Following on from last year’s popular post – 25 Ways to Have Fun, I present to you 25 Ways to Have Fun Outdoors. Great for families, why not try something from the list this weekend!
1. Climb a tree.
2. Throw a frisbee.
3. Spend time together on an evening family walk or ride.
4. Fill a tub or a paddle pool for some water play.
5. Paint a fence or a window.
6. Head to a National Park for a bushwalk.
7. Grab a magnifying glass and hunt for bugs!
8. Swing your hips in a hula hoop.
9. Get busy in the garden and pull some weeds or plant some vegetables.
10. Play a game of chasey or hide and seek – or both!
(you might also love these other fun, active games for kids)
11. Try catching dinner with a spot of fishing.
12. Draw a hopscotch grid with chalk on the pavement and get jumping.
13. Scramble up a hill. And roll back down again.
14. Bounce on a space hopper, pogo stick or trampoline.
15. Build a blanket cubby house.
16. Camp at home.
17. Set up an obstacle course in your back yard.
18. Pop on some gumboots and jump in puddles.
19. Head to the coast for a rockpool treasure hunt and a spot of beachcombing.
20. Head to the park and fly up high on a swing. Adults too.
21. Have a game of marbles.
22. Take your percussion instruments outdoors and have a sing along. Or form a marching band.
23. Choose from this list of 20 ways to play with sticks.
24. Make a mud kitchen and bake mud pies.
25. Print out our list of 101 Things to Do Outside for hours of outdoor fun!
More fun outdoor resources;
Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.
My 2yr old son loves to collect sticks. Everyday we take a walk and he always comes home with at least 5 new sticks. Yesterday, the park across the road was mowed so we went and played in the grass cuttings then laid down and watched the clouds. It had been a long time since I had just laid down on the grass. So nice 🙂
Sounds like a little moment of heaven to me, Kate.
Our afternoons are full of lying in the grass watching the clouds at the moment must be the season for it
My little sister loves to sit in front of the fire place and watch’s Elmo and Big Bird with her a “Tea and Milk” when she is very fussy. I love this site to help my fav kids
( Brooklynn)
My son LOVES to pick up sticks. We have a collection right outside our door! We also did a nature scavenger hunt which we ended up keeping all of those items as well. Here’s the link to our nature walk: http://mymontessorimoments.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/nature-walk/
My kids love to get wet – whether running through the sprinkler, playing at our water table or while watering our plants & veggies. Best of all is playing in the mud they make after!
Immy loves to get wet as well, Debi, in fact, it is all I can do to keep her dry outdoors at times!
Perfect timing – these school holidays I am determined to get us all outside and playing and experiencing our local natural environment everyday so I am definately in need of tips!
For my daughter’s 9th birthday this past weekend we made a human sized board game with sidewalk chalk on our driveway. We did the shape of a 9 but you could do anything – square, circle, figure 8, snake or whatever you wanted. Each space had something to do in it – spin in a circle 3x, sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes until your next turn, the quiet corner, hop ahead 3 spaces, draw a monster, stopped to smell the flowers miss a turn, stand on 1 foot til your next turn. This was a huge hit! Over the next few days we had friends over from out of town and others come to visit and everone played this game – over and over. Ohh, I put numbers on the sides of a large diaper box as the dice. Rolling this large dice was a huge fun factor.
I LOVE this idea, Dawn. I hope you don’t mind if I share it on the Childhood 101 facebook page.
go right ahead and enjoy!
What a smart idea! I’m definitely trying that with my kids. Love it!
Thank you for linking back to my list of 20 ideas. With our lists combined, there’s tons to do outside. I especially love your painting on windows idea. My boys will love that!
Perfect List!
We are doing a 30 day outside play challenge for the month of April! Here are some more fun ideas to do outside!
http://canyoucomeoutsidetoplay.blogspot.com/2011/03/favorite-outdoor-activity-linky.html
I think a good way to get your kids to go outside is to tell them can have candy if they go outside