10 Outdoor Literacy Activities

There’s no reason to limit literacy learning to indoor spaces. In fact, there are lots of ways to encourage a love of reading and writing whilst spending time outside and today I am sharing ten outdoor literacy activities that I’ve enjoyed with my own two sons – one of whom is 8 (and an avid reader) and the other who is 5 (and not quite a full-fledged reader yet).

10 Outdoor Literacy Activities

10 Outdoor Literacy Activities

1. Read outside
Grab a few books and head outside. Bring along a blanket to sit on, find a tree to lean up against, or cuddle up in an outdoor fort. Read together or allow your child time to read alone– whichever feels appropriate.

2. Play with alphabet rocks
Create a set of alphabet rocks by painting letters onto smooth pebbles with acrylic paint pens. Choose a variety of colors or make a set of capital letters in one color and lowercase letters in another. Be sure to try a variety of outdoor reading activities with your alphabet rocks, including those from our list of 9 Alphabet Games to Play with Alphabet Stones that suit your child’s literacy learning stage.

Alphabet stones: outdoor literacy activity idea

3. Make story stones
More drawing on rocks – this time using pictures instead of letters. Create nature-themed images such as birds, animals, flowers, trees, landscape elements, insects and the elements. Then take turns telling stories using the stones as prompts.

4. Create your own Nature ABC Book
Go on a nature hunt with your little one – around your neighborhood, backyard, park, garden, local zoo or aquarium. Look for something to represent each letter of the alphabet and take a picture of that item. Print out the photos and place them in a dedicated scrapbook or album to form your very own ABC book. Add letters, words and other facts as desired.

Outdoor literacy activities

5. Use nature for letter and word making
Kids learning to identify the letters of the alphabet, their name or sight words will have fun shaping letters or words using items found in nature such as small pebbles, sticks or flower petals.

Outdoor writing activities for kids

6. Go on an outdoor scavenger hunt

Use our free Alphabet Scavenger Hunt Printable and head outdoors on a nature based alphabet hunt. Or try our Five Senses Outdoor Scavenger Hunt with younger children.

7. Keep a nature journal
While a traditional nature journal usually focuses on discoveries and sketches, ours include any kind of writing the kids want to include about their outdoor adventures.

For example, this summer I encouraged my sons to keep a summer adventure journal. The 5 year old wrote one sentence and a picture with each entry. (He told me what he wanted to write and I spelled it out for him; he wrote all his own letters). The 8 year old sketched too but also wrote at least a paragraph about each entry.

8. Discover field guides
My 5 year old is a self-proclaimed animal rescuer and as such is now consumed with learning about all things animal. In addition to traditional children’s books about animals we’re also reading field guides. Check out our collection of the best field guides for kids – which also includes suggestions for using nature guides to make reading fun.

Field guides for outdoor literacy

9. Make your own backyard field guide
Once young children are familiar with field guide basics, try making your own. Children can practice drawing, letter writing and more as they create their own backyard field guide. Keep it general or focus on your child’s specific interests, such as a bird watching guide, animal book or flower guide about your garden space or neighborhood.

Outdoor literacy lessons for kids

10. Read about nature indoors too
If your child has a specific interest in the great outdoors – like my self-proclaimed animal rescuer – encourage that passion by reading about it whenever you normally read together. Take advantage of your local library to vary up your titles, or stick with a few old favorites. We have a number of themed book suggestion posts for nature lovers, including;

For more outdoor learning ideas, check out these related posts;

20 Fun Ways to Play With Sticks
101 Things to Do Outdoors Printable Play Poster
Outdoor Scavenger Hunts Ideas

3 Comments

  1. GREAT post, Debi! Love this ideas!!!

    1. Thank you, Amelia! 🙂

  2. I love getting outdoors with my kids. Miss 4 is really interested in the alphabet, so she’s really going love the activity to make letters with nature as well as the others. Thanks!

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