Early learning professionals spend countless hours preparing their classroom environments by thoughtfully choosing materials and planning a developmentally appropriate curriculum. Outdoor activities tend to get less attention and preparation, even though, as described by The Outdoor Classroom Project, whole child development and early learning occurs “everywhere and all the time”.
Children benefit from play-based learning activities that take place both inside and outside of the classroom. The warm weather months offer an ideal opportunity to expand outdoors with a curriculum that encourages creativity, motor skill development, and social- emotional learning.
Infants enjoy fresh air, and time outdoors offers new ways for infants to explore and develop. Planning outdoor activities for infants who are not yet able to walk will, of course, need to take babies’ limited mobility into consideration. Here are a few outdoor activities that will delight the very youngest learners!
Nature Soup: Meri Cherry
Opportunities to explore with sensory bins and water tables are particularly enjoyable for toddlers and young preschoolers. Water tables are best done outdoors, as they can get messy, especially when they are used to cool off on hot days! As a note, always ensure that children have dry clothes to change into after water play. It can be helpful to encourage parents to bring in extra clothes to be left in the child’s cubby.
We all know how much children enjoy getting messy, and projects that allow children to freely explore textures of squishy paints and art materials is a great way to combine creativity and sensory learning (Click here to learn more about the benefits of messy art). Messy art is best done outdoors, where spills are welcome and clean-up is easy.
Elephant Toothpaste:
Fun at Home with Kids
Young children are curious explorers, a vitally important quality they love to express by participating in science, engineering, math, and art activities. STEM and STEAM encourage hands-on learning, and messy experiments lend themselves to outdoor play. Science and art learning are both enhanced by being experienced in a natural environment. (Click here to learn more about STEM learning.)
While climbing and gross motor movement can be done indoors, the best way for children to really move their large muscles is by playing outside. Toddlers and preschoolers love running, jumping, and moving their bodies in the fresh air and open spaces.
While math is often thought of as an indoor academic learning experience, many fun math activities can be easily brought outdoors! Try counting and categorizing the natural objects that you find outside, such as rocks, pinecones, leaves, or twigs.
You’ll find many more ideas for fun, nature-based learning activities in Good2Know Network’s Outdoor & Sensory Play section!
