just explore the kelp and seaweed offshore, a definite fun summer activity for tweens and teens. This is a lovely activity to get kids into the great outdoors, without a lot of walking!
Wild Swimming
Simply going for a dip in a local waterbody is a lot of fun. If it’s the kids first time swimming outside then buy a wetsuit (you can get them secondhand easily), or fairly cheaply from shops such as Decathlon or Mountain Warehouse. Join a local wild swimming Facebook page for ideas of where is safe to go. We also have some great ideas for wild swimming spots in Scotland. Younger children may want a thicker wetsuit to stay warm, but older teenagers might be happy in a swimming costume.
Water Balloon Fight
Older children can’t resist the chance to join in a water balloon fight. There’s something so much fun about hitting others with water filled balloons! Even better if it’s against adults! For a more eco-friendly version look up crochet water balloons! It’s definitely one of the fun things we used to in the summer as kids! It’s also a good one for younger kids to join in with too.
Slip ‘n Slide Water Slide
Many parts of the country have special inflatable water slides during the summer. Search on google for slip n slide in your area. We visited one in Cornwall in 2023 and had a fantastic time! Summer is the perfect time to enjoy slip’n‘ slides!
Water Pistol Battle
Grab a water pistol and start a battle with your tweens and teens! As with the water balloons, they won’t be able to resist! These are ‘squirt guns’ for the Americans visiting this page! It’s always a fun outdoor game to play with your kids. Alternatively you can use nerf guns for this classic game and turn it into a friendly competition.
Fire Based Outdoor Activities For Teens
Build a Fire From Scratch
Get your teens to build a fire from scratch, without firelighters! It’s an incredibly useful skill to have and something I’m personally proud that I can do. It’s come in handy on a few occasions when gas camping stoves weren’t working!
If you aren’t sure what to do yourself, then this could be a great bonding activity, one of our good ideas for quality time together.
Cook A Meal On a Fire
Once you have your fire made, then challenge your tween to cook a meal on it. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, simply sausages or bread on a stick. Although we do have this fab campfire eclair recipe you could try.
Learn How To Use a Flint and Steel
Another great method to start a fire is using a flint and steel rather than matches or lighters. The flint and steel creates sparks that light kindling, which can then get the fire started. It’s something that doesn’t run out and so useful to have in a bag for emergencies. Kids will love this challenge for lighting a fire!
Use Charcoal From The Fire To Create Art
You can also use the cooled down charcoals, make sure they are definitely cooled down! Probably best to wait until the following day a fire has been out. Get some paper or even a canvas and use the charcoal to draw and create. It’s a fun natural resource for creating art. This is a great resource for making your own charcoal sticks.
Challenge Outdoor Activities For Teens and Tweens
Orienteering
There are orienteering clubs up and down the UK and you can join in for an evening for just a few pounds. The organisers will give you a map and direct you on how to use the markers, then you simply head off! It’s a lot of fun and very cheap, who knows, maybe you’re child will take it up as a hobby!
Geocaching
You can download an app to your phone, or if you have GPS you can use that to follow coordinates. You will also need to sign up (free) to geocaching.com to find local geocaches. When you find a cache you can enter your details in the log book and sometimes there are ‘treasures’ to swap with too. They’re usually quite camouflaged, so it’s a great ‘grown up’ treasure hunt!
If you go on a road trip download the app so you geocache wherever you end up and end the whining of bored teenagers!
Build a Den
Building a den is not just for little kids. For tweens and teens they can get more into it by building elaborate dens, with better cover, shelving, seats and whatever else they can imagine a den needing. Also a great activity to get a range of kids bonding together.
Learn To Use a Compass And Navigate
Another useful skill and a good challenge too. Once they are competent at using a compass and map together, challenge them to guide you from A to B. They will be immensely proud of themselves for completing this challenge, particularly if it’s getting from the middle of nowhere to civilisation! It’s also a great way for older kids to teach new skills to younger siblings.
Climb a Munro (or hill if not in Scotland!)
A Munro is a Scottish hill that is over 3000ft, there are plenty of other hills throughout other parts of the UK too. It’s a fun challenge and you get a great sense of achievement when you reach the top, particularly when you’re treated to a nice view!
Tug of War With Friends
Get a couple of teams of tweens and teens together to beat each other at tug of war. Best out of 3 pulls! If you’ve not played tug-of-war before you need a similar number of players for each team. The team members hold onto one end of a rope each and pull the rope to get a coloured tape in the middle to be pulled onto their side to win.
Learn To Hula Hoop
If your tween or teen can’t hula hoop, then this is a good challenge to try. It’s not as easy as it looks! They need to keep the hula hoop up for at least 60 seconds! Join in too to have fun yourself!
Create an Obstacle Course
You’re likely to have a whole bunch of kids toys and outdoor games lying around. Put them to good use along with any other useful items such as wooden sleeper, tyres or skipping ropes. The tweens can make their own obstacle course and time themselves and friends to complete it.
Take Part in a Colour Run
Find your local colour run and take part. Basically running for charity and people throw colourful powder at you whilst you run! It doesn’t matter if they are the last person across the line or not, it’s just a fun physical activity for the whole family. Definitely one of the best ways to get a group of friends bonding.
Fun Ideas To Get Teens Off Their Screens
Borrow a Bat Detector And Listen and Watch Bats
Ask if anyone local has a bat detector you can borrow, failing that join the local bat group. They can often lend you a detector or join a bat walk they have arranged. You will be amazed at listening to the bats flying past and hearing feeding buzzes as they catch insects in the air!
Create a Treasure Hunt For a Friend or Sibling
Treasure hunts are great fun and tweens and teens can create an elaborate hunt for someone else. The treasure doesn’t have to be huge, it’s the creating the hunt that is the really fun part!
Print and Solve Sudoku Puzzles
Engage your teen in a screen-free activity that sharpens their mind by printing and solving Sudoku puzzles. It’s a fun and relaxing way to improve logical thinking and problem-solving skills. Try printing sudoku puzzles for a variety of levels to suit everyone. You can even turn it into a friendly competition to see who can complete the puzzles the fastest!
Try a Photo Scavenger Hunt
Make up your own photo scavenger hunt for your teen and tween to try. Or download one for free from the internet. Set them off with a camera to capture all the pictures required, although remind them they get extra points for interesting photos!
Practice Photography Skills
Has your child ever actually used a real camera, rather than a phone camera? There’s something quite satisfying by setting the camera into manual mode and working out how to create excellent photos. Challenge them to extend their photography skills and create some amazing photos outdoors.
Nerf Gun Wars
Lots of tweens seem to have nerf guns, so why not arrange a big meet up at a local park? Then they can arrange nerf gun battles without destroying your house! This is a great idea if you don’t want a water pistol battle! It’s one of those family activities where everyone will get carried away and have a fantastic time!
Nature Art
If your child is interested in art then have them look at some of Andy Goldsworthy’s creations. Then head out into nature and see what type of nature art they are inspired to create! Autumn is pretty good for this, Andy Goldsworthy has created some nature sculptures that look like fire with autumn leaves.
Go For a Night Walk
As nights draw in go for a walk in the late evening, somewhere without streetlights! Obviously don’t let your kids go alone in the dark and make sure others know where you are. You may be lucky and see some wildlife, or just enjoy the strange sensation of darkness all around.
Try Out Go-Ape
Have you ever tried a ropes course? This is great one for adventurous teens and tweens. Walking along high ropes and other obstacles up to 75ft high off the ground! There are different types of height and levels of difficulty at Go Ape sites, with children of 10+ and 1.4m tall being the minimum for the more difficult courses. The kids will have a great time!
Visit a Ruined Castle
Castles are always great fun and there are plenty of ruined castles that are excellent to explore with tweens and teens. Yes, they might not look anything like their glory days, but they do look rather mystical and eerie in ruins. Imagine what life would have been like.
Track Animals
This can be done on muddy river banks, sandy beaches, or even better, in the snow. Looking for animal tracks and identifying them is a lot of fun. Especially when you can find more evidence along the way about what they were hunting or where their dens are.
Learn to Skateboard or Stunt Scooter
There are so many skate parks around local parks and urban areas, so it’s an easy way to get kids outside. Plus it’s ‘cool’ for older children! You can ask on local free pages if anyone has a skateboard or stunt scooter they’re getting rid of. Alternatively check places like Gumtree for a secondhand one? It’s a fab way to keep kids busy in their free time and away from screens.
Best Outdoor Activities Ideas For Tweens and Teens
Go To a Theme Park
Not the cheapest way to get teens off screens, but definitely a fun way! Most teens and tweens love visiting a good amusement park or water park. There are usually plenty of rides to choose from, whether they like them scary, tame or getting soaking wet on the log flume. You should manage a whole day outside this way.
Go Camping!
Get the kids to leave the screens at home (and you too!) and go off camping for a day or two. They are at the age that they can help pitch the tent, cook food and get the water! Bring a ball, frisbee or a SUP if you’re by the sea.
We have plenty of tips on camping in Scotland!
Bike Ride – Add A Picnic
If you have bikes, go for a bike ride somewhere different. Take a picnic with lots of tasty treats and enjoy the trip! For more adventurous teens you could even go bike backpacking! Take a tent and sleeping bags and cycle to the campsite!
Rockpooling
Rockpooling is a great activity for all ages. Older children will be better at spotting wildlife that are hiding in plain sight. Check behind rocks in the pools and you may find some surprising animals.
Build a Solar Oven To Make S’mores
Solar oven’s are incredibly easy to make. Simply a box, tinfoil and cling film, check on Pinterest for a how-to. Then take it outside on a sunny day and watch those s’mores melt into a tasty snack! This is perfect for taking to the beach with you too.
Set Up a Hammock – Outdoor Activities For Teens
Set up a hammock in the garden or out in a nearby woods for a little while. Tweens and teens may like to kick back in the hammock whilst admiring the canopy, or even reading a book.
Create a Trail Using Trail Signs
Search online for trail signs and then let the tweens and teens stay one step ahead of you. They can set out a trail using sticks and stones to direct you which way to go. Do agree a meeting point if you get lost though!
We prefer to use sticks to create arrows, crosses etc., they’re much easier to see!
Go To a Sculpture Park
There are sculpture parks all over the UK. In Scotland there is Jupiter Artland (we love to visit!) and I know that York sculpture park is meant to be amazing too. A good way to get them outdoors and interested in various different types of outdoor sculptures. Art is very subjective!
Visit An Outdoor Attraction You’ve Never Been To!
Have you visited all the local attractions in your area? Or is there somewhere you’ve been meaning to visit and never got around to? Well, this is a good time to get out there and visit some local attractions! In Scotland I’d recommend Blairdrummond safari park, South Lakes Safari zoo in Cumbria is awesome and of course Hadrians wall is a fantastic place to be outdoors and pretend to be a Roman. It’s nice to be a tourist on your own door step.
Other Awesome Outdoor Activities for Teens and Tweens
Team Games
Another good one to get larger groups of tweens and teens spending time together. Big wide games such as catch the flag, rounders, football etc. They are all good to get tweens and teens bonding and having fun outside. Team sports can be a great thing to get teens to bond more. They can also be fun party games for kids of all ages.
Set Up a Wildlife Camera
Technically you will need to watch the results on a screen. However, finding a good location (use those tracking skills from earlier) and setting it up somewhere discreetly is a bit of a skill. You may have to try setting it up in various locations before you get something good recorded!
Go Foraging
Tweens and teens love to eat, so why not get them out finding their food?! Borrow a foraging book from the library and see what you can find in your local area. You could simply forage leaves and flowers for a salad, berries to cook into a crumble or even nettles for nettle soup! There are lots of foraging recipes online, as well as in recipe books, so it’s a great opportunity to get the kids baking or cooking too.
Stargazing
A clear evening snuggled into a sleeping bag whilst staring up at the stars. It will surprise you what you can see just lying there watching! There are plenty of constellations to spot, satellites and the ISS zooming past. Plus if you choose a night when there is a meteor shower then you will have an even better stargazing evening!
Paint Outdoors
Take a sketch pad and water colour paints outdoors to paint what you see. Better yet, take a cheap canvas and easel, set it up in a great location and paint away. Make sure you take one for yourself as well as your children. It can actually be quite freeing painting outdoors!
Wood Whittling
Teach your tweens and teens knife safety and learn to whittle wood together. It’s a fun activity! Start off with basics such as wands and then progress onto spoons or birds, it’s not as hard as it looks and just takes some practice and the right type of wood.
Explore Off The Path
Take a walk, but go for a detour off the path and see where you end up. Just be aware that this is only possible in places that you can’t trespass easily, such as certain wild areas of the UK or in Scotland. Also be aware of dangers such as cliffs and sinking sand. Definitely bring a phone, a map and compass!
Split Rocks For Treasure
Visit a beach or old mine spoil and look for interesting rocks to split. You can buy a rock hammer to break open rocks to look for fossils or in old spoil heaps to find interesting metal such as lead. Search online for the best local places.
Create an Outdoor Skit With Friends
We often forget that our older children have fantastic imaginations too. Challenge them to create a skit with friends, it can be a comedy, drama or whatever they feel like! Just let them have fun and get creative!
Other Awesome Ideas For Teens
Pin 50 Outdoor Activities For Teens and Tweens
