8 Ways to Spend Time in the Finnish Nature in Spring

In Finland, we have easily accessible local nature all around us. This local nature offers us peace, beauty, and vitality. A nature spot doesn’t need to be vast to make us happy – even a small area is enough. Finland is sparsely populated, and there is plenty of space for everyone, as long as we don’t all intentionally crowd into the same places.

I’ve listed some springtime tips below, with which you, specifically, can thoroughly enjoy your local nature, perhaps even see it with entirely new eyes, and momentarily forget the worries of the world. The following tips can and should be adapted to suit your own backyard. These activities can all be done alone or with a friend.

Focus on Seeing Both Near and Far

On a familiar patch of nature, one tends to move so habitually that one doesn’t notice to stop to sense and explore more closely. The familiar path, the familiar forest, the familiar trees – but how closely have you actually ever looked at them? What kinds of individual trees are around you? What kinds of young, what kinds of old trees? What might they have seen or will see in their lifetimes? What features do their bark and branches have? And what life is happening on the ground? Stop to think and look closely, and let your imagination run free to picture in the forest maybe Moomins or goblins. At the same time, you can enjoy the secure feeling that familiarity brings. Although the world around is tumultuous, the atmosphere in a Finnish forest remains unchanged.

Lie Down on the Ground

Of course, you don’t always have to be doing something. Sit on a stump or lie down on a bed of moss. With waterproof outerwear and sufficiently warm layering, this is entirely possible and comfortable even on wet weather. Relax. Close your eyes and sigh deeply. Fill your lungs with fresh forest air. Hear and feel how the wind sways and rustles the trees of the forest. If it’s comfortable in the moss, curl up into a fetal position and even take a nap. Let the forest heal and your mind rest.

Look for Treasure

Treasure hunting is addictive. See local nature now through the eyes of a child – any slightly exciting find is a treasure. Can you find a bird’s feather, an animal’s track, or a peculiar stone? Is there an interesting piece of bark, funny-looking lichen, babbling brook, or even a deer antler? It’s also great to find a large icicle and detach it whole for closer examination. Look at nature closely and with curious eyes. Touch, smell, listen. In such a treasure hunt, you can easily get into a flow state, and time can fly by.

Stretch or Exercise

Nature offers great opportunities for maintaining physical fitness. Walking, running, paddling, cycling, skiing, and snowshoeing move you forward, but even on a small patch of nature, you can engage in various exercises, such as stretching and perhaps squats or push-ups. If it suits your fitness level and you find a suitable tree, you can even climb it!

Google tips for exercise or stretching movements that suit you, either before your nature trip or even while you’re in nature if you have a smart device. For example, YouTube has plenty of guide videos for a few minutes of stretching, exercises, and yoga in the forest that don’t require any special equipment or gear.

Learn Spring Birds and Follow the progress of spring

Spring is one of the best times to learn about new feathered friends, as birds returning from migration arrive in the north each at their own pace. Get a bird book and learn to identify a few new species. Warning – this can be really addictive! In bird identification, it’s essential to pay attention to, for example, the size of the bird, the shape of its beak, and the environment you see it in. Are you familiar with, for instance, the European greenfinch, the northern shoveler, or the sparrowhawk?

Spring monitoring adds a goal-oriented aspect to observing nature, and it’s also generally beneficial, so definitely make use of a spring monitoring checklist (only in Finnish, here). Did you know that there are separate spring monitoring checklists for children and for Northern Finland? Explore the lists, tips, and instructions!

Practice Photography with Your Phone – or Draw

Photography and drawing are skills that develop by doing. If you haven’t tried them yet, now is the perfect time to start. Spring light brings out stunning shapes and colors in nature. As you look at the world through the lens, you’ll gradually start to perceive both beautiful broad vistas and intriguing details in nature. You don’t need a fancy camera, as even with a phone, you can capture splendid shots. If you wish, you can share your photos on social media for others to enjoy and thus create a sense of community. Over time, hopefully, you’ll accumulate photos from different times of the year and day, and you might even consider making a photo book of your local forest!

If you don’t want to roam around nature with a phone or camera, take a notepad and pencil and draw something. It doesn’t matter at all if the last time you drew was as a child – no one will judge your drawing, so you can draw and breathe freely. Drawing requires you to stop and focus, and it forces you to look closely at the details. It doesn’t matter if you never show your drawing to anyone. Draw a lingonberry branch, a small bird, or anything you see! Or perhaps at home, you could draw or even paint something you photographed in nature?

Give Music a Chance

The silence of nature or, for example, its springtime soundscapes full of life, are wonderful to listen to. Give music a chance at least once – try enjoying nature with some music that suits the mood through your headphones. This is especially suitable for places where, for example, the sound of traffic means that you wouldn’t be able to hear the silence of nature anyway. See if music can bring out a completely new kind of experience or feeling from nature. Both nature and music have therapeutic effects. Try combining them and see how you feel. However, please never listen to music in nature through speakers, but allow nature and any other people the peace to enjoy nature without your chosen soundtrack.

Pick up trash

As the snow melts in spring, litter may be revealed on the ground. Take a bag along and collect it to feel good. Picking up litter has been scientifically shown to reduce eco-anxiety, and you can see the tangible results of your efforts. Some libraries also offer litter collection tools for free borrowing.

This post is also available in: German