August | 2022 | Roaming Rosie

How to Watch a Sunset With Your Kids: 7 Step-by-Step Instructions

I originally wrote this essay a few years ago and never published it. At the time I felt like maybe I was being a bit melodramatic.

My kids are older now (the one in the pic is twelve and in middle school!!) but I now feel that this kind of thing is timeless. I still cherish these kinds of quiet nature moments that are strikingly beautiful, and in this loud world, I sometimes still need the reminder to center myself in the moment.

Enjoy :)

How to Watch a Sunset with Your Kids

1. Find a Spot With a Nice View

A sprawling forested mountainside or the sparkling shore of a vast ocean would be ideal, but a small yard decorated with those, ahem, artistically placed brown dirt patches and a rusting grill {that you’ve been promising yourself for over a year now that you would clean} will suffice.

Work with what you’ve got.

2. Relax

Sit down. Lean on a railing. Lay out on a towel. Chill.

This one actually may take some preparation. For example, if you don’t want to find yourself trying to run through the house with a child in tow after nearly choking on your soda when you heard the shriek of, “Mommy, I have to go potty RIGHT NOW!” then be sure to do a potty break {or diaper check} before you settle in.

3. Turn Off Your Cell Phone

Or at least turn off the ringer. If you’re like me you’ll probably want to snap a few photos with your phone, but don’t take any calls. Don’t surf the web. Wordle can wait.

Trust me, Facebook doesn’t need your attention. In fact, it probably won’t even miss you.

4. Take Off Your Shoes

It helps with the relaxing. It removes literal and figurative pressures.

And your kids probably won’t argue, if they still have their shoes on. My kids, for example, are constantly trying to take their shoes off. At church, at Target, at the library … everywhere except our house, when they suddenly want to model every pair they own.

But running around outdoors without your shoes on helps you to live in the experience.

5. Laugh

This one’s important.

6. Let Them Get Dirty

Let them crawl around in the sand, the surf, the dirt. Let them run though the grass in their bare feet and dance in your neatly raked piles of leaves. Let them explore.

True, that grass stain may never come out of that shirt, but from here on out it will now function as a happy reminder of this magical moment. If you let it.

7. Never Take Your Eyes Off Them

As the pastels soften the horizon and transform the world around you, never take your eyes off of your children. Because the sun will set tomorrow, just as it always has, and just as it always will. But the sunset of your child’s youth will happen while you blink, and their innocence will disappear overnight. So never take your eyes off of what is most precious in this world; more precious than jewels.

Watch the sunset in the crimson and coral glint on the hair of your child. Watch the sunset in your child’s shifting shadow as it dances across the sand or the dirt or the grass at their feet.

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Our Mystery Map and Backyard Treasure Hunt was so much fun!

This is a great outdoor activity, and while it’s still quite hot outside as I write this, fall is coming. (Please hurry!!)

When I did this with my girls, I actually drew the map. I love maps, and I love floor plans, so for me it was astounding fun to create a layout of the backyard. Another option, however, is letting your kids make the map. Or make it a collaborate effort. It really depend on the ages of your children.

My main goal here, however, was the treasure hunt, as opposed to the map making. The latter, of course, is a great activity too, but instead of making the map, I had my kids navigate the one I made. With the goal of finding treasure!

I got some new small toys (in this case, Tsum Tsums mini plush) and hid them inside some large-sized Easter eggs. Then I hid the eggs outside, handed the kids the map, and let them loose.

The instructions I had given them were to search the yard and make marks on the map to assist in the search.

Essentially, their mission was to mark off on the map each time they found an egg, and to cross off sections they searched which did not contain eggs.

As you can see below, I included everything from a bird bath to the tree swing on my map, but it doesn’t have to be that detailed. Unless you’re obsessive like me – then go all out!

My kids decided to use the two colors of markers for different purposes. They chose purple to circle the places where they found eggs, and pink to cross off the places they looked that were egg-less. I’d let them know there were four eggs, so they also knew when to stop.

Then they got to open their treasure eggs. So the hunt was fun, the treasure was exciting, and I was happy because they were outside in the fresh air. Wins all around.

No backyard? No worries! This can also be done inside (drawing couches and tables instead of trees), or you can head to your local park. If you’re planning a treasure hunt in a public place, however, you may want to hide vouchers of a sort that they can trade in for eggs, so that your kid can still find something but you don’t have to worry about someone else walking off with the treasure.

And, of course, y’all know I’m gonna talk about books if I get the change, right??

This was a project we did awhile ago (what can I say – it’s been a weird few years *shrugs*), but I got excited when I found a recent picture book that goes along with nicely with this type of activity.

The Boy Who Loved Maps by Kari Allen and G. Brian Karas is such a fun exploration of map making! It follows two children through the process of making a map of their neighborhood – and also exploring different places around the neighborhood – so if you’re already making a map of your backyard like we did here, this book makes a great visual for kids.

It has some educational backmatter to help you describe map making to kids, and it can give them ideas for drawing their own. Plus, it’s also an adorable story! The language used to describe their environment is nothing short of magical. I definitely recommend reading it.

You can get it at your local library or here:

The Boy Who Loved Maps on Amazon

The Boy Who Loved Maps on IndieBound

I’d love to hear about any similar activities that your family has done!

Happy Treasure Hunting!