Recently, Dad and I did something kind of stupid…

We had gone out for our daily walk, this time via snowshoe, on a beautiful sunny afternoon. The temperature was just below 30 F (-1 C) and we were basking in it like a fat cat in a windowsill. 

We had hiked down to the rapids close to our property, where the water is open. That’s when dad turned to me and said, “Hey! We should go canoeing.”

This was a stupid idea for a multitude of reasons. Chiefly, it would’ve been easy to tip the canoe and end up in the rapids, a quarter of a mile from home. This was especially gutsy after we had just heard our neighbors story of falling through the ice.

However, there was one big simple reason to do it, it was fun!

That’s all Dad had to suggest for me to get on board with the idea. The next thing I knew, he was handing me a paddle to help dig our Wenonah out from under a pile of snow.

Once she was free, we buckled up our life jackets and chose an axe to help us break through the thin ice leading up to the rapids. 

Having been glued at the hip for 26 years, Dad and I work well together. Without much discussion, we portaged the canoe down to the shore and onto thin ice. I was careful to steady the canoe as Dad tip-toed to the stern.

My gut was telling me this would be risky but ultimately a success. We were playing a little game with the river and that alone sparked excitement in my heart!

After a team effort, we were able to chop through the inch and a half thick ice, which was drifting around us in big sheets. Dad squawked at me to put my phone away but how else was I supposed to get cheeky pictures like this for you folks?

Now it was smooth sailing down the rapids to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area border sign. 

It was a very short stretch of open water we could paddle…maybe a quarter of a mile. But that quarter of a mile was the most exciting afternoon this February.

I had forgotten how much I love paddling! During the summertime, we are so dependent on the canoe but, in the heart of winter, summer seems like a distant friend. 

Slicing the blade of my paddle through the crystal clear Seagull River was like hugging a friend I hadn’t seen in ages. Dad and I were smiling ear to ear.

From our unique vantage point, we saw items at the bottom of the river, dropped by previous paddlers. We could see every slab of granite, every pebble, every green plant rooted in the river flowing with the rapids.

Because this is one of the only stretches of open water in the area, it acts as a community watering hole for the local wildlife. We spent several minutes trying to distinguish the different prints on the shore. Our guesses included fox, otter, wolf, moose, and pine martens.

Once we had examined the animal tracks, stared at the river bed, and maneuvered the rapids it was time to paddle back upstream and through our channel in the ice.

I felt like a kid at the end of recess…happy for the time outside and sad to go in.

Which brings me to the point of this article, we should all be spending time outside – playing like kids! My story of canoeing the rapids in February was simply an illustration of outdoor play.

But what can we pull out of that story?

The engineer side of me needed a quantifiable list, which is why I browsed the internet, reading articles about play and the outdoors, to bring you a bulleted list of benefits.

Outdoor play is essential to our wellbeing and here’s why:

1.Playing outdoors enhances your ability to cope with stress and be in the present moment!

When I was breaking through ice on the river with Dad, I wasn’t thinking about what I should make for dinner or worried about when our snowmobile would be fixed (still hasn’t happened by the way).

I was simply in the moment, having fun with a person I care about. Those moments tend to be too far and few between in our modern age of technology and convenience.

That being said, it’s very easy to be swept away by the stressful complexities of society. However, outdoor play can be our anchor, allowing us to gain some perspective on what truly matters and let stressors roll off our backs more easily.

The phrase “don’t sweat the small stuff and, you know what, it’s almost all small stuff” comes to mind.

According to a study by Lynn Barnett, a professor of recreation, sports and tourism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, outdoor play allows us to reframe everyday situations (even stressful ones) into entertainment.

2.Playing outside keeps you feeling young and energetic!

Has anyone seen the movie, Tag? It’s about a group of adults who have been playing the same game of tag for 30 years and it’s based on a true story!

If you’re looking for a casual funny flick, check it out. But anyways, in the movie, the characters abide by the words of George Bernard Shaw, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

I’ve found that sentiment to be true in my own life. There have been many instances where I took myself too seriously and forgot to loosen up. As children, we rarely take ourselves too seriously. We’re too busy using our imaginations.

According to an article from the New York Times, us humans have two different types of thinking: exploration and exploitation. As kids, we operate under the exploration mind frame, trying new ideas out and coming up with unusual solutions (aka imagination). As we age out of childhood, into adolescence, we adopt a more exploitation approach – meaning we call upon our knowledge of the world to come up with solutions.

This is a neccesary function of evolution and survival. However, incorporating more play in our natural world as adults serves to spark that imaginative state of exploration, which we don’t expereince as fequently in adulthood.

This exploration leaves us feeling creative, free from judgment, and young at heart again!

3.Outdoor play enhances bonding and communication!

University of Wisconsin Health psychologist Shilagh Mirgain, Ph.D., explains that “play bonds us together in a different kind of way. It builds trust, quiets our inner-critic and eases our feelings of stress.”

My family has built our summer camp program on this value! Sending young boys out on canoe trips bonds them in ways you’d be hard-pressed to experience in everyday life.

They paddle back from a trip having howled at the moon like wolves, caught and cooked trout for dinner, and portaged canoes as a team.

4.Playing Outdoors Enhances Creativity and Focus

Psychologists found that backpackers scored 50 percent higher on creativity tests after spending a few days in the outdoors, away from electronics.

I don’t know about you, but I spend a good amount of time writing on my laptop every day and, often times, I experience writer’s block. If goofing around outside for an afternoon can help focus my mind and open the creative flood gates even a little bit…sign me up!

There are so many reasons to get outside and act like a goof ball but those are my favorites!

You might be thinking, “Can’t I just find ways to play indoors?”

Yes, of course you can but what did your mother always tell you? Go play outside! I hate to say it but mothers are usually right.

Getting outside has a multitude of benefits but, in a nutshell, it allows us to feel human – it’s in our DNA. Coupled with a playful nature, being in the wilderness is a powerful remedy for our most modern woes.

If you’ve got an outdoorsy clown in your life, share this with him/her! If you’re the clown, comment below with your most playful story of outdoor adventure!

As always, thanks for reading,