Today is National Play Outside Day, the first Saturday of the month, and a simple reminder to step away from the house and do something outside. No program. No schedule. Just fresh air.
When my brother and I were kids, nobody had to remind us. We were already out there.
We played almost every day. Not the kind of play that waited on perfect weather. If the ground was dry, we were in the yard. If it rained, we waited it out and went back. If it snowed, we bundled up and went anyway. Cold fingers and wet boots were part of the deal. Coming in only happened when somebody called us, or when it got too dark to see the bases.
We played softball until the ball disappeared into the grass. We played tag until somebody was winded and laughing too hard to run. We made up other games on the spot, the kind that only lasted an afternoon and never needed a rule book.
Most of all, we played pretend.
Whole afternoons disappeared into stories we made up as we went. A patch of yard became somewhere else. A stick became whatever the story needed. My brother and I took turns being the hero, the villain, the kid who knew the secret. Nobody handed us a script. We built the world, argued about what happened next, and kept going until supper.
I am a firm believer that those afternoons taught me how to write.
Novels and middle-grade books do not start with a perfect outline. They start the same way pretend did. You look at an ordinary place and ask what if. You put people in it. You follow them when they run, hide, argue, or find something they were not supposed to find. The yards and fields of those books, the kids on a treasure hunt, the girls crossing a bridge they are not sure about, all of that grew out of hours spent outside with nothing but time and a story we were making up.
Screens are fine in their place. I use them. Most of us do. But I sure do wish more kids would put them down for a while and breathe real air. Not because the outdoors is a lesson. Because it is where a lot of the good stuff still happens. Running until your lungs burn. Making up a game that does not exist yet. Staying out a little longer because the story isn't finished.
National Play Outside Day was started in 2011 for exactly that reason. Aaron Wiggans and Rhonda Abeyta wanted families to get outside together, once a month, on purpose. The first Saturday. No special gear required.
If you have a yard, a sidewalk, or a park down the block, that is enough. Toss a ball. Play tag. Build something out of snow if you have it. Or just turn two kids loose and let them pretend the maple tree is a lookout.
That is how a lot of writers get their start. They just don't know it yet.
#PlayOutsideDay #TheCloverfieldGirls #TheDirtFootGang #WhisperingPines
