Outdoor Leisure Activities for Seniors

Scenic Walk
Walking is a healthy outdoor leisure activity for seniors, especially when paired with different locations and activities. Choose to walk in parks or wilderness areas, up hiking trails or along a stream. If you enjoy taking pictures combine the walk with taking pictures of scenes that inspire. If you are or would like to be an artist, bring along canvas and paint and make a memory of your walk on canvas. If you like to write or journal, take time to jot notes, journal observations or write a poem.

Bird Watching
Plan a route through the neighborhood, a park or a nearby wilderness area for a leisure outdoor senior activity. Take binoculars, or not, as preferred. A small notebook to jot observations leads to discoveries, while a camera captures memories of the leisure afternoon. Capture the bird or birds with your camera. Jot down particulars about the type of bird such as color, behavior, type of nesting place, etc.

After the walk, if using a digital camera, download the pictures. If your camera is not digital have prints developed from your film. Try to identify the kind of birds you watched. With your information, you can extend your activity to an indoor one, creating a slide show, a photo album or scrapbook.

Gardening
Gardening relaxes even as it provides beauty, food or both and makes for a positive outdoor leisure activity for seniors. A garden doesn't have to be large. Pick a plot of ground and begin turning over the soil. If the soil is not conducive to plant growth, add fertilizer or whatever is needed. If you do not know much about gardening, purchase a book, talk to friends who do and/or visit a garden center for advice.

If an elderly person is unable to bend or stoop to the ground, a raised garden can be created with stacked old tires or a wooden box filled with soil to the right height for the gardener to work unencumbered. An older person can also buy large pots for planting that can be moved indoors when weather cools.

Fishing
A nearby a lake or stream offers the possibility of the outdoor leisure activity for seniors and the whole family of fishing. A fisherman may stand on the bank or go out in a boat for a day of fishing. On most lakes, boats, even fishing equipment, can often be rented for the day.

Golf
Many play golf well into their senior years. Couples and friends who golf, spend a leisurely afternoon on the golf course of their choice. However, not everyone plays regular golf. Miniature golf provides another alternative outdoor leisure activity for seniors. Miniature golf offers both fun and entertainment.