Needless to say, I ended up letting my little Gracie (when she was a baby), play in our yard. She absolutely LOVED it! She did flips and 150* turns, and sprinted all over the yard! Afterwards, of course, I checked her all over for bugs in her ear and in her fur. She was completely fine.
Domesticated rabbits love being outside. It's the wild side of them I guess; they love feeling free and nibbling fresh grass and clover.
PLAYING OUTSIDE PROS:
-The rabbit gets exercise that it can also get running around your house; but not everyone wants their house littered with bunny droppings. This is the biggest pro. Rabbits NEED exercise. I'll be doing a blog post on that soon
-The rabbit can feel free, if only for a short time
-You can have the rabbit out of the way in a playpen if you need to clean out cages
PLAYING OUTSIDE CONS:
-Rabbits can sometimes get bugs from being outside. We have several cats in our yard all the time while they are wearing flea collars. That's another one of my worries: what if my bunny got fleas?? My rabbits are fine though. They play outside often and I've never had to deal with a bug problem
-Rabbits can encounter poisonous plants (leaves, flowers, ivy, ect. ect), that are so tempting to not eat.....
Needless to say, in my opinion, the pros outweigh the cons by A LOT! As long as you are watching your rabbit vigilantly, never leave its side, and just enjoy playing with it while it's outside, it shouldn't get into any trouble and the experience should be fantastic for both of you.