We often go on an outdoor adventure or two on the weekends. But during the week I'm full of excuses. We can go days without spending more than a few moments outdoors.

I've decided to reinstate a daily green hour.

In his book 'The Green Hour', Todd Christopher suggests that the nature deficit disorder that many children experience today can be alleviated by reclaiming a ‘green hour’ a day for play and discovery in the natural world.

‘A green hour is simply a time for families to unplug, unwind, and recharge as they reconnect to the natural world – and to each other’. - Todd Christopher

To get the ball rolling we're planning another urban adventure. 

60 green spaces in 60 weekdays

Using Google Maps I've identified 60 green spaces within our neighbourhood. We're going to try and visit each of these green spaces over the next three months. Each weekday afternoon either Daddy Eco or I will take Little Eco to one of these spaces.

We won't have a plan for what we'll do once we get there. We'll leave that up to Little Eco. We're going to embrace unstructured outdoor play. Some spaces have a creek, or bushland, or a playground, whereas others are little more than an oval or playground.

We started our urban adventure a few days ago. Little Eco is enjoying selecting a new 'dot' to explore each day. 

How to plan your own urban adventure

You can create your own map of green spaces like ours above using Google Maps. Bring your neighbourhood up on the map and then click on 'My Places' and then 'Create Map'. Give your map a name and you can then start adding 'placemarks' by clicking on the little blue placemark symbol and then clicking on a green space. I mapped almost every public green space within a few km of our neighbourhood.

Your approach to planning an urban adventure can also be less technical. Last time I planned an urban adventure I simply photocopied two pages from our street directory and highlighted all the parks and green spaces.

Do your children spend much time outdoors on weekdays? Are you interested in planning your own urban adventure?