Have you ever read with your children outside at night?
Driving home from work last night, the nearly full moon was gorgeous. When I stepped out of the car into the music of so many crickets I knew I had to get P out of the house to soak it up. It wasn’t fully dark, but the moon was already glowing. We listened to the crickets, looked for stars (none yet) and headed inside, but I wanted more. The weather was perfect, there weren’t any biting insects and the moon was too beautiful to ignore. I suggested we read outside on the patio instead of in bed. “Okay,” P said. “But…won’t it be too dark to read?!” We decided to read with the patio light on and headed out.
I’ll do nearly anything that gets him excited about reading and this definitely did. After reading for a while, we decided it was too cool out in the moonlight to go in (even though it was clearly after bedtime). We sat on the cool grass and used our new night sky mobile app to see what constellations we could see. It’s one of the best memories we’ve made so far this summer…this year. We’ll definitely be doing it again tonight by the light of the full moon.
Start a new summer tradition
Nighttime reading takes very little preparation and is too fun to pass up. Get the kiddos in their pajamas, brush their teeth and head outside with a flashlight and a pile of books. Sit on the grass, at a picnic table or in lawn chairs and talk about the noises you hear around you, shadows, stars and the moon, or just start reading. We’re thinking about making it a monthly date to read outside when there’s a full moon.
Whether it’s on the patio or by the campfire, do you ever read outside at night?
We have that same book! 🙂 We’ve never gone outside at night to read, we will definitely have to give that a try!
Yes! We have read outside, but we did it by flashlight. I’ll have to wait until we get a full moon and give this a try. Thanks for sharing.
We still needed the patio light to read, but the nearly full moon made it a little more special 🙂
I’ve never read with the kids at night, but during the summers, Peanut and I can be found with a blanket in the yard reading under a shade tree or on a blanket on the deck soaking up some sun.
Reading outside, day or night is fun!
My daughter would love this. My son would only be interested if it involved staying up past his bedtime and getting some sort of sweet treat!
Sounds like my son…
I would love to but the bugs are too bad. lol. We read before going to bed. : )
We’ve just been lucky lately, no bugs!
This would be fun! We’ve talked about setting up a tent and sleeping outdoors–but if we don’t get to that, maybe we’ll at least read outside–we could sit on our trampoline and do it too!
Cool idea!
Now that is a super, super neat idea I’d never heard before. Thanks!
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This sounds like a great idea. I love the different things that you come up with.
That sounds like a great tradition! My older son was into that series too last year!
What a neat idea! I never would have thought of this. My son would love it!
We’ve noticed how the senses of touch, smell, and hearing seem to really come alive at night outside. It just seems easier then to notice the breeze on your face or the grass between your toes as you walk barefoot. Just love it!