Have you found yourself doing more activities outside with your children during lockdown? Have you made the most of those daily walks? Have you maximised your garden or outdoor space if you have one?

A study has revealed that half of parents have been doing MORE outdoor activities with their children since the lockdown was introduced.

Since the social distancing restrictions reducing movement and travelling were introduced in March, families have been using their gardens and nearby outdoor space to get back to nature while out walking or exercising.

More than 51 per cent have been doing more activities in their garden as a family than usual, while 49 per cent have been enjoying more walks together.

Three quarters of parents have even been using the great outdoors as a classroom by incorporating nature into their home schooling lessons, with 87 per cent believing being outside is good for their youngster’s mental health.

Eco-friendly paint maker Farrow & Ball, which commissioned the research, launched a competition to encourage families to celebrate nature and the colours around them.

Families were asked to share a colour they found in the natural world as a suggestion for a paint shade.

More than 4,000 entries were submitted, with the UK’s winning colour ‘Dirty Beetroot’ being brought to life and given to the winner Daisy Sansum to use at home in Gloucestershire.

The study, of 2,000 adults also revealed, perhaps unsurprisingly, that seven in 10 adults wish they spent more time in nature than they currently do, and 74 per cent of parents want their children to head outdoors more often as they appreciate the positive benefits.

More than two thirds of respondents said that being in nature made them feel more relaxed and calmer.

As a result, many try to bring the outside in, with more than half of those polled, via OnePoll, being inspired by something in nature – like a colour or pattern – in their home décor choices.

Painting our living spaces in a colour that’s inspired by nature is a great way of bringing the outdoors in at a time when we are spending more time at home than ever before.

To test your knowledge of the great outdoors, go to https://www.farrow-ball.com/take-our-nature-quiz

We’ve been spending tons of time outside, have you?